What Can You Control With Your Finances???

Quick Repost for anyone who missed it!

I was thinking last night that there are a lot of things in life that you just can’t control.  Sometimes you just have to let it be.  But, when it comes to your finances, there is a lot more that you can control than you might think.  And if you want to have financial freedom, you will need to take the reigns and control what you can.

WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL:

• How much you pay for services like Cable, Internet and Cell Phone Service. If you are paying too much, find a different provider or tell your current provider that you can’t afford what you are paying.  They might be able to lower your bill.  Some services you might be able to cut completely from your life until you are in a better position to afford them. 
• How much you put in savings.  That is all up to you!  Decide what works in your budget and stick with it.  You can’t just decide one month to not put money in savings.  There is always something that comes up like a flat tire, the air conditioning breaking or your washer/dryer dying on you. And if you don’t have funds set aside for those circumstances, you will either have to do without or you might have to use credit cards to take care of the problem.  And if you can’t pay that credit card off in full before the next billing cycle, your credit score will take a hit and you will end up paying high interest on whatever you had to charge to the card.
• Affording Vacations.  You might think that a vacation for you and your family is out of reach.  But, it is totally doable on any budget!  In addition to the amount you put away for savings, have a separate account you put money in to go towards a family vacation.  It might take a while to grow that fund.  But once you do, it will be totally worth it!
• Your Taxes.  You can control how much comes out of your paycheck by changing a few things on your tax form with the company you work for. If your goal is to have a big chunk of change to do something with later, then have more money coming out of each paycheck for taxes.  You will get a big refund  once you file your taxes each year.  If you would like to have more money each paycheck, you will want to figure out exactly which amount should be pulled out of taxes each month that should leave you pretty equal with the government.  That way, they won’t owe you and you won’t owe them. And you can use that money each month on other things instead of having it go to the government.
• Your 401k, Retirement Accounts and More.  If your employer has these set up for you, make sure you are contributing to them.  A lot of places will actually match your investment to your 401k- it’s FREE Money!  So talk with your Human Resources Department to see what your particular company does.
• Your Bank.  You can control where you put your money.  You want a bank that doesn’t have fees.  You also want to find a bank that has a high interest rate for savings accounts.  That way, you can earn the most money while it is just sitting in the bank waiting to be used.
• Simple things like turning off lights when you leave the room, using open windows instead of Air Conditioning in the Springtime and unplugging items not in use will make a big dent in your Electricity Bill.  Make it a game and have your kids help too!  Compare your bills to see how much you can save after you have done it for a couple of months.
• What you buy.  You can control this- although sometimes it might not feel like you can.  You are in control of what you actually spend at the grocery store, on clothing, on everything.  For grocery shopping, you should be price matching and using coupons.  Do whatever you can to save your family the most money.  I believe that your grocery bill is one of the things that most families spend WAY too much on.  And, if you take the time to plan, you can save at least 50% off of what you normally spend.  It is totally worth your time.
• Don’t purchase anything without a coupon, deal, promotion… I think you get the point.  But very, very rarely will you need to pay for anything at full price.  Even in an emergency situation where a washer/dryer breaks, you can always find a deal last minute and save a few hundred dollars just by doing some research.

You might not be able to control the amount you get paid each month or even your hours. …… But there are a lot of other things you CAN control!  So, the next time you are worrying about money or your finances, take a second and think about what you CAN control and start from there.   If you are doing everything that you can to work with what you have got, you will notice the changes!!