This past month we've seen
the importance of saving money. Now we are going to look at one of the greatest culprit that keeps us from having money to save: reoccurring expenses.
Reoccurring expenses come
in the form of anything you pay for on a regular bases. For most
people these are monthly bills like rent, insurance, electricity,
etc. but they can include semi-regular expenses like memberships,
banking fees and gas. In fact to give you an idea for how often these
reoccurring expenses pop up in our lives scan this list:
Utilities (water,
electric, trash, etc.)
Groceries
Housing
Magazine subscriptions
Gym memberships
Office supplies
Paid computer software
updates
Clubs
Pet care
Taxes
Internet
Cell phones
Online memberships
Gas
Car repairs
Gifts for birthdays and
Christmas
Quite the list! And every
business and hobby has its own reoccurring expenses.
But wait – aren't most
of these expenses necessary? After all, we have to eat. This is what
makes reoccurring expenses so sneaky. So many of them do have
valid reasons to use our money, so we rarely even consider if we
truly need them or if there are cheaper alternatives.
Another thing that makes
reoccurring expenses "money holes" is they are usually broken into
smaller payments masking how much we are truly paying for them. Take a
$20 monthly membership. Most of us could probably find ways to come
up with an extra twenty dollar bill every month. But multiply it by 12 and
you have $240 in one year. Gone. Never to return. I don't know about
you, but I could do a lot with $240. But when the amount comes in
small bits here a little and there a little, it doesn't even register how much we are spending.
So how to we beat this
culprit? There are several ways, but I'm going to give you 4 steps
that will help you evaluate your expenses.
Step 1 Write down every
single expense and its amount.
Step 2 Tally how much you
spend on each expense over a year starting with the largest one.
Step 3 Evaluate which one
of those expenses you could eliminate and put the money in savings. I
know. This one hurts, but think about it for a minute. If you could
take the $240 a year membership we discussed earlier and put it
toward something better, wouldn't be worth it? What if by saving that
money you were able to invest it in something that would benefit your
family, bring in future income or free up more of your budget to give to
those in need?
Step 4 Look at the
expenses you have left and look for ways to save money on them or
cheaper alternatives. Don't give up on ways to save just because it's
a true need for living. Do some research. Pray about
it. You never know how God will reward your diligence to be a good steward. A blessing of capitalism is we do have options for where our
money goes, so investigate ways you can cut and save the difference.
Ooh...I probably should do that (writing it down)...
ReplyDeleteBut wait. Aren't books "necessary reoccurring expenses?" ;) ;)
~Amanda
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
(smiles) Oh I forgot that one. ;)
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