YOUR Money, YOUR Slave!

Your Money Should be Your Slave; not the other way round!

Well, this is another hot topic for me. Money Management, Financial Literacy, Wise Spending, Future-Proofing; call it what you like. They don't call me the 'Money Saving Queen' for no reason, I tell you!
If you don't believe me, check out www.moneysavingmanual.com; seeing is believing!

You toiled and slaved for that income already, how come you are slaving for it all over again by allowing utility companies, banks, other people's taste e.t.c dictate to you how to spend it? You do this even without knowing it when you:
- over-stretch yourself financially until you have more month at the end of your money;
- pay the minimum payment on that credit card (as per the card issuer's suggestion, we know where their loyalty lies; definitely not with you!);
- buy that clothing item or accessory that the magazine has screamed to you is a 'must-have' (for whom? I've always wondered) although you didn't plan to buy it that month or didn't even know it existed until you bought that magazine. Now you have bought into the idea that your life will be incomplete unless and until you own that item you can ill-afford. Go figure!
So you end up slaving for the money all over again when you have to pay interest to cover your over-spend. OUCH! Instead of being the master to your own money you willingly hand over control to the bank, store, magazine Editor etc; like a lamb to the slaughter! Indeed!

Some very wise person advocated that 'you should pay yourself first!' An 'oh-so-simple' but profoundly-wise advice yet one that too many people tend to ignore on a regular basis. I am going to go out on a limb here (again taking no prisoners!) and dare to suggest that you should plan to auto-magically (I like that phrase!) pay yourself first; that is if you don't already do so. After the taxman has helped him/herself to a percentage, you decide what percentage you can afford to pay yourself well before you even allow the utility company, mortgage lender etc anywhere near your hard-earned cash! As a believer I pay myself after I have paid my tithe (my believer family will understand what I mean here). Whatever amount you settle on as a regular savings amount, set up an automatic payment (auto-magical) into another account so it gets debited from your income before your monthly expenses. Yes, pay yourself first! Always! After all it's YOUR money, remember?