The Money Jar Budget - Get Debt-Free

If you’re doing a money jar budget or an envelope budget, you might need some help determining what your budget should be for all the categories in both your fixed and variable expenses.

Here’s some help for deciding how much should go in each jar.

-Write down all your fixed expenses

-Write down all your variable expenses into a budget

Does the budget balance?

If there is money leftover, this is a good thing. If the numbers don’t jive, you need to do some crunching and some trimming to make this work. The goal is to have more than enough money to cover your bills and your variable expenses.  If you’re allocating $200 a week to groceries, for example, but your numbers aren’t balancing then it’s time to trim that number.

Once you’ve made the numbers work, take your monthly earnings and divide it into 4. This is the amount of money you have per week to work with.

Divide the amount of the variable and fixed expenses into  four and this is the amount of money you need per week to cover all your bills and have money to put into your envelopes or jars.  Do you have money left over? If so, this amount can be divided between savings and debt repayment.  The sooner you can pay down your debts, the more money you’ll have to put in savings and your jars.

Here’s an illustration:

Gail makes $3,000 per month.

Her fixed expenses come to $1,600.00 and her variable expenses come to $1,200.00.

She crunches her numbers and trims her variable budget to $1,000.00. With the $400 leftover, she pays $200 extra to her biggest debtor and the other $200 goes into savings.

Here’s a breakdown of her variable budget jars:

$125 weekly to food: $500 total

$50 transportation : $200 total

$25 clothing /gifts  $100 total

$20 Entertainment : $80 total

$30 Emergencies: $120 total

If during the week any budget jar needs excess funds, Gail will need to borrow it from another jar. And, if any jars have money left over, you can then save it in your emergency jar or envelope for any unforseen expenses in a future week.

Budgeting is hard work but doing so is the best way to get yourself out of debt and save for the future. With a budget you can spend confidently, always knowing what you can and cannot afford. This equates to true financial freedom!

The worldwide web is filled with things you can spend your money on purchasing but it’s also filled with great tools and resources that you can use to help you get become free of debts too.

How can you use the internet to improve your financial situation / debt situation?

-Look at loan calculation tools as well as interest rate calculators which can be found online that help you determine a good or bad loan deal as well as help you figure out how fast you can become debt-free.

-Use mortgage calculators so you can shop around competitively. Determine the best type of mortgage as well. Did you know you can pay your mortgage off much sooner if you opt for bi-weekly or weekly payments? You probably do know this but look at a calculator to see how big of a difference this actually results in!

-Check out financial planning tools to help you make and stick to a budget

-Do price comparisons when shopping for things like insurance and mortgages can help you choose the right companies to deal with in order to get maximum value at minimum rates

-Read some financial articles that can help you to make educated decisions about everything relating to saving, to investing, to making wise financial decisions

-Find companies that can offer you debt assistance such as: debt consolidations, debt settlement options, credit counseling, and more.

The www is alot like a shopping mall for nearly anything and everything. While it can be a place to spend frivolously it can also be a toold that can help you get financially educated, get debt-free, and work to create a financial nest egg as well.

A potential solution for some people struggling with money problems is to get another loan. Will a new monthly payment that needs to be made solve your problems or is it just a Band-Aid solution that’s going to only temporarily stop the bleeding?

Those who have bill and loan payments that they’re struggling to make, might think that throwing money at the problem will help it but the thing is…that’s only going to help you for the first month. If it’s not reducing your debt, it may be a very bad idea. A consolidation loan could be a good idea (depending on how you manage your money going forward) but just another loan to buy something disposable or make a few payments probably isn’t going to help. If your loan is to make a big purchase you cannot truly afford is not a good choice to make and if it’s just a solution to get you out of a financial hole for this month, it’s also not a good idea.

Example:
People who take out a line of credit when they’re only making minimum payments on large credit card balances every month are not managing their finances wisely and are dangerously close to financial stress

There are a lot of considerations to weigh before you decide to take out a new loan:

• Is the interest rate high or low?
• How much are the monthly payments?
• How long will the debt last?

It’s wise to be extremely cautious about borrowing money for something when you’re already in a cash strapped spot.

When might taking out a loan be a good idea?

-A consolidation loan, if it’s the right type of loan, could be helpful provided that  you change your spending habits to get out of debt asap

-A student loan might be a great investment in yourself as it can can help you better yourself so you can increase your earnings.

-Borrowing money to improve your home before you sell it when it’s a seller’s market might also a good idea.

What is definitely a good idea is to carefully look at all your options and then do everything you can to get out of debt as fast as possible.

If you’re struggling with the bills coming in and not finding much relief, it might be time to have a financial planner help you create a workable budget and a plan to help you get out of debt.