Success Can be in Your Grasp

Living pay check to pay check means you are not happy. No one loves that lifestyle. In fact, you cannot really do the things you want to do. Going to the beach and renting a room is out of the question. Checking out a show in Vegas in the spur of the moment is out of the question. Simply having the funds to pay for unexpected car maintenance does not exist. You will take out your credit card to pay it. You are not free. You are trapped in a world of no creativity and boredom. Go to work, come home, kiss the wife, hug the kids, go to bed, then wake up and start it all over. I am sure you want a better life than that. You would love to take the kids to a 3D movie. Who can afford $13 a person? With the four of you it will come out to $52. Lets hope that the kids don’t ask for popcorn or a drink. How can you get a life that is satisfying? Let me show you a simple thing. I am not going to get all complex. It is not complex. There is no need to go to a $1000 seminar or buy a $30 book. Let me show you.

To get out of the rut, you need to make a plan. How can it be that simple? Well, it is. Now it is not just any plan. You will need to think it through. It does not matter if you are 18 years old in that is going to college, or 42 years old married with three kids. Think of the plan for your success. Lets go further. A plan is simply a blue print. I am going to show you a scenario. From the scenario you should get an idea of what I mean by planning.

Lets say you are a custodian. You work for a college, so you make decent money. However you find that you are living pay check to pay check. Your wife is thinking about returning to work. Bills are piling up, and you are not sure what you should do. This gentleman will sit down with his wife and start to make a plan. Both would love for the wife to stay home with the kids. At least until they are in High School. How can they survive then? First they look at their budget. They own eight credit cards (Not good). They spend more than $300 on groceries alone. They pay $900 on car payments on two cars, wow. Their house note is $950. That is not much compare to some other people. After going through their budget they realize they had over spent on certain things. Also, they start to research ways to cut costs (for anything). Soon they discover that they can have the dealership buy back one of the vehicles at about $2000. They can use that money to buy a use car for less than $4000. Their payments will be around $200/month. They now have an extra $250. Now they look at their groceries. The family decided to invest in a Costco card. That is only $45 a year. Then they bought items in bulk. They spent $200 every two or three months. The rest of the groceries they had purchase at a discount grocery store. Cutting coupons becomes a habit. Now their overall grocery bill went from averaging $300 a month to $200. Another $100. Now the credit cards. They got some wisdom from a friend to get rid of all the credit cards with the exception of one. Husband and wife decide on the one. The wife took a part time job. The money she made from that job went directly to the credit cards. Also, their oldest son pitched in with his part time job. Together they had paid off their credit cards within two years. After three years they are no longer living pay check to pay check. Same job. Same house. Same family. Now they are more wise with their spending. They had got rid of dead weight in credit cards leaving them with only one. They were able to cut out $500 from total month spending. They now save $300 a month which goes to a high end savings account. They are now planning a family vacation. They are able to plan a family vacation.

This is just one scenario, but the principles are the same. Many people spend on things they cannot afford. Most people don’t save. A huge percentage of Americans don’t even plan. If you start now and sit down to really think about your budget, you will find that you could save some money each money. Just eliminate things you don’t need.

What about those with bad jobs? It depends on what you mean by a bad job. Again I use the scenario involving a custodian at a college. He probably made close to $3000 a month. Now if your definition of a bad job is something you do you have no passion for, then you need to think about what is your passion. What do you like to do? Then take the time to research it. Now if your definition involves how much the job pays, then research on what jobs do pay a good amount of money. There are good paying jobs. Also, there are plenty of side jobs available. You just need to take the time to research and find that niche. In the mean time you can work on living a good life with what you have. Sit down and plan. If you are married, sit with your spouse and plan. Think about what is really necessary and ways to save money. Cut out the fluff. Do you really need a 100-inch television or a brand new $30,000 car? I remember what a successful business man told me. He said, “Majority of the people that drive these luscious cars are broke.” Why is that? Simply they pay big monthly payments and spend more money with regular maintenance just so they can have the image of success. Image is just vain and stupid. Just stick within your budget. There is no need to buy something just to impress someone. Stay within your means. In the long run you can eventually get the items that please you.

Again take the time to plan. Really think of what you really need. Think of the type of job you really like. You will come out surprise. One more thing, planning is not a one day adventure. Take your time to really explore.