Setting Goals With "The Simple Dollar"
BOSTON (CBS) - I have been talking all this week about the website The Simple Dollar and the founder Trent Hamm. We have more of his simple rules today.
Set big goals and keep reminding yourself of them. What is it that you want for your future? It's a difficult question, but it's one that can provide incredible motivation and direction for the things you do in your everyday life, encouraging you to take better steps.
Do you want a secure early retirement? Do you want to start a business? Do you want to travel around the world? Whatever your goal is, keep it in mind all the time. Fill your life with reminders of your big goal so that you make better choices in line with that goal when it comes to all of those little decisions in your life.
Build a budget. A budget can be a useful tool for keeping your spending on track, but the most valuable part of budgeting is actually the process of building a budget correctly. How does one do it correctly? You build a budget based on looking at your actual spending over the previous few months.
How much do you actually spend a month on food? Entertainment? Utilities? Your car? Get real numbers, not estimates. Dig through your bank statements and credit card statements and figure it out. Now what can you cut back on?
I found using Quicken helps for each month I can print out my monthly expenses and see what the trend is. The holes in the budget show up pretty quickly like eating out and spending dollars on Amazon this winter when I couldn't get out. I found that the UPS guy could still get to my house.
Cut the fat from your bills. Are you paying for services that you may not really need. Go through your phone and cable bills bills with a fine-toothed comb, looking at every line. Do you really need HBO?