Charge Log
Charge Log
I really despise unpleasant surprises, especially when the credit card bill shows up. Have you ever faced the shock of receiving a credit card statement with “surprising items” on it? We have, and the best way to avoid this is to maintain a Charge Log. This form will, for the most part, eliminate those “unpleasant surprises.”
Additionally, beside reducing surprises (You never can totally eliminate them, because some folks will push charges onto your credit card account, claiming you bought from them, even when the item you “supposedly” charged was for a clown outfit, and you’ve never even been to the circus…), it will start to build your confidence from month to month.
In fact, you can make sure that you have the funds available in your money market account to pay off your credit card each month. Just don’t charge large items, unless you know you have the funds available to pay it off each month. Otherwise, you will be paying 18-24% annual interest on the unpaid balance, which is absolutely no fun. If you do charge a large item on your credit card, be sure to move the necessary funds from your “Cash Savings” sub-account into the “Credit Card Charges” sub-account. Then, when the Visa or Mastercard bill arrives, you have the money to pay it off without delay.
This process will help insure against a run-up of credit card debt, and don’t worry. The bank is still making money from fees it charges the vendor selling you the item. They really do not need you to also be paying them interest on your credit card bill.
“If you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and if you can control it, you can improve it.” The same holds true in your monthly budgeting.
The reality is that it is nearly impossible to complete & follow a monthly budget without improving your overall financial position. There are several reasons for this, so I would challenge you to do this.
First, just developing a budget for yourself will raise your awareness of what you have for revenue or income sources and then also boost your cognizance of how much you are spending each month. Next, you will come to grips with the reality of one of three facts. Either you need to boost your income sources, reduce your outgoing expenditures or, thank goodness, if you have more income than expenses, you can then save some money. Of course, this is fantastic! You just need to determine where you will store or invest those extra funds each month…
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