Four Winds News

Cut the Fat Out of Your Budget

If you need to lose weight, then you start a diet.  When it’s necessary to cut the fat out of your budget, you do something similar – you go on a financial diet.

If you want to make your money go further, you need to trim the fat from your budget.  Using free grocery coupons is an easy way to save money each month.  Unless we are willing to significantly change our spending habits, there will be no reduction in the average $7,000 of debt carried by American households.

To begin with, you must choose which expenses are the most important.  You should budget for necessities such as food, house or apartment payments, utility charges, as well as credit card payments.  If you can, pay more on the credit card with the greatest interest rate, and if you can pay only the minimum on the credit cards with the lesser interest rates, then do that too.

You must select which items are the excess “fat” in your budget.  If you have trouble paying off what you owe each month, then anything outside of necessity is “fat”.  Low-mileage autos, watercraft, RVs and sundry costly toys are “fat”. Search out expenses to cut out or reduce anywhere you can.

Game consoles and online gaming can be very entertaining, but they can also be very expensive; consider spending more time in the real world instead. If you typically spend a lot of money at a fancy salon, then go to a less expensive hairdresser until you pay off your expenses.

While you are on a diet, you would replace fattening food like sweet cake with whole wheat crackers. Once you are on a money diet, you must search out less costly options for all of the luxuries of life. Buy store brand groceries instead of the name brand; look for designer clothing at consignment stores where they will cost a lot less.  And is it really necessary to have all of your clothes dry cleaned?

Take a pass on buying lattes from that fancy coffee place.  Skip the brand names at the grocery store and buy generics instead. Rather than movies at night, go for the cheaper matinees.  Also ask yourself if you must have cable TV and pay-per-view. Attend the museum for their free events.

Replacing your old, dysfunctional spending habits with healthier ones will take practice.  Habits stick with you long after the original reason for starting them has gone, and healthy money habits are no exception; even when you are out of debt, your good habits will remain.

See Grins RV Consignment Spring 2009 Commercial

How To Become A Ventriloquist $29.15 HOW TO BECOME A VENTRILOQUIST – DVD Movie…

Green Lantern Movie Action Figure GL 03 Kilowog $0.99 Green Lantern Movie Action Figure GL 03 Kilowog. For ages 4 and up….

Green Lantern Movie 4 Inch Action Figure GL 04 Sinestro $0.01 In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Defend the galaxy with an array of Green Lantern 3.75 inch Action Figures that let kids relive Green Lanterns greatest adventures! Created in 4inch scale, these figures are fullyarticulated and ready for hours of intergalactic missions and courageous battles. Each figure includes a construct accessory and a Power Ring so kids can …

Fashion Doll Wardrobe Collection $20.22 This portfolio of patterns for todays 1516-inch fashion dolls is presented in book form, with directions for 45 exclusive outfits. The magnetic-closure box houses the 96-page soft-cover book and 27 full-size patterns on loose sheets. Collections 2 and 3, each including 9 additional patterns, are available separately. The patterns in this book are created to fit: Alex Gene Brenda Starr Daisy & Will…

Sasha Dolls: The History $33.68 The visionary Sasha Doll designed in the 1940′s by Swiss artist Sasha Morgenthaler to teach humanitarian ideals has creatively engaged children and collectors ever since. The development of the Sasha Doll – from models sculpted in the artist’s Zurich studio and first sold in December 1945 to the later manufactured vinyl replicas by Germany’s Gotz, England’s Frido/Trendon, and Gotz again in 1995, p…

It’s Easy to Be Rich … If You Have a Strong Financial Education (3 Cds) $12.00 …