Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Take Charge of Your Family Finances

By Fatima Beckham

Maintaining a regular assessment of your family finances is essential to the family's financial welfare. Here are some guidelines to control your household finances.

Credit Card Use

If you have a credit card, use it, but don't forget to pay the entire sum, not the minimum amount, at the end of the month. Utilisation of credit card should be done wisely.

Rule of Thumb

Household expenses should be lower than 33% of household income. If it is higher, think of cutting down your expenses. Here are some tips to lower your expenses.

1. Cleaning of air-conditioners should be done regularly.

2. When you do the laundry, do it full load.

3. Place thimbles on your taps

Assign Book Keeping Duties to Your Children

Do you have children? Think of assigning simple tasks such as data-entry to them. This will make them understand basic financial principles. Moreover, it will also give them a sense of responsibility and promotes good financial practice.

Keep a File of Your Financial Statements

Take note of your finances. Compile them in a notebook or ledger. If you have an access to a computer, organize the physical bills and statements by putting everything into a spreadsheet. You don't even have to pay up cash for a spreadsheet.

The following tips will help you organize your financial statements.

1. To save time from entering data, get soft copies of bills and statements, if possible.

2. Back-up all your files, save them into CD-R or thumb drive. Then keep them in a secure place.

Plan Your Finances

If you have a littlle source of income, and there is only one person working in your family, think of getting an insurance plan for the breadwinner. This will help you from financial problems when the breadwinner become disabled

Make It a Routine

When you are not doing your task, it piles up. Give at least half an hour each week to analyze your finances. - 30462

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