How to Get Your Financial Life Back on Track

To get your life back on track after a major life disruption can be one of the most difficult challenges you'll face in life, no matter what age you are. Disruption can include divorce, a death in the family, a medical condition such as depression, or even simply facing the "real world" after graduating college.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A Job
• Stubborn Determination and
• Perseverence

1. Sit down with a calculator and writing utensils and take a good, hard look at your life. Are you comfortable with the way you look? Feel? Your finances? Just O.K. is fine, but if you want more, you need to do a REALITY CHECK! Ask yourself the hard questions. Are you behind in payments? Do you have insurmountable credit card debt? These are hard truths and you need to address them RIGHT NOW!
2. If you haven't already got a job, get one. Life is not Money, but it does take money to get somewhere.
3. Make a budget. List your obligations - Rent, Food, Gas, Insurance, Phone, Utilities. Pay your major living expenses FIRST. They are necessary for life and set a foundation for good credit for your remaining obligations.
4. Make a budget/list of your secondary obligations, such as school loans, credit card debt, and car loans. Chances are, if you are reading this article, you are in debt for some amount of money.
5. While creating your budgets, only list your minimum payments.
6. Add it all up. Are you living beyond your means? That could be the reason for your anxiety if that is what you are suffering from
7. Trim the fat.
   
   Get a Cingular Go Phone. You never spend more than you have. Stick with it, you will wean yourself off using the cell phone as much as you used to. If your cell phone bill, for a single person, is over $50/month, you are spending too much. There are many ways to cut back
   use (including trimming out that expensive blue-tooth service).
   
   Leave earlier for work, drive slower, save gas. As much as 1/4 tank per week!
   
   Suck up your pride and shop at the discount grocery store! Your wallet will thank you. Also, combine your errands so you can save some gas.
   
   The environment as well as your budget is all the better off for turning up the AC or turning down the heat.
   
   Make your own coffee. Who wants to wait in line anyway.
   
   Ride a bike to your shorter distance errands- Triple hat trick on this one: Green, Good for you, and a money saver!!!
8. Snowball your bills. Pay off the smallest ones first, then, as you are already used to spending the money on your debts, automatically roll them into the next highest debt.
9. Consolidate your credit cards onto the lowest % cards. Just give them a call, if they are all high, chances are you can talk someone into giving you a lower rate just for being consistent, or stating that you want to close your account because you found a better deal.
   
   If you can, clear them out by switching to a low/no interest card. USE EXTREME CAUTION though - there will be a date when your low rate will be at an end.
10. Manage and track your money by using a program to download information from your bank. Quickbooks is a great and relatively inexpensive program. You bank should give you online access and the ability to download or export your statement information.
11. PAY YOURSELF! Start an automatic savings draw from your bank account. Make it small till you get used to it, then increase the amount. You can use the savings for an emergency, or to mop up the last of a lingering debt when your savings accrue. ING is a great one - online, good rate, and paperless!

Tips & Warnings

• Check back to this article as I plan on updating it often!
• Cover yourself financially, but beware of "making space" then wanting to spend because you can... Just keep your goals in mind!
• Do not borrow more! Make this your mantra.