Priorities Bring Focus to Family Budgeting

Priorities  Bring Focus to Family Budgeting

Often times, the family budget is a source of conflict.  Most of the time, the major earner makes the final financial decision, which isn’t always a welcome deal for the rest.  Since money is such an intrinsic part of family life, families need to achieve accord in this aspect.  There is a four-step cycle in budgeting the family money to maintain peace and harmony.

1. Set your priorities.  

Priorities are different from goals.  They are aspects in your family’s life that you, as a family, want to set focus on, say health or children’s future.  While goals are specific targets that support priorities.

In setting priorities, do not set too many as it defeats the purpose.  Ideally, there should only be one, but because life is not ideal, 2 to 3 are reasonable. 

As the priorities are set and agreed upon, write them down.  Post the paper where everybody can see them to remind them of what your family is focused on for the next few years.

2. List down your goals.

Once the family has set and agreed on priorities, the next step is to set the goals.  Goals are specific and measurable conditions that, when achieved, will support the priorities.  

In setting goals, establish a target that is both challenging yet achievable.  A 10-15% of the family’s income is a good savings target for a child’s future education: stretching yet reachable.

Try to limit your family into setting 1-2 goals per priority, to maintain focus.

3. Work towards your goals.

After setting your priorities and goals, start living by them.  All of the family’s activities will be geared towards working at your goals.  Track progress, particularly on financial goals, by using an income and expense-tracking tool.  The simplest way is to get a notebook and list down all expenses and incomes and set a budget for future spending.  There are those that invest in computer software or a family accountant.  Whatever it is, the important thing is to have a system of monitoring the family’s performance towards achieving their goals.

4. Evaluate your family life.

At a certain point in time, when you feel like it’s time to evaluate your life, check how your family is doing against the goals.  Goals that have been achieved can be checked off the list, and new ones can be formulated.  

At times, in major changes, say a career move, or when a family member goes away, it may be time to re-evaluate priorities. When such a time comes, then the cycle begins, just like what it’s for: life! 

Repairing Credit Report Is Debt Management Tool

Credit is one of the things in life that can put a great deal of stress into an otherwise okay world. Credit imposes a rating on us that defines who we are. If our credit is flawed with late payments or even bankruptcy, we are treated different than if we have good credit. Good credit ratings open doors in times of hardship and helps garner us the respect we deserve.

If your goal is to repair your credit rating the first step would be to get copies of your credit reports. You can get free reports any time you are turned down for credit by a credit card company, however in light of the ping your credit rating takes to have someone look at your rating as a possible lender, it may be worth just paying for them. Once you receive the reports, look them over very carefully.

If you have anything that looks out of the ordinary or suspicious on them, you should instantly file claims with the three main agencies. These disputes may remain on your record for up to six months while they are investigated. In the meantime, you should identify any delinquencies on your report and being to take care of them as soon as possible. Even making partial reports can keep delinquent payments from showing on the reports so be sure to talk to your creditor and agree upon a repayment plan. Once you establish what is on your report at this time and how you are going to take care of the items that are showing, make a plan to check it again on a regular basis to ensure there are no new unknown charges and to verify your efforts are working! This is the first step toward a lifetime of good debt management habits.