As surprising as it may seem \u2013 a lot of people out there don\u2019t have a budget.\u00a0 If you\u2019re someone that does \u2013 kudos to you!\u00a0 Sometimes despite our best intentions, our budgets just don\u2019t quite work.\u00a0 If, \u00a0try as you might, there never seems to be quite enough money left at the end of the month and you\u2019re always running a bit short, you might have a leak!\u00a0 Take a look through our list of top 5 \u201cbudget leaks\u201d to get back on track:<\/p>\n
Paying for more than you need.<\/strong>\u00a0 Double-check your cell phone and cable packages:\u00a0 Are you actually using everything you\u2019re paying for?\u00a0 Data charges and channel\/satellite package costs can run quite high but if you\u2019re not even close to using what you\u2019re dishing out for contact your providers and see about making some revisions.\u00a0 It\u2019s generally good to do this once a year or so, plans and offers change \u2013 make sure you\u2019re getting good value!<\/p>\n Getting charged fee after fee…after fee.\u00a0 <\/strong>Do you frequently forget to grab cash at your branch and resort to the $3 per withdrawal ATMs?\u00a0 Make payments a few days after the deadline and wind up with late charges?\u00a0 <\/strong>Pay for bank account feature you never access?\u00a0 Those \u2018convenience\u2019 fees can accumulate to anything but convenience!\u00a0 Grab your bank statements and try to plan ahead for cash withdrawals, look into alternate bank account options and mark payment due dates in your calendar.<\/p>\n Accumulating little costs.\u00a0 <\/strong>OK, it\u2019s unlikely that the occasional fancy coffee out will break your budget completely \u2013 but a few times a week is likely to siphon enough of your budget to be noticeable.\u00a0 Same with things like parking (downtown Vancouver anyone?), your favourite weekly guilty-pleasure magazine, regular Friday happy-hour cocktails, and anything else you can think of!\u00a0 You\u2019re the boss of your budget and if you decide you want these things it\u2019s fine \u2013 just make sure you actually budget for them.<\/p>\n Letting interest build up.\u00a0 <\/strong>You know this one friends:\u00a0 Using your credit card and not being able to pay the balance in full is going to cost you.\u00a0 Unfortunately it will continue to cost more and more if you\u2019re only paying the minimum.\u00a0 Keep pesky interest charges off your back and don\u2019t use your credit unless you know it\u2019s to your advantage, and not to the bank\u2019s.\u00a0 If you want extra incentive, check out the portion of your statement that shows just how long it would take to pay off your card making only those minimum payments.<\/p>\n Forgetting to plan for the unexpected.\u00a0 <\/strong>At some point in time, big or small, irregular expenses AND emergencies will occur \u2013 the best way to keep them from derailing your budget is to plan for them!\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s an annual insurance premium, an inconvenient trip to the dentist or unwelcome vehicle repair, regularly set funds aside to deal with those eventualities.\u00a0 Allocating a small, consistent portion of your budget to an \u2018unexpected\u2019 fund can save you a huge headache later.<\/p>\n If it doesn\u2019t seem like your budget is successful, always check for gaps and try again.\u00a0 No matter what your income and expenses look like, a sound budget can save huge hassle and provide great piece of mind.<\/p>\n Is debt sinking your budget?\u00a0 Find out how a trustee can help!\u00a0 Contact us<\/a> for a free, confidential consultation<\/a> in one of our 17 BC offices.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As surprising as it may seem \u2013 a lot of people out there don\u2019t have a budget.\u00a0 If you\u2019re someone that does \u2013 kudos to you!\u00a0 Sometimes despite our best intentions, our budgets just don\u2019t quite work.\u00a0 If, \u00a0try as you might, there never seems to be quite enough money left at the end of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[38,39,74,148,149,44,37,117,120,150,77,35,54],"class_list":["post-5454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-debt-free-living","tag-bankruptcy-bc","tag-bankruptcy-trustees","tag-bc-debt","tag-budget","tag-budget-problems","tag-budgeting","tag-consumer-proposals","tag-credit-counselling","tag-credit-counsellor","tag-fix-budget","tag-impulse-buy","tag-sands-associates","tag-savings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n