Unclaimed Money

Have you ever known people who seems to be broke no matter what? In college they are broke, because after all, they are just students, there is not much income. Then after graduation, they are working, hopefully in their field, and still broke because now they have all those student loans to pay off.

You meet up with them a few years later, they have landed the promotion, and the big raise to go with it. Perhaps they are married and their spouse is also working a good job. They have a big beautiful home, furnished with all the bells and whistles. They are driving new cars, and are dressed to impress. Yet, they still complain of being broke, and just how expensive things are these days. They are broke, no matter how much they make.

The story above is not about any particular person. Parts of it do resemble my financial history, and I’m guessing many of yours. We all have a tendency to spend to, or even beyond, our income level. When our income is small, there aren’t many frills, and we still have trouble making ends meet. When our incomes are comparably larger, there may be more nicer things around our home, but many of us still feel the same stress and pressure of living paycheck to paycheck. The pressure of being broke. How can that be?

It is because we have never learned to live below our means, or to be content with what we have, no matter what our income level. Living below our means takes a great deal of discipline, but it can be done. First commit to not incurring more debt. Don’t use the credit cards, unless you are one of those rare people disciplined enough to get the rewards with out running up the balance. Then to guarantee you are living below your means, siphon off a portion of your income before you start spending it. You can do this as you deposit your check, or set up an automatic withdrawal from your checking. Put the extra money in savings, and/or donate it to charity. If you do get a raise, dedicate most of it to your savings. Of course if you are carrying debt, it would be wise to put that money toward your debt. You will pay off that debt faster, and still be teaching yourself to live below your income.

Contentment is a little harder to develop. It involves a change of thinking and of attitude. If we were truly content, it would be easy to use the next raise for our savings or debt, but for most of us it is not. We see a friend’s new flat screen T.V. and suddenly our model seems inadequate. We are bombarded daily with information designed to create a feeling of need for a 100’s of products. It is hard to stay content with what we have. A couple things that may help put it in perspective; think about the payment that goes along with that item, and the number of hours you would have to work to pay for the item.

We must learn to live below our means, and to be content there. If we don’t, we will stay in debt. We will accumulate stuff, but never the security that comes with accumulating wealth. We will be broke, no matter what our income level is.

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We haven’t even carved our pumpkins, and the Christmas trees are already up at the local retailers’. Their objective is to have you start thinking about Christmas now, start spending now, and keep on spending until the end of the year. They are counting on you to make their holiday profitable.

There is nothing wrong with thinking about Christmas now. In fact, if you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you do. Christmas, like any other expenditure, is best on your wallet when it is planned for. Set a budget. Determine how much can you save from every per pay period between now and Christmas.  Start putting that money aside now.  Make a list of people you will be buying for. Now using your budget amount determine how much you can spend per person. Make it equal by dividing the budget by the number of people, or allocate by who you’d like to spend more on. Beside their name note any ideas that you have for them. Keep your list in your wallet. Trust me this is the best place for it.

Start spending now. Go ahead! Look for sales on the items on your list. Keep the gifts in your budget range, and don’t forget to mark the name on the list “completed” when you have their gifts.

Keep on spending. . . until you have marked all the names off your list. Then STOP!  This is why it is important to keep your list with you. If you are out shopping and see the most adorable thing for baby Q, stop, pull out your list. Do you still need something for baby Q? Have you spent your budgeted amount there? Don’t buy it if you have!

Let the retailers decorate their trees in October. They may intend for it to make you spend more, but you know that by planning now, and shopping carefully until the holidays, you can have a Merry Christmas without the burden of spending more than you could afford.

We lived in our last house about four years. It had a large basement and lots of storage space. When it came time to move, I could hardly believe the amount of stuff that had accumulated in those storage areas. We had to downsize before moving because the distance of our move would not allow for multiple trips, and because the new house did not have nearly the storage space. The move happened fast. There was no time to sell things. We needed to declutter quickly so Goodwill and Freecycle were the recipients  of our excessive stuff.

We moved two years ago, and I am amazed at the amount of things that have accumulated in that time. It seems every cupboard and closet is stuffed to overflowing. It is time to declutter again.

Having too much stuff can cost you money. When storage areas are packed they tend to be disorganized. You can’t remember what is in there, or see what is in there for that matter. Have you ever cleaned out a closet and found a pair of shoes you’d forgotten about or a printer cartridge  you didn’t know you had? Have you ever found an item just after purchasing something similar? It has happened to me!

When there is less stuff you can organize your storage spaces. Then when you need something it is easy to look into the cupboard to see if you already have it, saving you from running out to the store to buy something you already have.

Decluttering can also make you money. Don’t let stuff just sit in your home and collect dust. If you aren’t using it, why do you need to keep it? Have books you haven’t read in years? Sell them on half.com or Amazon. Clothing that just doesn’t fit anymore? Baby items you don’t need? Take them to your local consignment store.  Sell those items or just about anything else using Craigslist, eBay or your local newspaper classifieds. You could also have a garage sale, but I think the return for your time is better using the other methods mentioned.

Decluttering is a constant process in this house. Decluttering helps you to stay organized. Staying organized saves you money. By selling unused, unwanted items, decluttering can also make some money for you.