How to Avoid Adding Debt to Your Expenses

By: Michael Millington

Budgeting your expenses can help you handle your money wisely and help you avoid debt. Extra fees, erroneous subscriptions and frivolous purchases can hinder your ability to manage your money. When fees for late payments, account maintenance and more hit your finances unexpectedly, the result can mean less money for more important things and the capacity to fall into serious debt. The key to avoiding these instances happening is to keep yourself aware of what is coming out of your account at all times.

 

Ask the Right Questions

When fees hit your account, normally there is a direct cause attached. Different fees have different purposes. The best way to avoid surprise fees is to garner as much knowledge about your accounts as possible. Banks usually have stipulations to avoid paying certain fees altogether if you have a certain amount of money in your account. Others may negate fees if you have directly deposited money into your account during the month. Ask your bank if there are ways to avoid monthly fees on your accounts.

Overdraft fees are some of the most prominent fees a bank account holder can experience. Many banks will offer protection against having monthly bill payments decline by accepting the payment and giving you some time to replace the money on your account. This can result in overdraft fees accruing to your account if the money is not replaced in a timely manner. If your bank practices overdraft protection then asking about the specifics can give you the ability to avoid these fees. Some banks might even be able to waive a fee if you ask.

Many people end up paying for things they may not even remember signing up for. It might only be a few dollars, but it can add up over time. Small monthly payments sometimes make it harder to budget effectively. Just because the payments can be minute, does not mean you should be stuck paying them. A quick inspection of your bank statement can reveal the businesses you are paying. Many times, a phone number will be available on the statement listing. Using this information, you can deduce how to go about ridding yourself of this monthly payment.

 

Honestly Assess Your Budget

Assess your budget with the goal of cutting out unnecessary expenses and maximizing your ability to reduce debt. Throwaway income can be very helpful for many reasons. Having these extra payments decreasing your income can negatively impact your financial health. Make sure you honestly assess your budget to include every expense you can think of. Once you are certain of the amount of money you have to spend, it will become easier to weed out the payments you can do without. The sooner you do that, the faster you get a grip on your finances.

Be honest about what your monthly income can handle. Eliminating fees can create a sense of relief, but other payments, if removed, might do the opposite. Assessing certain payments require a heightened level of financial awareness and maturity to make the decision to remove them. Such costs could be monthly streaming services, item delivery services, or food ordering services. Although they might seem like necessities, they can also sporadically detract from your accounts and put you in an unnecessary position of hardship with gratuitous debt.

If you do find yourself incurring extra fees on a monthly basis, it might also be because you have an outstanding debt creating it. One trap many people fall into revolves around only paying off fees without being able to pay off the principle amount of debt owned. This will only serve to increase your debt over time. Consider contacting Guardian Debt Relief to formulate a plan to reduce your overall debt and take furtive steps towards debt freedom.

 

Run Yourself like a Business

There is a fine line between having enough money for your needs and going over the edge, creating more debt. Making your financial life run smoothly requires careful planning and discipline, much like creating and running a business. Making the right moves will help keep your financial standing in the black while having an efficient and productive lifestyle.

When businesses start up, they are likely to keep their costs down by making frugal but smart decisions. Once a business begins to grow, more purchasing options become available and a more flexible approach to money handling can be adopted. While maintaining the same level of discipline, you can manage your money whether it stays at the same level or increases in overall wealth.

The point of modeling your budget after a business is to understand the benefit and consequence behind money management. A business can quickly go under from lack of business planning. Uneducated spending in any capacity can result in immediate damage. Your personal finances are no different. A lack of planning and the absence of discipline can bring you to the same result as a quick-spending company. The key to avoid accruing more debt is to exhibit discipline in your spending and tenacity in your budgeting.

 

How Can Guardian Debt Relief Help You?

The amount of debt you have immediately impacts the way you spend money. If you have debt that is preventing you from using your money your way, give Guardian Debt Relief a call now. Receive a free consultation from our debt specialists and learn how you can get out of debt in as little as 24 months. Reworking your budget can be a tough task, even more so when debt is involved. Let Guardian Debt Relief show you how to take your first steps towards debt elimination. Take the first step and contact Guardian Debt Relief today.