Paying yourself

         In the last blog I went over how much money you have coming in and how much money you have going out.  There are few different things to keep in mind.  Lets take for example you have more money coming in than going out, then you can make your budget work better for things that you want.  I had to budget for Christmas and had to put a certain amount of money away or budget for a certain amount to spend on it.  This number should be a comfortable number so you don't over spend for things.  My wife also likes to get her hair done every other month (used to be every month until we talked about how much we can save).  Also if there is a birthday or maybe something you want or need to buy.  Now when I say need to buy I mean your computer broke and you need one for work or a cellphone broke and you need a new one.
         OK this is what I did to help get me out of debt.  I took my monthly income and my monthly expenses and minus the income vs the outgoing.  I was left over with more than I thought, I thought, where is this money going.  I started to look at my bank statement and saw that I was spending money on the most random things like food,cloths and just stuff I don't need.  I couldn't go a day without swiping that card.  I fixed this by paying myself after I payed my bills.  I gave myself $200 a month CASH to spend on things however I wanted to.  This is hard to get used to but spending cash will help you understand how much money you have left in your pocket and that thing you really want isn't that cool anymore.
         Sticking to a budget that you set is really hard at first but gets easier over time.  I know I am not telling you the exact number you need to set aside on just spending, but this is going to based on what you feel comfortable with.  It might start bigger, but try and work it down as much as you can.  You might realize that you have to much spending money and not enough for gas, so next month fix it and move on.  The best way that I have used is to look at you bank statement, this will give you a better idea than making up a number that you think you need.
         In the next blog i will go over how much money you should save each month and what to do with the money left over after paying your bills and yourself.