Need Help w/ Your Bills?
Been there (it sucks). That’s when you need help creating a Cash Flow Plan. What exactly is a Cash Flow Plan? A Cash Flow Plan is the greatest plan you’ll ever make and it will save your derriere from losing electricity.
Have you ever worried that swiping your card at the grocery store would make your check bounce for the monthly utility bills? 10.3 billion dollars are paid out every year in overdraft fees. Ouch! Let’s learn a little lesson from these over-drafters. Here are 2 things you can do if you need help overcoming your worries:
1) Keep track of your money
Know how much money you’ve got… and don’t spend more than you have! The best way to do this is to record the amount of your monthly income, then record all of your expenses:
Here’s a very basic example of recording your Monthly Income:
Cash Flow Diagram - Income
Here’s a very basic example of recording your Monthly Expenses:
Cash Flow Diagram - Expenses
2) Create a Cash Flow Plan
Now that you know you have $1,050 every month, you can distribute your income across the items you’ve listed as your monthly expenses.
To create a cash flow plan get out a lined sheet of paper, a #2 pencil, and create two columns. In the first column list the Item. In the second column create two blanks separated by a slash mark ( / ). To the left of the slash mark, put the Item expense, and to the right of the slash mark put the remaining amount of your income. Work down the column—your total income should decrease as your expenses are subtracted. If you need help, here’s an example:
Item, $ Expense – $ Amount Remaining
Income = $1,050
Rent, $500 – $550
Utilities, $75 – $475
Groceries, $250 – $225
Gas, $150 – $75
Misc., $75 – $0
Total = $0
*Tip: Specifically put a name and a purpose to every dollar that you make!
Creating a cash flow plan will help you tremendously tackle your money problems! You’ll never worry if you’re going to have enough money to live, eat, and keep a roof over your head.
PLEASE NOTE: Cash Flow Plans don’t work if:
- You over complicate your budget plan
- You don’t apply your budget plan
- You only THINK about creating a Cash Flow Plan
Creating a cash flow plan (and sticking to it), takes some discipline. However, We can’t stress how much it frees you from your financial burdens!
“He who is faithful and diligent in the little things will be given more to manage.”
6. March 2009 at 10:12 pm :
This is something that Tom and I do. Each month we take seven envolopes
and on each of them we write, in detail, what the envelope is for, for example,
1. Electric
2. Natural Gas (Heat)
3. Water
4. Sewer
5. Phone/Internet/Cable
6. Grocery Store
We place a certain amount in each envelope and write that amount on the front.
The amount we to cover that utility is then subtracted when the need be, and the remaining money that might be left, is put into a yellow enveloped marked,
MISC Expenses. This amount differs every month and the amount in the ME envelope is used for the garbage bill, or for a night to rent movies, actually I guess it’s used on just about anything extra we might have.
Just a suggestion
7. March 2009 at 12:55 am :
I couldn’t make it without a cash flow plan. I used to use the envelope system but now I’m electronic. All my monthly bills are set up to be deducted from my debit account on the 1st day of the month when my benefit check is direct deposited. Even if they are not actually sent out by the bank at that time, they are debited so the funds are not available to me.
When the bills are debited I go and put money on my grocery cards. We shop at different grocery stores to be able to get the lowest price for our food needs so I get grocery cards based on my budget for each of these stores. Now my grocery money is locked up in store cards and since these stores are all 20+ miles from home we don’t just go to the grocery cuz we want a snack in the middle of the night.
We load up our gas cards. Here where we live the Walmart and a grocery store named Kroger give discounts on gas to shopping card holders so we try to get gas there when shopping to get the discounts, otherwise we have a gas card for our nearest store…the one Amy works at.
Finally if there is any money left over after dividing the funds onto the bills and basic needs we will put that on a disposable visa for those little emergencies that might come up.
My budget is extremely strict and because my normal monthly payments are drawn by automatic debit I have to be very careful about making sure no funds are ever touched until all debits are deducted. If there is one error, like a deposit didn’t go through or money I counted on wasn’t deposited it blows my whole budget and we are scrambling around to cover those ISF fees. Our debit accounts don’t charge fees, but our creditors sure do.
Also those on electronic banking, get those email and cell alerts! They really do help you keep track of your funds.
7. March 2009 at 12:57 am :
“This is something that Tom and I do. Each month we take seven envolopes
and on each of them we write, in detail, what the envelope is for, for example,
1. Electric
2. Natural Gas (Heat)
3. Water
4. Sewer
5. Phone/Internet/Cable
6. Grocery Store”
That is an idea I have never heard of! There is no way that would work for me right now, but I have done something similar before. When I receive a bill I place it in my gray folder. I check the due dates and organize them accordingly only because my income is daily or weekly. I wouldn’t think this would work for monthly income. So, first due is up front. Food and shelter (rent/mortgage) are factored in daily and paid first. The day I have the first amount available in the folder, I pay it. The day I have the second amount available in the folder, I pay it. So on and so forth until the folder is empty or I run out of money. Then I know I either need to pick up some extra work/income or eliminate some bills. Whatever the case may be at the time.
It worked for a while, but I am way too inconsistent to keep a routine. It was fun while it lasted~
7. March 2009 at 1:07 am :
“We shop at different grocery stores to be able to get the lowest price for our food needs so I get grocery cards based on my budget for each of these stores.”
You have to be careful when shopping numerous grocery stores for better deals. I’ve seen people use more fuel traveling between stores than the difference of actual savings they are trying to accomplish~
7. March 2009 at 2:33 am :
Very true JT! You must be careful. I live in a small rural town and there are two larger towns we can shop in. Both towns have one road where all the grocery stores are so in my case, I stop at Save-A-Lot first, get all my discount food there, move about 5 miles down the road to the Walmart Super Center and get what I need there, travel about 3 miles (going toward home now) and hit the Kroger to get what I need there. Heading toward home I hit a discount bread store, then a discount meat store, then another grocery store where I finish off my groceries. We actually STUDIED, the round trip to learn how to hit all the stores at the right times to avoid sitting at stop lights because in my Lumina if you stopped for too long the car would stall because of a fuel system problem. So each store we go to is near another store and we can hit them all in one circle. This is for one town.
If I need to go into the larger City my shopping route is different and there are not as many discount food centers there…the stick those places in the low rate towns. We only go into the City if we have to take care of business there because we would not get the better grocery deals compared to the amount of gas and wear/tear on cars at stoplights.
7. March 2009 at 3:44 am :
This is quite a funny statement:
“We actually STUDIED, the round trip to learn how to hit all the stores at the right times to avoid sitting at stop lights because in my Lumina if you stopped for too long the car would stall because of a fuel system problem.”
I can totally imagine it, placing myself in your shoes for that moment. It was good for a laugh so thank you and I completely understand. I plan my everyday trying to schedule everything in a circle. Cost of fuel in California is outrageous~
7. March 2009 at 10:22 am :
It really is funny! My mom thinks I’m kinda strange for how I do things, but we get into a routine where we know what we can get at what stores and what route we can take that is light on traffic, less stoplights, no school zones, no known construction zones and we can make a round trip and hit everything we need to hit in one day. Since we are rural we don’t go out for midnight snacks or oops I forgot something at the store trips. There are folks who do that, but that does eat up gas, puts wear/tear on your vehicle and unless it was a lifesaving medication you forgot to pick up before the drugstore closed…it’s probably just a waste of money anyhow.
Not long ago…from September till income tax refund time Feb 15 we had no fridge cuz it blew out in Sept. Our car had been dying since sept and we kept her limping along with whatever we could. We had to go out every night for fresh food unless gas was just not available and I stocked up on foods we are not suppose to eat…but have to anyway. I hadn’t been able to to an actual day of groceries till just a few days ago when we finally got a freezer. We saved so much money….wow…I don’t know how we managed to get by the way we were doing. Well I do know how we got by. We haven’t been putting anything extra on the bills to stay ahead so we are no longer in the advance…but we are still in the safe zone and of course plan to build up the advance on the basics. It was nice knowing we were not going to have disconnect notices in our mailbox.
7. March 2009 at 1:33 pm :
Need Help w/ your bills?What I do is go to the Pawn shop. Let go of old gold. Also, go down and let them take blood. Here where I live. They pay $30.00 a month to use yor plattes.
7. March 2009 at 3:12 pm :
Christy, giving blood is such a wonderful thing to do! There’s something profoundly sacrificial and beautiful about giving a part of your ‘Life’ to help someone else…
8. March 2009 at 2:25 am :
I call 211….they are fantastic,…they usually are nationwide…I think I might have mentioned this elsewhere, but again,..they have a program for instance, that helps people with their gas and lights…
They have helped me before, and will pay up to hundreds of dollars, if you qualify for their help once a year.
They will help with up to 500.00 for rent, but you need to have proof that you can pay the rent the follwoing month, and they must be funded at the time..
they will also tell you about food banks in your neighborhoods…
you will find that many of them, also provide clothing if neccessary….
9. March 2009 at 4:54 pm :
I never had a budget before my financial problems and I admit that let to most of my problems. I just paid things by the time they were due and groceries weren’t counted because I would just see what was my balance and make sure I didn’t go over. Now I have a budget. I use my spreadsheet to list all my bills and groceries, add them up then divide by 2 because my husband gets paid every 2 weeks and that is the minimum we need to put in our checking. The rest we save for unforeseen expenses. Granted its not a huge savings but it adds up eventually.
9. March 2009 at 9:20 pm :
Yard Sale…..Yard Sale…..and that’s all I have to say…lol
10. March 2009 at 10:13 am :
Financial & BudgetSome great infomation! I lauged when I read it because I use monthly envelopes. One month is for my dog, one month is for Lion’s Camp, one month for home insurance, and one month for property tax, and so on and so….
10. March 2009 at 1:27 pm :
Thats a very wise way of managing your finances! Thanks Christy!
10. March 2009 at 1:37 pm :
Thanks Gayle! We like to hear about your personal success. Keep sharing any tips!
31. March 2009 at 3:42 pm :
I can’t have an estimate of my income each month. I have house and pet sitting, cleaning homes, Flea Market and taking care of an elderly woman. One month I may do ok and the other month hardly any income at all. So as soon as I get money I pay the most important bill I have.
Then you have an issue like I had several days ago. Some one decided to try and take all my money from my pay pal and bank account. I have struggled now to start all over with new accounts, new debit cards. EVERYTHING. It has been an interesting time for working with my money.
These are really good ideas that everyone has had.
11. April 2009 at 12:59 am :
Well it is time for a new budget. I have lost best paying jobs I had. Now I am in the phase of a new plan. Life has it’s interesting moments and here is one of them. Well, another curve in the road so buckle down and here I go….
22. April 2009 at 3:47 pm :
Gosh MJ are you my lon lost twin?
*** have house and pet sitting, cleaning homes***
I do this too… well not the pet sitting…
It is hard to find homes to clean in this phase of the economy… its going to be the first thing someone gives up.
Pay pal hackers?? That is scarey! Then again if they hacked into mine the sure would be dissapointed!!LOL