My Financial Resolutions for 2011

I'm in the red zone. I did an online expense sheet and I actually know that I will get into trouble in regards to my expenses but I just went along with it. It's difficult for me to maintain a good expense sheet as I'm the only one working in my family but I also know it's not impossible to save up as long as we learn to cut down on certain things. I suppose I'm doing alright but it can be better. This year, I will try to build up a good savings amount for emergency that will last me a few months and this won't be an effort in a year only but many years to come because in life, we do not know what will happen tomorrow. But it doesn't mean that we can't predict what is going to happen because from these predictions, we can make preparations. It's going to be a difficult thought process especially when we are predicting for unforeseen circumstances such as loss of job which nobody wants to experience.


However, this is reality, whether or not we like it. So let's start off on the right foot. I know I did as I try my best to not blow the whole of my bonus. Managed to at least save up one month of take home pay..well, almost. I kinda busted my budget a bit last month because I didn't get to spend much last bonus in 2009 as it was a sucky year in terms of economic crisis. Still, at least I didn't completely lose my head and biting my fingers thinking what the heck am I going to do with absolutely zero money.


So my finance resolutions this month will be this


Buy clothes, bags or shoes only during sales and only when I have extra spending power


Many of the clothes that I have bought are sales items. But these are not just any sales items if not I go bankrupt as I'm always enticed to buy during sales. Some are on 50% discount like the ones from Cotton On when they are clearing the current stock to bring in the new stock. So a blouse that cost $19.90 goes as low as $10.


This year I want to cut down buying of bags. Last year I bought 7 bags which is a lot though I still make sure that I use the bags that I have bought previously so it is not a waste. It's also coz I felt guilty about it. I bought two of them online coz it was dirt cheap though I admit, one of them was a bad buy and didn't look at all like the picture shown.


So I will cut it down to just 3 max? And I just got one bag from my dear friend as I have been eyeing her bag for quite a while..haha. I almost, in a blink of an eye, wanted to get a black bag off the net for $27 and my thought at that moment is that I've got the money in the bank and all I need to do is just transfer the money and all done!


But I thankfully did not. My thought at that moment was I just bought a bag for $55. I don't need another one. My reward? The bag that I got as a gift from my friend :) at no cost.


Save up spare change as and when I can but don't spend them unnecessarily later


I realize that I would have more spare change saved if I had not used that spare change to buy even more things like snacks which I don't need coz I'm going home for dinner. If I add up the coins, it will be substantial enough to be converted to cash and saved up. Oh, it's also not right for me to use the hard earned savings from the spare change to reverse the guilt I felt for buying something I don't need but it's just so nice to have like yet another blusher. You know how difficult it is to make those coins form a mountain. A mini mole hill also cannot make it.


Don't withdraw the money from my savings account just to cover up a bad buy


I am so guilty of this. I realized that my savings can't grow if I keep withdrawing it just to cover up something I purchase but turned out to be a bad buy. Bad Rahayu.


Cut down on phone bill and pay them on time


I realize that for the last couple of months, I had to pay my phone bills TWICE in a month because of the outstanding charges. That's not good. So now, I am going to cut down the phone usage even if it means me being a scrooge by calling my mum via my office phone, heh. Also, I will aim to pay my bill in full so that I don't have to pay additional charges for the outstanding amount.


Save up a fixed amount of money every month.


That fixed amount CANNOT be used to pay myself back the money which I had spent prior to pay day which I have the tendency to do. It should not be touched. I supposed I did well in this last year which is a lifesaver for me coz with it, I was able to pay my brother's medical fees and even bought his books when it's not around  my payday.


This time around, I am going to save up the ENTIRE performance bonus in March and the ENTIRE mid year bonus, if I do receive it again this year, and not use it to buy more shoes and bags. I remembered for my PB, I saved the whole amount and used it months later when I had to pay the town council some arrears. For shoes, I still have some unused ones :S Like my mum said, I don't need another pair of heels coz it's not as if I actually wear them as I wear mostly sandals or flats to work.


Honestly this is going to be hard. I mean you deserve that extra spending power to get something for yourself especially if it is a bonus to reward your performance. But I read some articles and they encourage us to save up the entire bonus amount for emergency. Even better, use it for investment to increase the amount in future. And if you want to buy something nice for yourself but it's on the pricey side, you have to seriously consider if you can afford it by assessing your current savings and investment for the future.


I can use it instead for my family's expenditures such as paying of medical bills or food and groceries or even miscellaneous things that needed payment but is not in my original list of things to pay. But it should not be towards my own unnecessary personal expense. Yes, bags one of them.

To save up at least 20% of weekly amount set aside for expenses


I will probably just save up to $50 on top of the fixed amount I put aside every month. Then if I save up any other amount after that, I will use it back for my family's expense when my salary has run out. But it's only to be used come days or at least a week before payday when I'm tight on money.


Credit card is to be used only if I can afford to pay it back later. If not, don't even bother.


That is pretty long but it's the whole purpose of having a credit card. It is not to fuel my desire to buy things that I normally don't buy. I'm talking about the urban decay eyeshadow palette. To die for. I tell ya, if I cannot control my inner emotions, I could have easily run out to sephora and buy myself that make up palette. But then again, how many eye shadows do I need?  I don't even wear eyeshadow to work. Therefore I conclude it's not even worth saving up :( Sadness.


To buy housebrand names as much as possible and to avoid buying unnecessary snacks during grocery shopping.


That's pretty explanatory.


I am going to summarize this, print this out and paste it inside my journal so that I can remember. Knowing myself, I won't read up past posts just to see what I've written. I would normally just skim through the last written posts for spelling errors and then that's it.With age catching up (turning 30 this year :S), I need to make efforts to remember important things such as this.


Wish me luck in my finance resolution. Especially the keeping of the entire bonus part.




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