How To Manage Your Money.

Not that I'm very good at it. Haha.

Just so you know, I'm an ardent fan of Readers' Digest. Not only that it's filled with information to the brim, but the real life stories, advises are indeed factual and realistic.

One of the articles I personally liked was the titled above - "How To Manage Your Money". I've been wanting to save money but ended up not doing any bit of it cause a huge fraction of my pay goes to my bills. Yes, bills, bills, bills. Le sigh.

The day my pay check is credited into my account, almost three-quarter will be gone in the next hour, hence, leaving me with only a small portion for me to roll over for the next month, including my evil-ish temptations of purchasing new bags/shoes/tops/bottoms/accessories gosh so hard being a woman.

So when I came across this article, I swore by it. Though still unsuccessful, at least I've kept this article with me in hoping that when I am able to actually comply with these tips, it'll be handy.

Okay less of my situation now, here are those tips that I'd like to share with you.

1. Determine your cash flow.  
- Determine your monthly income (salary, rental income [if any], or anything that comes in on a monthly basis)
- Figure out how much you spend (keep all bills and receipts you've collected and write down everything you've paid for in a month, whether it's by cash or credit card)

2. List your spendings under 3 categories : Fixed expenses, Committed expenses, Discretionary expenses. 
- Fixed : housing, insurance, taxes and car payments (ie. things that don't change from month to month) and divide the sum by 12 to get the monthly cost.
- Committed : utilities, mobile phone charges, food, transportation, credit card payments, fees and allowances for parents.
- Discretionary : everything else ie. spending on clothing (my major concern haha) entertainment, books, medical bills etc.

3. As for vacations and gifts for special occasions, add up how much you spend in a year, divide by 12 and you'll basically have an idea of how much it costs per month.

Once you've written everything down, you'll have an honest picture of where does your money actually goes to.

Since 2012 is drawing near, perhaps this would help in sorting out your finances in the upcoming year. Wishing you the best of luck!