How to Make Your Money Go Further

These ideas can prime your creative pump and give you some ideas on ways to make your money go further.

Turn regular resources into cash

Rent out a room in your home, or part of your yard for a garden plot or your garage for parking. Carpool to work. Turn hobbies or everyday tasks, such as baking, sewing, house cleaning or caring for small children, into moneymaking activities.

Adapt a simple/frugal lifestyle

The drive toward a more simple lifestyle has become more appealing to many in the last decade. Adopting the lifestyle may not be for you for the long term, but it may be a philosophy you could temporarily follow until you meet your long range goals.

According to www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity, "Voluntary simplicity does not mean you have to live in poverty or practice a lifestyle of self-denial. It means quite the opposite, in fact, because once you develop the habit of being frugal where it really counts, you will be able to enjoy a happier and more meaningful lifestyle, with more discretionary money and time, plus the freedom of being able to decide what to do with both. Another good is website www.simpleliving.net.

Put your budget into a computer program

If you have a computer program that will formulate a budget for you, by all means use it, as it will be more convenient than writing up a budget by hand. Financial programs will perform all calculations when you set up a budget with specified amounts allocated for each category. When you record expenditures, the computer will automatically tell you how much you have left to spend from that particular category.

Envelope budgeting

Set up envelopes (you may get special ones for this purpose in office supply stores if you wish) marked with headings for each spending category. Put that amount in cash into each envelope and spend from those envelopes. This may seem simplistic, but seeing and touching actual cash seems to help curb spending. If you are tempted to borrow cash from another category envelope, you are more likely to think twice before doing so. When an envelope is empty, force yourself to wait until next month's allocation goes into that envelope before you spend any more in that category.

Some envelopes will accumulate each month until you have enough for a quarterly insurance payment, or a new coat, or a vacation.

Part 13, "Budget for the Future," continues the series on how to become successfully self-employed.

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