5 Tips To Beat The Recession.

Tips To Beat The Recession.

It's official, the recession everyone has been talking about is here and if you are to believe what you read in the newspapers or what you see on the news, it's going to be around for a while.

So what does the recession mean for the average person ?

For many the thoughts of tightening the belt is a daunting one as the belt was not that loose to begin with ! While the cost of living is rising in every way imaginable; food, gas, utilities, etc., and unemployment figures rising it is unlikely that the average joe is going to ride out the storm without making a few adjustments to their finances.

Here is a list of to - dos and some advice to get you on the road to a better financial future :

1. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE ! If you don't already have one, open a savings account straight away. Shop around for the best interest rate, do some research on your local banks and credit unions. Aim to save 15% of your paycheck, this may seem extreme but look at it this way, if you put away a substantial amount of your weekly wages into savings you are doing two key things to ensure your financial future will be bright, firstly you are going to be building up a nice little nest-egg of savings and earning interest on it and secondly by having less disposable income every week you will be forced to spend less, you can't splash out on that new handbag or buy that new pair of trainers if you have just taken a 15% pay-cut now can you?! Aim for this to be a long term plan and get accustomed to spending less and saving more. If you have children open an account for them also and put maybe $5 a week into it for them and encourage them to add to this with some of their pocket money. This is important to teach your kids the value of money.
2. MAKE A BUDGET PLAN. How much do you spend in an average week ? Do you even know ? If you were to add up the cost of food, bills, utilities, clothes, treats for the kids, renting dvds, fast food, gas,... would you be surprised by the amount you spend ? Figure out where your money is going and then you will be able to put a stop to overspending on frivolous items and luxuries.
3. CUT UP YOUR CREDIT CARDS ! Use cash whenever possible, why pay the banks interest if you don't have to just for the convenience of paying with plastic. There are plenty of alternatives to credit cards if you like buying things online, like prepaid cards that work like phone credit, you can use these wherever credit cards are needed and you won't have to worry about interest and late payment fees.
4. PAY OFF DEBTS : If you have any debts you should not use this time of financial uncertainty as an excuse to let your payments slide a bit, every time you miss a payment you accrue interest. Pay as much as you can off your debts even if you have to make sacrifices to do so.
5. EVERY LITTLE HELPS : If you usually buy your lunch out, eat fast food for dinner, buy coffees, bottled water and snacks during the day and make impulse purchases at the counter when buying groceries, you are basically throwing money away. Invest in a good water filter instead of buying bottled water, bring your own coffee and packed lunch to work, cook more often, eat out less and think about everything you buy before handing over money. It's the small stuff that makes a big dent in your finances.

By following these simple steps you can beat the recession and avoid financial problems in the future.