Hello Family How Are You Today?
Watching The Cash Flow
I
often remind people that being debt-free and putting money into savings isn't the entire story when it comes to
financial freedom. If we're not careful we can obligate ourselves to all sorts
of recurring monthly payments that hurt our cash flow and give us no freedom to
adjust how we're spending our money.
~ allowance for the children
~ clothing allowance for the children
~ school lunch no, she doesn't 'brown
bag it' because it isn't really an option where she attends school)
~ school tuition
~ lessons: music, dance, gymnastics, etc. In the case of music lessons, we also
had to "rent" an instrument for two years.
~ monthly dues / clubs (scouts, for instance, and we belong to a club that
means once a month we are going out to eat because that is how the club gets
together.)
~ subscription services: Netflix, software, contribution pledges / tithe
pledge, etc.
~ Expanded utilities: electricity, gas, telephone, cell phone - service and
phone purchase, internet, cable, satellite, garbage, sewer, water, etc.
~ Insurance and warranties: life, house, auto, cell phone warranty, home repair
warranty, pet insurance, etc
~ Recurring shipments: automatic renewal of prescriptions, vitamin or
toiletries on auto-ship, etc. These programs are getting so popular now!
~ Other: mortgage, rent, storage unit rent, furniture / appliances, on-line
game access, and tons more I'm sure I'm forgetting.
I noticed the last time I went to buy a software package like Microsoft office
, I couldn't just buy the software. They wanted me to subscribe to a monthly
service that included "free updates". The trend only continues. It
seems every time I turn around we are encouraged to not buy an item out-right
to to pay for it monthly. If we're not careful these recurring monthly
obligations, while not debt, become worse than debt because they can easily
out-strip our monthly net income.
Have you noticed a slow creep of recurring expenses against your monthly cash
flow?
Have A great Cheap Cheetah Day!
Save That money