Broke and Fabulous: 10 Ways to Stop Living Beyond Your Means
Lessons to learn from Tisha and Duane’s bankruptcy.
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Be Smarter With Your Coin - Recently, Tisha Campbell-Martin and her hubby Duane Martin filed for bankruptcy, claiming that they only have $200 to their name. While they are celebs, there are some lessons to be learned on how to live among your means and not get buck wild with your spending. Ready to learn? By Kellee Terrell(Photo: F.Sadou/AdMedia/AdMedia/Corbis)
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Start Reevaluating Your Values - First, you have to sit and ask yourself what matters to you: Having fabulous clothes or money in the bank? And many of us can’t always have both. Remember that clothes and things don’t make you who you are — it’s what's on the inside. (Photo: Corbis)
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Stop Worrying About What Celebs Have - In this celebrity-obsessed world, it’s hard to not get caught up in what Kim K, Bey and Nicki have. Who doesn’t want fancy things? But realize that they are millionaires and sadly you are not, at least not right now. So stop looking to what the haves have and focus on being more grateful for what you got. (Photo: Getty Images)
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Start Asking Yourself Tough Questions - This goes beyond assessing your values. Is your rent too high? Are your student loans excruciating? Is your interest on your credit cards too high or is your car insurance making you broke? Do you eat out too much? Do the work and figure out what is sucking you financially dry so that you can start changing what you have control over. (Photo: Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Stop Spending More Than You’re Bringing In - Tisha and Duane only make $7500 a month, but were spending almost $17,000 a month. That deficit is what will mess you up and put you further into debt each month (and possibly having to use loans and credit cards to make up for it). That adds up over time. Which leads us to…(Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Make a Monthly Budget - You can’t keep spending each month, without knowing what’s coming in, what’s going out and where everything is going. And you have to keep up with it every week to make sure you are not overspending. (Photo: GI/Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Stop Maxing Out Your Credit Cards - Seriously, some of you are out there using those cards like it’s free money. You do realize that have to pay it all back — with interest. Granted emergencies happen, which are what credit cards are here for. But if you are relying on credit for everything, including your emotional shopping sprees, please rethink that STAT. (Photo: Blend Images/Corbis)
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Stop Paying Full Price for Stuff - None of us are too good to clip coupons, shop the sales rack and hit up discount stores like Family Dollar for household and cleaning items. If you want to save money, you have to shop like you want to save money. This strategy will definitely help cut your costs down each month. (Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Start Putting Together an Emergency Fund - Debt is daunting as hell: We get it. But you have to begin somewhere. Even it’s putting away $25-$50 bucks a week, that's better than nothing. And once you really start budgeting, you might see how much you are wasting and can transfer that money into your savings. (Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Stop Refusing to Make Sacrifices - This “you only live once” attitude is killing your finances. If you are truly serious about living within your means, you must start making serious sacrifices. You don’t need that luxury car with that high car note or to take Uber all the time or to shop at Whole Foods. It won’t be easy, but it needs to be done if you want to be financially free. (Photo: moodboard/Corbis)