This is a guest post from Penny at The Saved Quarter as part of the?Yakezie blog swap. This week, we were asked, ?If you had one financial do-over, what would it be and why?? Remembering games in elementary school, when the ball went out of bounds, my friends and I would yell, ?Do over!? and get another shot. ?That is fine for the playground but obviously doesn?t cross over into ?financial choices. Thinking back over my financial life, there are a number of instances where I wish I could call for a ?do over!?
If I had my life to do over, I would have finished college before having kids. I would have started saving and investing earlier, taking advantage of the awesomeness that is compounding interest. I would have bought a house before the bubble. But the number one financial choice I wish I could do over: ?I would have started budgeting sooner!
For too many years, I spent money like water, letting it flow in and out of my life but not making any real choices about how I used it.?I cringe to think of how much money I wasted in my 20?s due to irresponsible overspending and overdraft fees. I can?t do over those years, and that money (which could be compounding as we speak!) is gone forever. It?s never too late to change habits and stop the damage, though.
It took a drastic pay cut and brush with food stamps to get my butt in gear and start really managing my money. ?I had to budget out of necessity. What a revelation! Making a budget meant becoming aware of my spending, which wasn?t in line with my income, and made me reevaluate what I considered needs.?I started using cash envelopes. I made an envelope for each budget category so I couldn?t overspend. I couldn?t overdraw our account. Financial responsibility became a habit. In a little over a year, I was able to turn our situation around, even with a low income. I?saved a quarter of our income, dropped the food stamps, and returned to college to finish my degree. I will graduate debt free.
Without becoming aware of my poor money habits and making deliberate choices about how I would manage our money, I would still be wishing for the do over. ?I can be glad that I?m making good choices now, and try not to kick myself over the choices I didn?t make sooner.
Image by?Gamma Man.
Source: http://www.narrowbridge.net/2011/06/guest-post-a-financial-do-over/
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