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March 11, 2009
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Question: I’m worried that I don’t have any emer-gency funds to tide me over in case of a problem. I’m trying to cut back on spending so that I can start saving, but it’s a major struggle. What can I do to change my spending habits?
Answer: In these challenging financial times, it’s crucial to be smart with money. Creating a bud-get can help you to be more aware of where your money goes. Download a personal budget at www.financiallysmartonline.com, and use the annual sec-tion to help you to track your spending.
You then need to find ways to reduce your spend-ing. Putting more of your income into a savings account will help you to feel more confident about your financial future. Here are ten smart steps to help you to spend wisely:
1. Never go grocery shopping without a list. Go-ing to the supermarket without knowing what you want will lead to impulse buying.
2. Check around at other supermarkets for the prices of items that you buy regularly, to see if you’re getting the best deal. Look weekly in the newspapers for items on sale.
3. Team up with friends and family to buy in bulk from a wholesale outlet or downtown. You can benefit from the lower unit costs without having to find a lot of money up front.
4. Instead of buying food from a restaurant, cook enough dinner to carry leftovers for lunch. Make your own fruit drinks or drink water with your meals.
5. Plant vegetables and seasonings such as to-matoes, green beans, peppers and scallion in your backyard or flower pots. Seasonal changes can dramatically affect the prices of these items.
6. Spend less on electricity bills by purchasing fluorescent bulbs, which use about two-thirds less
energy and last longer than regular bulbs. Plug out all your small appliances when they are not in use.
7. Save considerably on your water bill by putting a few jars of water in your toilet tank to displace the water. Get a low-flow shower head, which gives a good spray but uses less water.
8. Competition can bring great savings! Check out the calling plans available on the different telephone networks to find one that reduces your monthly costs on local and overseas calls.
9. Go to the hairdresser every other week in-stead of once per week, or buy a hairdryer for at-home hair care.
10. Instead of going to the nightclub or the movies, rent a DVD, by some inexpensive snacks and drinks, and invite a few friends over to your house. Better yet, have them all chip in to buy the items.
These are only a few suggestions to help you reduce your expenses. Get creative in finding other ways to slash spending and save more.............................................................................Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services is Jamaica’s number one source for practical, down-to-earth and independent answers for all questions relating to personal finance. Get more money smart advice at www.financiallysmartonline.com. Email [email protected] with comments M
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Smart Steps to:Reduce Spending
Provided by: Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services10
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EThe typical Jamaican workplace has not evolved to meet the demands of modern society. Few organiza-tions offer flexible work hours, and many do not give employees the option to telecommute. Telecommut-ing wasn’t very popular in the United States until the amendments to the Clear Air Act in 1996 were adopt-ed with the expectation to reduce carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone levels by twenty-five percent.
This act required companies with over one hundred employees to encourage car pooling, the use of pub-lic transportation, shortened work weeks and telecom-muting. Telecommuting allows for employees to work from home by using the internet to communicate with business partners via electronic mail, virtual private networks, and wide area networks. If local employers allowed staff to have flexible hours and telecommute, it probably would lessen peak hour traffic. Employee comfort should also be taken into account in order to gain maximum productivity from the workforce.
John Geewax, Software EngineerJohn Geewax a Senior Software Engineer at Invite Media based in Philadelphia, states that casual attire helps the work force to be “less stressed and more relaxed at the office.” “Our office attire here allows us to socialize after work; when we are finished we sim-ply just head out to a restaurant or sports bar.” These activities allow for ‘team building,’ and the bonds formed at these gatherings will contribute towards Invite Media’s growth. The company also advises against interpersonal relationships, as they can be-come very devastating and create a negative environ-ment at the office. Invite Media specialized in build-ing platforms to analyze and optimize online display advertising.
Karen Brown, Sales RepresentativeA former Sales Representative at a noted music store that specializes in audio and visual media, she noted that employee productivity is influenced by manage-ment’s attitude towards its workers. “When manage-ment speaks to the staff with little regard, you feel that you are not wanted and the ‘vibe’ to work is squashed.” Ms. Brown went on further to explain that not having the necessary tools to perform tasks causes workers to become frustrated. “It is good also for em-ployees to have a clean and pleasing environment for them to work in; poor working conditions will result in tasks poorly performed.”
Cassandra’s approachCassandra’s Spa, owned and operated by Cassan-dra Mullings takes a unique approach with her staff as well as the work environment. “I continuously up-grade myself and ‘my girls’ by attending workshops and seminars in the United States. This keeps us abreast with new technology as well as products.” Cassandra also highlights the importance of having a clean work area. “To have a clean and healthy en-vironment, I have the air conditioner units serviced regularly and the internal filters cleaned.” As a result of the current economic recession being experienced, in order to keep staff morale high, she emphasises the need for energy conservation which relates to funds being saved to ensure survival during these chal-lenging times. “On days that are ‘lightly’ booked we close shortly after our last appointment- this allows the staff to have time during the week to tend to personal matters and it reduces our energy consumption. This makes more sense than being open, having nothing to do and opting towards salary cuts to meet the short fall.”
Jamaica inefficient workplaceswhat can we do to get more productive?
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Don’t be a slaveto your business
unning your own business can be a very time-consuming task. The typical entrepre-neur quickly realises that a lot of personal energy is required to create a successful en-terprise, especially in the start-up phase.
While committing long hours to the business is ini-tially acceptable, many entrepreneurs will eventually suffer from massive burn-out if this is a continuous state of affairs. Their dreams of more leisure time rapidly disappear as they wake up to the reality that they are basically slaves to their businesses.
Owner or employee?T. Harv Eker, bestselling author of Speedwealth, ex-plains that “Most people do not own a business, they own a job.” Eker believes that many self-employed persons are still employees, as they hire themselves to work in their own businesses. Entrepreneurs should never start a business to make a living, Eker points out, they must create a business to produce personal wealth and freedom.
One of the problems that can tie down entrepre-neurs is that as the demand for their product or ser-vice grows, there is no way to increase the delivery without increasing their own personal effort. This is a common scenario for personal care providers whose customers insist on receiving their individual atten-tion. They almost end up killing themselves in the process of trying to make their businesses succeed.
Breaking free of business bondageWe’ve all heard stories of businesses that performed well until the owners decided to expand operations. According to Eker, this happens when the business grows beyond its foundation, as it wasn’t originally designed to support a big enterprise. The answer to this ‘expansion dilemma,’ Eker reveals, is to create a business system that will allow the entrepreneur to eventually achieve the desired freedom.
“A business system is a repeatable process that pro-duces a profit,” Eker explains. “The idea is to sys-temize your business so that you can effectively and efficiently sell and support your product or service in larger quantities as you grow.” The objective is to design a business system that works well even if you
are not physically present.
Setting up systemsA business consists of three key elements – produc-tion, operations and marketing. Eker says that the entrepreneur must implement specific processes for each of these areas so that together they will run smoothly like a well-oiled machine. “You have to look into the reasons why people want to see you or buy your product, and package that into a system that can be duplicated without you.”
How can you turn your product or service into a money machine? How can you design your opera-tions to run effortlessly? How can your marketing methods churn out endless profits? We’ll continue our focus on building a business system in upcoming columns.
© 2009 Cherryl Hanson Simpson............................................................................Cherryl is a financial consultant and coach, and founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. See more of her work at www.financiallysmartonline.com. Email Cherryl at [email protected]. Please add this address to your email address book in order to ensure you receive a response.
RCherryl Hanson Simpson
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