10 Ways to Tell You’re Living Beyond Your Means

How can you tell when you are living beyond your means? What does it mean for your financial future when you stretch your resources to the max? Read on to learn about some of the warning signs.

  1. girl sittingYour car payment and insurance combined is more than your rent . . . For some people just the car payment alone is more!
  2. You have to treat your friends/family as a revolving line of credit because you’re constantly borrowing money from them with a promise to pay them back on your next paycheck
  3. Robbing Peter to pay Paul . . . when your credit card is due you are taking money from one card to pay the next one.
  4. You use your credit card for virtually all of your splurges such as buying clothes and shoes, going to the movies, eating out at restaurants or other entertainment expenses and then you struggle to make the minimum payment due.
  5. Most of your appliances/electronics/furniture were purchased during a 0% promotional period that is about to end and you haven’t even gotten close to paying the balances off. Get ready for all of the deferred interest that accumulated!
  6.  You are unable to save even $25 at the end of the month?!? Come on now, you have got to be saving something for that “just in case” moment.
  7. You knowingly make charges with your debit card that will send you into overdraft, but since you have an overdraft protection you think its okay. Seriously? Overdraft protection is not supposed to be used as an extra line of credit.
  8. Your credit cards are maxed out and you’re online frantically searching for an automatic approval on another credit card. Or even sadder, you’re on your account online frantically hitting the “request a credit line increase” link knowing there’s not even a small chance it’ll get approved.
  9. You can’t afford to pay more than the minimum credit card payment and because of the interest charges; your balance has remained the same for the past year.
  10. By the end of your pay period you can’t even withdraw money from the ATM because it’s in increments of $10 or $20. Sooo, now you’re standing in the bank line on a Tuesday morning to withdraw $8.07 because you have no money or credit available to make it until Friday’s payday.

I have to admit, that at some point in my life I could relate to almost every one of these situations. Thankfully, I was able to understand that I couldn’t afford being me at that time. Now, if any of these items applies to you, even if it’s just one of them, you may seriously want to take a look at your spending habits.

There are many budgeting guidelines such as the 60% Solution outlined by Richard Jenkins (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/ASimplerWayToSaveThe60Solution.aspx) and the 50/30/20 approach described by Liz Pulliam Weston (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/how-much-should-you-spend-on.aspx?page=1).




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About the Author

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I'm a Certified Personal Finance Counselor as well as a regular contributor to CESI Debt Solutions blog content. I enjoy relating my personal experiences in regards to finances as well as talking about issues that we all encounter when handling our debt. I definitely welcome feedback, whether it be in agreeance or constructive criticism.

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