One of the reasons so many of us get behind on our bills, get charged late fees and wonder where our money goes is because we let our money control us rather than the other way around.  We aren’t “smart” about our money practices and we let our life get in the way and ruin our finances.

The answer to this problem is to keep a schedule for your bills, your budget and your purchases.  You do not necessarily have to “plan” each and every purchase, but you will want to try and plan your grocery trips and major purchases to ensure that you are only spending what you can afford.

You will want to schedule your bill payments because you want to be on time, to avoid late fees and other penalties.  Finally, you will also want to schedule your budget because you do need to set aside a specific time of the month to sit down and work on your budget so that you can use it as a means by which to gage how you are doing financially throughout the month.

Keeping a schedule will definitely pay off for you, and your pocket book.

Photo credit: Avolore