Before You Make a Decision Ask Can I Afford It

Posted on January 24, 2007

Ask yourself: Am I overextending myself? Do I have the time and money to do this?

Learn to control your spending and manage your time to help you reduce the unnecessary stress of overextending yourself. Yes, you are a good person but you have to learn that in some situations you can put your needs before the needs of other.

You overextend yourself…

If you are not sure you can afford or want to join in an activity i.e. hanging out with friends and having a $200 dinner, drinks and dancing night then you should ask yourself the question before saying yes or no to hanging out.
If an invitation to a party is going to cost you food money for the month either on a present or the party outfit then you need to know before hand. You can either pull out something from your closet, I am sure you have something to wear. As for the present get something reasonable there are fantastic items that cost less than $20. However, if your groceries for the week cost $20 (it happens) then buy a card and forget bread for the week.
If you said yes to a visit to Aunty Mary’s to help her clear out her garage this weekend before you remember that you had planned to catch up on that huge project for work then you are overextending yourself and you are the only one going to pay the consequences. The other option would have been to figure out exactly what your priorities were for the weekend and then offer to help Aunty Mary next weekend.
If you said yes to houseguests on the busiest week of your year, then you need to read this.

There are no problems with any of the activities listed above. They only become problems when you have not planned for them and they end up costing you, dearly in some cases.

Before you make a decision it helps to ask yourself the pertinent questions it is the only way you will avoid overextending yourself financially and time wise. Before you say yes to anything find out if you can REALLY do it without putting yourself out.

A lot of the time you make decisions without thinking of the resources you have at your disposal (in most cases time and money) then you end up regretting your actions because you have now overextended yourself and you are left holding the short end of the stick. You have either had to put something that was important to you on the backburner or you find yourself dipping into your ever-dwindling savings account to cover your expenses. In every case, you have overextended yourself and the only person going to pay for your decision is you.

In an ideal world you should use only your discretionary income to cover unexpected expenses. Discretionary income is the money left over after you pay your taxes and essential monthly expense. Most people I talked to have no idea what their discretionary income is thanks to their trusty credit cards.

Never overextend yourself again
Put yourself first, avoid making expensive mistakes. You have currently have limited resources it is time to act like it. Your time is just as valuable as anyone else’s so why do you always have to be the one making the sacrifices?
Before You Start

You must know what you monthly minimum monthly expenses are for this to work. How much money do you need in the month to cover all your bills, groceries, car, transportation and entertainment?
You must know your income, or at least a ballpark figure.
You must have a calendar showing what activities you have planned if you don’t have the activity written down you may be overextending your time by double booking.

Financial and Time Management Personal Questionnaire

Before you make a decision ask yourself these questions:

What do I want to do?
What am I being asked to do?
Did I plan for this?

Money

How much will it cost?
Can I Afford to Do This?
What expense am I committed to for this time period?
Name of each expense I have and include amounts.
What are my total expenses for this time?
What is my discretionary income? (Money in the bank – expense = discretionary income.) If this number is minus then you cannot afford it.
If you have to have it: then ask yourself: Can I sacrifice this expense over this time period?
Then ask yourself again: Can I afford to do this? Or can this expenditure wait?

Time

What am I being asked to do?
Do I have the time?
What did I have planned over that time?
List planned activity over this time
Date and time of commitment
Is this more important
Can that other planned activity be postponed?
Can I cancel this activity?
What will I be giving up if I cancel this activity?
Then decided: Yes, I have the time to do this. No, I don’t have the time to do this.

Thinking Ahead
If I did not have this new activity:

What did I want to do with this money?
What did I want to do with this time?
Do I need to put my needs first on this decision or am I best served now or in the future by going ahead and doing this?

More often than I would like, I find I overextend myself and in hindsight I wish I had asked myself these questions before saying yes. I’d blame the cell phone if I wasn’t committed to taking full responsibility for my actions. Most of the time, I am out, driving or doing more than one thing at the time the call comes in and I don’t always have my planner with me. I do a quick review in my head think I have time and boom! I get home and realize I had a class, a doctor’s appointment or nephew’s game or an unexpected bill I had to pay. I came up with this plan when I got tired of kicking myself after making commitments to everyone else by not honoring the ones I made to myself. So now, I will not say yes or no until I am sure I have the time and money to do it.

PS
Next blog “How to say NO!” (Just kidding)

photo credit: pit-yacker

Filed Under Know How to Get There, Self Improvement, Self-Help Tools

PLEASE & Thank You

Comments

2 Responses to “Before You Make a Decision Ask Can I Afford It”

Mary on January 27th, 2007 8:43 pm

Good one Tabs, I find myself in this situation more times than I would like. I have to remember to stop and ask myself if i have the time.
Lillian Lee on January 28th, 2007 4:02 pm

Great blog, thanks for the questionaire.

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