Take care of your debts as a single person is a much easier task then when you are in a family setting. By setting good habits when single, it will help you manage your finances better when there is a spouse or children.
Debt management for singles and couples
Managing your debts by yourself is much different than doing so when you have a family. When you are single, you only have to keep track of what you are spending. When you have a family, you have to not only manage what bills you are compiling but also keep track of what your spouse and possibly children are spending, or what is being spent on your children. A good budgeting system can help you deal with these situations.
When you are only looking after your own expenses, there are not a lot of factors in the equation that make it too complicated. You track your income, your necessary bills such as rent/mortgage, electrical bills, groceries etc. Then you see at the end of the month what you have left. If you know you have overspent one week you can make up for it the next by not spending as much.
Managing your debts when you are in a family situation can be a much more complicated task. Not only are you keeping track of your expenses, but there is also what your spouse is spending. What about that extra expense you used to pay for each month when you where single such as buying luxury coffee. You used to understand that you would pay $4 for your fancy designer drink per day equaling up $120 per month, well now you find out that your spouse does likewise making the bill double. Or your car expenses, you realized you have to pay insurance but now with two cars you are paying double. This becomes a much bigger strain on the wallet, especially if one spouse is not earning anything or much at all which is often the case do to job differences or child rising. It becomes more important to determine what expenses are necessary, what ones are a luxury and what ones are in between. When children enter the picture, it becomes even cloudier as the parents try to determine what their children need and what are just wants and where to settle in between.
The solution for dealing with this is to be proactive in dealing with your expenses. Determine on a scale, what are absolute necessities, basic staple foods, paying for your power (but still being smart in turning off excess lights) etc. Then figure out what lye in the middle somewhere, such as going out for dinners, having two cars, cable TV, etc. Determine on a scale, what ones are more important that others to you. Then if you need to, cut back on the far end of the scale, the items/services that are going a little beyond what you can afford. This way you can make better financial decisions and keep the debt away. If you have found yourself to be already stuck in a bad financial situation you may want to talk to an established company about debt consolidation, debt settlement, credit counseling, lower interest loans etc to help you get your feet back on track and rebuild situation for the future.
