by Solange Lopes | Aug 8, 2014 | Make More Money
how to manage your money at work – essence.com
One of the managers who interviewed me once asked me how good I was at budgeting. Ok, I had my standard three strengths and weaknesses prepared, some of my best work experience to date, and this guy was asking me about my budgeting skills. Sure, I kept a flimsy spreadsheet with a tally of my basic living expenses (climbing ever higher), but what did that have to do with me getting the job?
Fast forward a few years, and budgets are everywhere! Time budgets, departmental budgets, hiring budgets, various allocation budgets to keep track of while still achieving under budget results. From the accounting to the legal profession, through engineering and pretty much any discipline one can end up practicing, the King Budget reigns supreme! And not learning to develop budgeting skills effectively can stand in the way of a successful career:
1. Start at home! As technical as some professional budgets may sound, they are all based on the basic allocation of limited resources to a particular endeavor. Like your last $20 to lunch for the rest of the week! Or your entire shopping budget needing to fit into your increasingly smaller discretionary expense pool! Develop basic budgeting skills at home, and transfer what you know to the office!
2. Build a system! Whether you’re using the latest state-of-the-art budgeting software, or you’re still attached to your manual spreadsheets, you’ve got to have a system in place! Some basic tenets of effective budgeting, including maintaining evidence of resource allocation or reviewing the budget frequently, should be part of the way you manage your budgets at work.
3. Communication is key! One of the biggest culprits of effective budget management is lack of communication. While you may have the skills to build and maintain a time or resource budget, failing to effectively communicate expectations to your team or management may render the whole process ineffective. Speak to your manager or team about the budgeting process, get everyone involved and make it a team effort!
Do you think budgeting skills are crucial to your career? Mind sharing some tips?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jan 9, 2014 | Make More Money |
Ablestock
So it’s the New Year, and what with all the holiday spending, one of your goals this year is to save more money. No more spending all your paycheck before you even have time to say “Money!”, and wondering what you are really working for…Yes, you do enjoy some of the (costly) perks of corporate life, lie that $3.95 latte (twice a day), or the $10 lunch at the corner Soup & Salad, or even right at your computer during lunch break, that tempting online shoe membership site (you know who you are)…And as much as I myself do not believe that one should totally deprive themselves of the “good stuff” of life, like that $3.95 latte that really helps you from telling that annoying co-worker what you really think of her, I also believe that you need to mind your money like no one’s business…Seriously…
We’ve all heard of the now infamous J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) phrase, and well…as much as your traditional job won’t necessarily make you rich, there are ways to mind more of your paycheck to at least keep your finances from hitting the “broke” stage…
- Keep Your Mind on Your Money and Your Money on Your Mind! Remember Snoop Dogg’s “Gin & Juice” lyrics? Ok, maybe not your most work-appropriate lyrics, but Snoop was onto something with the line “with my mind on my money and my money on my mind.” In other more politically correct terms, you need to keep an eye on your $$$! Whether it’s by logging into your bank accounts first thing in the morning to check where you stand and what you have to do to continue reaching for your goals, as LearnVest CEO and founder Alexa Von Tobel explains to us in her “Money Minute” . And if like myself, you barely remember to match your shoes first thing in the morning, set an alarm on your phone to remind you! And if you really don’t feel like starting your day counting pennies, schedule it for a different time of the day. Just make sure you turn this practice into a frequent, preferably daily, habit… Yup, with your min on your money on your mind…
- Automate, Automate, Automate! Did I say automate? As a self-professed technologically-deficient person, I could not be more thrilled with technology’s way of doing those things I would not remember to do! Things like automatic, God-sent money transfers! It’s got to be one of the easiest money to save, and allow your money to grow stress-free as you get the time to do other more interesting things, like reading this blog…Ok, ok…How to go about it? Easier than easy! Call your bank or go online and log on, set up your transfer from your checking into your savings account. Better yet, sock up 1 or 2% of your paycheck to start into your savings account by contacting your Payroll department and filling out the appropriate deposit form. And voila, you’ve got your money working for you while you’re working on…something else!
- Now Freeeeeze! Last but not least, after all minding your money, automating it, keeping your eye on it like a money hawk, now you get to slow your roll….with the spending that is! All those credit cards you’ve racked up over time? The crushing holiday debt that you have to pay off? Freeze it! Yup, grab that credit card, put it in a bow of water, and put it in the freezer…and leave it there for a couple of months or so, until you can see some light at the end of the financial tunnel! With the average American household carrying over $15,000 in credit card debt, you won’t be the only one freezing your credit cards this winter…and no defrosting any time soon!
Are You Minding Your Paycheck?
The Corporate Sister.
by | Nov 25, 2013 | Career, Make More Money
As corporate sisters, we work hard for our money! After all, as much as we love our careers, we also need to pay the bills! So how interesting that the very place where we’re supposed to make our money, is also the one where we end up spending quite a nice chunk of it…
Coffee breaks, quick lunch hour shopping trips, online shopping escapades, vending machines…many are the daily distractions that transfer our hard-earned cash from our paychecks to the corner store, neighboring retailer or the internet for that matter…
Pack Your Lunch…at least half the week! It may not be much fun, and you may really have no time to prep your food ahead of time. Yet when you start noticing how much shoe money you’re actually saving, you may just like this whole brown-bagging thing…
Give Yourself an Allowance! Yup, you read right, let’s reminisce about our younger selves and the good ol’ allowance system. However much you decide you need (or want) to spend everyday, every week, or every month, put it aside, allow yourself to blow it, and just stick to the plan…
Last but not least, learn to say NO! Many are the temptations to spend money at work, from the caffeine-addict co-worker who almost lives at Starbucks, to your girl on the 12th floor who needs an H&M fix every other day, you can run on financial empty by the middle of the month pretty fast…And sometimes, the most effective (and did I say, hardest) way of curbing all this crazy spending may just be to say NO…including to your fabulous, Starbucks-addicted, shoe-obsessed fabulous self…
Are you minding your cash at work?
