If you're having a problem making or sticking to a budget, this presentation can help. It reveals the most common obstacles to budgeting including procrastination, why you bust your budget and financial apps that could help you get and keep on track. Learn more at http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com or call 1-888-703-4948

1. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
How To Overcome
The Most Common
Obstacles To
Budgeting
You know you should be budgeting. Your heart tells you that you should budget. You
know you would be happier and less stressed out if you had a budget. So, what are
the most common obstacles that are keeping you from budgeting and how can you
overcome them? Here are some answers to these
questions that could help. (Continued)
]
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2. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
Procrastination
There was a study done by The Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychology that
found that procrastination is usually a problem of self-regulation. (continued)
This means if you are a chronic procrastinator, it’s likely because you’re probably
easily distracted, disorganized and have weak planning or goal setting skills.
Unfortunately, these are exactly the type of negative behaviors that will not only cost
you money by delaying your budgeting but will actually impede your overall progress
in life. If you are a chronic procrastinator, you probably have a hard time with
subjects that you find difficult or uninteresting and budgeting is no doubt one of
them. Fortunately, there are some tactics you can use to change your habits whether
they are financial or otherwise.
As an example of this, if you find the idea of making and sticking to a budget
overwhelming, try breaking it down into smaller pieces. This makes it possible for
you to tackle budgeting a bit at a time – and then feel good after you have achieved
some small steps. If you use the financial tool Mint.com you could use its automatic
budgeting tools as a starting point and then adjust your budget gradually over time
as you learn more about your spending. Once you have your budget in place and
working, you could then use gentle reminders tp help keep you on track lest those
nasty, old habits of procrastination take over again. The reminders you set on Mint
or your smart phone's calendar are very important self-discipline tools that can help
you achieve that bigger goal.
Faking the numbers
Have you been kidding yourself in terms of how you spend your money? For
example, you might think – off the top of your head – that you're really not spending
all that much money on food. If you create a budget, you may find that you’re
spending several hundred dollars more a month than you had thought. In other
words, you've been fabricating or fudging the numbers. If you've been wondering
why your savings are not growing as quickly as you had hoped, this could very well be
the reason. When you fabricate your numbers, this helps you avoid the unpleasant
reality of your financial habits. But whom are you kidding? If you turn a blind eye to
your spending, this won't change your bottom line. What you need to do is take stock
of what you're actually spending by keeping your receipts and logging all your
spending for several weeks. If you don't do this, you're just deceiving yourself.

3. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
Busting your budget
When you want to feel good now, breaking your budget and fudging the numbers can
help you achieve that. But would you really rather avoid unpleasant truths and
splurge today instead of dealing with the long term? When you do this, you’re really
forgoing bigger pleasures down the road. You may want quick gratification and be
ignoring the benefits you could enjoy later. Psychologists call this "present bias" and
it impacts your ability to realize that the $5 latte you drink today can cost you much
more money later. If this is your problem you can change it by focusing more on the
bigger picture. Psychologists say that you should visualize your goals as clearly as you
can. Try imagining how you would actually feel when you can afford a new car or to
retire comfortably. Then, think about how you'll feel years from now when you
haven't met your goals. Ask yourself if the disappointment of not being able to get
that car or retire comfortably is worth the small pleasure of buying a latte today.
What psychologists also say is that what we’re really craving is a feeling of novelty
and variety and splurging is just a way to achieve this.
So, if you get the urge to overspend, look for new forms of stimulation. Workout or
go for a drive. Call up a friend, put on some music you love or work on a hobby. The
point is to do something that will re-set your frame of mind and provide that thrill
and rush of endorphins that you're really seeking. The truth is that spending is just a
fast fix that will leave you poorer– and probably no happier – in the long run.
There is help available
Creating a budget these days is much less difficult than just a few years ago thanks to
the software and smart phone apps now available. Using one of these could help you
overcome the procrastination hurdle of budgeting because it can make creating a
budget so fast and simple you'll hardly know you've created one at all. We especially
like the tool Mint.com that we mentioned earlier. It's free and available for use on
computers, iPhones, iPads, Android devices and even Windows phones. What makes
Mint so helpful is that all you have to do is type in the numbers of your checking and
savings accounts, credit and debit cards, loans and investments. Mint will then
aggregate all of your information and present it to you as one easy-to-understand
picture. Mint will automatically organize your spending into budget categories for
you – saving you the time and brain damage that would be required for you to do this
yourself. You can set spending limits in each category and Mint will send you email
alerts anytime you overspend in any of them. It will even alert you if it finds a
financial product such as a credit card that’s better than one you're currently using.

4. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
More helpful apps
Another helpful app for saving money – especially for people who don’t know how to
create a budget – is LearnVest. It lets you sync your savings and investment accounts
together and then get an overview of where your money goes. It will categorize your
expenses, show you how much you spend on restaurants and travel and then track
your progress so you can see if you’re staying within your spending limits.
Three other popular budgeting tools include You Need A Budget (YNAB), AceMoney
and MoneyDance. YNAB costs $60 and is designed for use on a computer. AceMoney
is $34.99 and MoneyDance is $49.99. AceMoney is unfortunately not available for
use on Apple products but MoneyDance is.
Of course, these are not the only financial apps available. They are the most
comprehensive. There are also apps available that are more single-minded. For
example, if you have a hard time sticking to a budget, you could try Mvelopes. It's
based on the old tough love strategy for budgeting where you create envelopes for
your categories and then add the money you budgeted for each category into its
“envelope.” The tough love part comes in when you’ve spent all the money in a
category, as the program will then block you from spending any more money in it.
To pay down debt
Finally, if your number one goal is to pay down debt there are several apps designed
to help you do just that. One of the best of these is called Ready For Zero. It's
available for use on the iPhone and is said to be great for tackling credit card debts,
student loans and other personal loans. You use it to track all of your debts as you
pay them.

5. Helpful Financial Information from National Debt Relief …
Does this sound familiar?
You are tired of worrying about money…
You are losing sleep due to mounting credit card
debt…
You are fighting with your partner about the
bills…
You are living paycheck to paycheck…
You are falling behind on your debts…
You are losing hope…
It’s time to talk with National Debt Relief!
Call Toll Free 1-888-703-4948 Now!
Or Go To http://NationalDebtRelief.com