Step 11: Time to Attack, Crackerjack!

So far we have been taking about overhead; what it costs to live. Shelter, utilities, food, transportation, taxes, and insurance are the six categories that you cannot eliminate. But for most choices, if you want to become really wealthy, meaning that you don’t have to work at all, then you need to develop a hard core attitude about eliminating unnecessary expenses in your monthly overhead. Again, you don’t have to eliminate the things you love, if you are hard core about eliminating waste. So, follow the above steps and get the cost of those six things as low as possible.

Beware Little Expenses! They Add Up!

So now it’s time to attack everything else. Go back to your Expense Statement that you created in this article. First, are you paying bank fees of any kind? Eliminate them. Does your bank charge you to have a checking account? Ask the bank to eliminate the fees or change accounts. Or change banks. There are many banks that will give you a checking account for free. Are you paying ATM fees? Stop using the ATM. Or only go to ATMs that have no charges. Stop paying fees to get your own cash! Eliminate any type of insurance on consumer items. Are you paying for insurance on your credit card? Eliminate it. Are you in the habit of buying extended warranties on your purchases? Stop it. Demand an immediate value of every single dollar you spend. Do not be satisfied with promises of a future return or benefit. Demand the benefit now or get rid of the item.

If you want to become wealthy, meaning that you don’t have to work at all, then you need to develop a hard core attitude about eliminating unnecessary expenses in your monthly overhead.

Eliminate things you do not use. Did you buy something that does not fit or does not work. Return it and get your money back. Go do it and stop stalling. Do you subscribe to magazines that you do not read? What internet subscriptions do you have and are you using them? The goal is to reduce your monthly overhead regarding things that you do not get a lot of value from anymore. Give up your morning latte? Forget it! Enjoy your morning coffee. We are here to enjoy our lives. But, if you can eliminate your latte with no tears, save the cash. Your habit should be to demand a 100% value, and I mean right now, not in the future, for every dollar you spend. If you are not getting that value right now, dump the deal.

Do you have piles of clothes that you do not wear? Give them to charity and get a receipt. The value of the donated items is deductible off of your taxes. You get to decide the value of the items. When you make a purchase of any kind, automatically ask yourself, can I deduct this off my taxes? Develop the ultimate money mindset of asking how does this purchase immediately benefit me and how? And do I get the benefit now? If the answer is no, change your habits of spending.

Be thrifty and try to pick up money tips. Did you know that when Warren Buffett was a kid, he used to go to the race track and look for discarded winning tickets? Sometimes he would get lucky and find a discarded ticket where the horse had won and he would cash in. The version of this for you is to look for small opportunities. Put yourself in the mindset to always look for a way to make some money. Search out an opportunity for a profit. If you have an idea, follow it up, see if it will work.

And while we are on the topic of expenses, stop picking up the tab for other people. Stop buying gifts for people. Try it for one solid year. Figure out what you are doing when you do this. Are you trying to buy love? Well, don’t. People care for you or not.

Or do you have a “friend” that always somehow never pays their share? Do they forget their wallet? Is it again your turn to pay? Do you have the peanut/house syndrome with them; where they give you a peanut and expect a house in return? Do you do free work for them? Do they always come to stay with you for vacation, but never invite you? Do they drink your wine and never give anything back? Do they never offer anything in return? If you have a “friend” who is always promising something in exchange for something they get from you, but yet, it never happens on their end…sayonara! And quick! This habit of demanding a 100% value from your time now spills over into many categories and leads to a better life and better friends.

You will be amazed at what you get when you start being frugal and notice what you are getting for your money and your efforts. So, get your monthly overhead as low as you possibly can. Reduce your monthly expenses. The key here is to eliminate wasteful overhead. Eliminate all unnecessary expenses. Keep your money in your own pocket. The goal is to make every single penny work for you, not against you.

Continue reading to see how to eliminate credit card debt and other consumer debt.

And buy the book below under Recommended Reading called “Wealth Secrets of the One Percent”. This book is about the quiet, little told, secrets of how the insiders become extremely wealthy by “defeating the forces of market competition.” Sam Wilkin uncovers the economic principles that enable a fortunate few to get really rich.” A very interesting and well researched book of how vast economic wealth is acquired; no other book tells it quite like this.