Article: How Much Credit can you Afford? - Free Reprintable Article

by Cindy S. Morus
Before making the decision to add more debt, you need to make sure that you:

Allocate sufficient money for your essentials.

Borrow only for items that you need and can afford.

Borrow only if you're spending less each month than you take home.

1. Start with your monthly take-home pay.

This is the amount you have left after taxes and other deductions have been made.

2. Subtract the amount you need for necessities and fixed expenses.

This includes savings, your mortgage or rent payment, utilities, food, transportation, child care, medical care, clothing, and recreation. Include payments made on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, such insurance and taxes.

3. Subtract monthly payments for existing loans and credit cards.

4. The balance is the amount you can safely apply to debt repayment.

Avoid thinking you can spend all this amount, since emergencies do occur, and you may not wish to use your regular savings account to cover small, unexpected expenses.

Monthly Take Home $ _______________
Fixed Expenses ---- $ _______________
Loans/Credit Cards ---- $ _______________
Amount Available For Additional Debt $ _______________

HOW TO MANAGE CREDIT CARD USE

Many people find themselves with credit problems because they don't keep track of purchases they make with their credit cards. A simple method of keeping track of monthly credit card charges is to:

Determine the total amount you can responsibly charge on all your credit card accounts during that month.

Keep track of your credit spending in the same way you maintain a running balance of your checking account.

Subtract each amount charged from the monthly charge limit you set.

Stop using your credit cards if you draw this balance down to zero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) Phelps Creek Financial Coaching - All Rights Reserved
Cindy S. Morus (www.phelps-creek.com) is a Certified Financial Recovery Counselor specializing in showing women and their families how to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. She is also a Certified Credit Report Reviewer and Get Clients NOW!™ licensee. Contact her at 541-387-2995 or cmorus@phelps-creek.com. She is also the publisher and editor of "Financial Fitness", an internet gazette dedicated to helping people improve their financial fitness no matter what decisions were made in the past.

Attention Ezine editors/Site owners: Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or website as long as you leave all links in place, do not alter the content and include our resource box as listed above. If you do use the material please send us a note (cmorus@phelps-creek.com) so we can take a look. Thanks.

Note: This article may be freely distrubuted and reprinted as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. Minor edits and alterations are acceptable so long as they do not distort or change the content of the article. For more information on reprint rights email:

Article Formatted for Email & Newsletters:

241 Words

How Much Credit can you Afford?
by Cindy S. Morus

Before making the decision to add more debt, you need to
make sure that you:

Allocate sufficient money for your essentials.

Borrow only for items that you need and can afford.

Borrow only if you're spending less each month than you take
home.

1. Start with your monthly take-home pay.

This is the amount you have left after taxes and other
deductions have been made.

2. Subtract the amount you need for necessities and fixed
expenses.

This includes savings, your mortgage or rent payment,
utilities, food, transportation, child care, medical care,
clothing, and recreation. Include payments made on a
quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, such insurance and
taxes.

3. Subtract monthly payments for existing loans and credit
cards.

4. The balance is the amount you can safely apply to debt
repayment.

Avoid thinking you can spend all this amount, since
emergencies do occur, and you may not wish to use your
regular savings account to cover small, unexpected expenses.

Monthly Take Home $ _______________
Fixed Expenses ---- $ _______________
Loans/Credit Cards ---- $ _______________
Amount Available For Additional Debt $ _______________

HOW TO MANAGE CREDIT CARD USE

Many people find themselves with credit problems because
they don't keep track of purchases they make with their
credit cards. A simple method of keeping track of monthly
credit card charges is to:

Determine the total amount you can responsibly charge on all
your credit card accounts during that month.

Keep track of your credit spending in the same way you
maintain a running balance of your checking account.

Subtract each amount charged from the monthly charge limit
you set.

Stop using your credit cards if you draw this balance down
to zero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) Phelps Creek Financial Coaching - All Rights Reserved
Cindy S. Morus (<a
href="http://www.phelps-creek.com">www.phelps-creek.com</a>)
is a Certified Financial Recovery Counselor specializing in
showing women and their families how to achieve financial
well-being and peace of mind. She is also a Certified Credit
Report Reviewer and Get Clients NOW!™ licensee. Contact her
at 541-387-2995 or cmorus@phelps-creek.com  She is also the
publisher and editor of  "Financial Fitness", an internet
gazette dedicated to helping people improve their financial
fitness no matter what decisions were made in the past.

Attention Ezine editors/Site owners: Feel free to reprint
this article in its entirety in your ezine or website as
long as you leave all links in place, do not alter the
content and include our resource box as listed above. If you
do use the material please send us a note
(cmorus@phelps-creek.com) so we can take a look. Thanks.

Articles and Resources on Credit & Debt

Product: Create A Rapid Debt Reduction Plan With Simple Joe's Debt Easer
Product: Simple Joe's Money Tools - Personal Finance and Investing Financial Calculators
Article: Credit Cards - Avoiding Credit Card Traps
Article: Credit Cards - Credit Card Traps, And How To Avoid Them
Article: Credit Cards - The Credit Card Offer
Article: Credit Cards - The Proper Use Of Credit Cards
Article: Credit Cards - Tips for managing your credit cards
Article: Debt Elimination - Create Your Own Ultimate Debt Elimination Plan
Article: Debt Elimination - Crushing Credit Card Debt
Article: Debt Elimination - Save Thousands On Your Mortgage
Books: Best Books Debt Management Books
Books: Best Loan & Credit Books

Back to the Personal Finance articles page.

Back to the Free, Reprintable Articles page.

Your Financial FIGHT

Getting beaten up by excessive debt? Let Debt Eraser fight for you!

Are Debts Beating You Up?

Put Debt Eraser on Your Side!

Simple fast debt reduction. Create a Raid Debt Reduction plan with simple Debt Eraser PC software.

Achieve your New Year's resolution to get out of debt!

Beat Your Debt
(Click Here)

Global Home Business

Are you ready for a home business that can take you around the WORLD?

Extra income to:

- Pay off debts
- Save for retirement
- Just have fun!

Travel the world on "business" - YOUR business!

Discover SISEL!

More Resources

More Resources:

Page Title:	Article: How Much Credit can you Afford?
Keywords:	personal finance credit how much afford amount best too much debt, free reprintable article
Summary:	Before making the decision to add more debt, you need to make sure that you...