Author: Rob

Better Budgeting

~ Rob

A few months back my money was out of control and I didn’t track any spending so here is my new monthly budget in a beautiful Excel Spreadsheet. I’ve just managed to balance the books thanks to selling some stuff on eBay.

You’ll notice there is no budget for fun anymore. 🙁 I seriously need to get a handle on my cash situation.

I have included the overdraft, my mate and Mum and Dad under debts but can’t reduce these debts until I have brought the credit card payments down. It’s a good thing friends and family don’t charge interest.

Saving on Dinner Money

~ Rob

Eating out costs a bomb. Not that I know the price of explosives or suggest you eat highly volatile chemicals for lunch. The fact is food on the move is expensive and adds to your monthly costs. So I’ve challenged myself to keep lunch and snack money to a minimum and cut down on  coffee break costs.

I can take a packed lunch to work. I’ve being doing it for just under 3 weeks. If you are on a budget taking sandwiches, pasta, homemade curry and other food from home is a cash saver. At first I felt silly and embarrassed but now I know it’s part of my budget plan.

I’m just not sure if I can reduce my coffee intake. I certainly need my coffee fix to get me going. Can I give up the daytime snacking, prepare an edible meal for dinner and stop drinking takeout coffee for a whole month? It’s a tall order so let’s find out.

I also attempting to reduce my sugar and ditch my unhealthy habits like too many biscuits, fizzy drinks and even cutting back on beer. Will it be possible? Let’s find out.

Are you willing to try it yourself? Add a comment below.

Breakfast, The First Meal of The Day

~ Rob

I have a confession to make – I Love Bacon and Coffee. Almost every work day for years I’ve bought a bacon butty and coffee for breakfast. Tucking into this delight is the highlight and pick me up I need in the mornings. Like many people I require a coffee fix to start functioning.

The problem is this not only does my breakfast cost me around £24 a week it also doesn’t help my waistline. Therefore I need to commit to spending and eating less starting with a cheaper and more healthy breakfast with maybe a bacon and takeout coffee on Fridays only as a treat.

My breakfast choices of takeout coffee and bacon butties have to end. L I still believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’ve never skipped breakfast, whether it was a sugary or greasy snack but now I’ve changed what I have for my first meal of my day.

My new breakfast is a bowl of Weetabix or toast which gets me through till lunch time and gives me an energy boost without the calories of a bacon sandwich.

I think eating out, takeouts and going out for restaurant meals should be a treat. I order takeaways and eat out because it’s quicker and easier than home cooking. Preparing your meal plans and eating at home will keep you healthier and save money.

Both will help motivate you as you save and lose weight. The downside and really habit I need to kick is the wake up morning cigarette. I’ve cut down during the day but hey nobody’s perfect.

Build Muscles And Bulk Up That Body

~ Rob

Whether you are too fat or too thin and want to bulk up to look like the heroes from the movies you need a routine and diet that builds muscles and turns fat into fibre. To get bigger and build muscle eat more protein and WORK those muscles HARD.

To build muscles you have to work them so they grow. You’ll never built muscle by not working out. It may even hurt at the start. In order to bulk up, build muscles and grow in size you have to eat the right foods and perform the correct exercises during your workout.

Power and strength will only grow when you push your muscles and feed them the fuel to breakdown and then re-grow bigger. Consume more of the right types of calories and burn it into your muscles while you sleep.

How To Build Muscles?

When I first decided I was going to get fit and started weight lifting it was difficult. I had the wrong sort of body mass in the wrong places. It’s called fat.

If you want to put on weight and gain muscles in the right places it will involve losing weight and getting in shape first, then working on building muscle. If you’re new to strength training and muscle fitness and not sure how to begin this advice will help you get started.

Your body weight is controlled by how much you eat, how much you exercise and your metabolism.

Eating To Bulk Up

The muscle building process begins by eating meals high in protein and healthy carbohydrates. Get your protein by eating fish, chicken, meat, eggs, full fat milk and carbs from rice, paste, cereal, potatoes, corn, beans, fruit and nuts to help you put on weight mixed with your Five A Day and avoiding sugar snacks.

If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, grow muscle size you need to eat more food and ram in the calories to gain weight. This is the opposite of dieting to lose weight. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re overeating because through exercising you’re going convert it in to muscle and make your body tougher.

Exercising To Bulk Up

With your new diet you now need to burn fat by lifting weights and turn the food into muscles. Focus on exercises that work your whole body. When starting out make sure you warm up and keep adding weight to every exercise bit by bit.

If you manage to lifted 50 kg then make it harder by lifting 52, making your muscles work by lift heavier weights will make them grow bigger and stronger. Before long you’ll be gaining muscle and your fat will begin to disappear.

The Secret To Strength Training:

The secret to increasing muscle mass is EAT LOTS and LIFT LOTS. For weight training I recommend keeping cardio exercise to a minimum and focus on lots of free weight lifting and routines that workout every single muscle in your body. Using Dumbbells, Barbells, Bench Press, Deadlift, Squats, PushUps, PullUps and SitUps you’ll get stronger and build some serious muscle.

The amount of weight, reps and sets you do will depend on each exercise and where you’re body is the strongest and weakest. As you get stronger you can push yourself harder until you muscles want to give out on the final rep.

Remember to increase the weight load as you build more strength and muscle power. Also don’t just focus on your upper body so you look like a puffed up balloon with chicken stick legs. You need to perform squats and do some deadlifting so you work your legs, back and whole body.

Help I Can’t Put On Weight

Some people eat and eat yet never seem to build muscle or put on weight. They eat all day and stay the same size. Those lucky people usually have a metabolism that can deal with a higher calorie intake and they find it harder to get big and bulky.

Being thin or having a faster metabolism shouldn’t stop you from building muscles. Sometimes muscle mass has nothing to do with your size. I have a  thin friend and he has more lean muscle then me without the bulk. If he started lifting weights and eating strength food then he’d gain more weight and develop a more defined and muscley body shape.

For skinny people to bulk up and fill out they need to eat more protein calories and pump some iron. When you’re thin and looking to build muscle mass you’ll need to eat like a pig and develop a strength training workout. If you want to build muscle and have problems putting on weight then increase your protein and strength training.

Building Muscle

If you don’t work your body it will store fat. To have near pure muscle on your body you have to go for it. To achieve any form of success you have to make serious changes. Show no mercy on your muscles, make them hurt so they grow bigger. Eat all the protein, fruit, vegetables you can consume and push your body further every week.

Eating 6 meals a day, high in protein with high fibre snacks and working on strength training everyday will build those muscles fast. While you’re sleeping your body’s cells will regenerate and you’ll wake up a little stronger and healthier.

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Editors Notes:
It’s that time of year to get fit, I for one could certainly do with toning up the mid-section, getting more exercise and eating a bit better. I’ve no intention of joining the gym again so it will be home workouts for me.

Personal Finance Gone Wrong

~ Rob

I’ve calculated all my outstanding debt and it stands at – £65,235. This amount is shocking for a 22 year old. I feel ashamed that it’s that high. How could my debt go off the rails so soon after leaving university? Where did it go wrong?

I think the answer is when you don’t have money you have to manage it as best you can but as soon as you get leave university, get your first job and start earning some decent money you get into bad spending habits.

After surviving on beans on toast your first payday feels like all the money in the world. Once you’re working you are flesh blood to the banks, it opens up access to more credit and finance products.

The last thing on your mind is paying it back. Part of the student experience is drinking, partying and letting your hair down. You want to go out partying, meeting girls and travelling on borrowed cash.

The problem is you can run but you can’t hide from your debts, therefore I have committed to becoming debt free. I’m fed up of robbing Peter to pay Paul. I’m tired of been skint, in loads of debt with my money in a mess.

When I discuss money with other people my age the main issue is debt and the inability to save and afford a house. We have to rent private or live back at home because we don’t have the funds and deposit required to take out a mortgage. Others options increase moving in with friends to cut rents or find a cheaper place to rent.

I don’t fancy moving back in with my parents or living with my friends 24/7. That must avoided at all costs. I’ve come to enjoy living alone and enjoy the freedom.

Homeownership for me is a distance dream and a far out nightmare. Even if I did have the money for a house deposit on the practical side it’s probably best to remain renting than buying my own home.

The home is only yours when it’s paid off and that’s at least another 25 years of debt I’d be chained to. I’m not ready to put down roots and get tied down to years of financial commitment. I have no choice but to stay put and keep renting.

Buying a house is one of the biggest purchases and commitments you’ll have to make. You have to be financially and emotionally prepared to purchase a house. It means growing up and been tied down.

When you’re a little kid money doesn’t seem to matter unless you want sweets, a new toy or a trip to the fair ground. When you head of to university you know the debt will build up but you don’t care because you can dream about becoming extremely successful in your career. No worries, you’ll land a cool job with mega pay become a lawyer, doctor, famous actor, scientist, airline pilot or run a multi-million dollar business.

You don’t worry about money or your personal finance at the time. Then reality kicks in and you enter the real world. Only then do you realise you’re not sure where the hell your time and money has gone and your personal finance are in a bad state with nothing really to show for it.

My parents warning me about this. There would tell me to be careful with money and “Save, Save, Save”. The thing is you tend not to listen, somehow thinking you know better and your finances will all workout fine.

When you are a kid you beg your parents for sweets or cry because they won’t buy you a new toy robot. Your loving caring parents explain that sweets rot your teeth and you can’t have them before your dinner. They explain that the toy you want is a waste of money because you hardly play with the last toy robot they bought you two months ago.

Your wise old parents have valid points and are trying to teach you healthy values and give you financial tips. At the time you don’t care or understand so you throw a tantrum.

I think the lessons they tried to teach me back then have finally penetrated my stupid skull.

From here I don’t want to suffer with money troubles and debt problems. Debt holds you back from living your life. What this means is you have to tackle the issue and learn a few personal finance lessons:

Top 7 Financial Tips:

  1. Teach yourself how to budget.

Create a simply budget and understand where your money is going.

  1. Don’t buy something you can’t afford.

If it doesn’t work within your current budget don’t buy it.

  1. Don’t buy something you don’t really need.

How much money do you waste on needless things and impulse buys. 

  1. Long term debt has a cost.

Stop treating your credit card and overdraft as income and a means of monthly financial survival.

  1. Save more than you spend.

Stash away your cash and save as much of your income as you can.

  1. Have a back-up emergency fund.

Put some saving put aside for emergencies to avoid running up debt.

  1. Invest for the future.

Invest and save enough for your old age and retirement.

Take these financial tips seriously and you shouldn’t have too many money worries in your life. Stop scraping by every month and start being proactive will give you the confidence and momentum you need to turn your financial future around.