by Laurie Childree

Created on: August 25, 2009

There are budgets for a reason. The idea behind a budget to help ensure that you are living within your means. There are goals that go along with setting a budget and saving. Without a budget it is easy to live beyond your means, there are some that do even when they have a budget in place. Sometimes you can be living beyond your means without even realizing it. So how do you tell if you're living above your means?

There are some easy signs. For instance if you're just paying the minimum on your credit cards because you can't afford anymore it might just indicate that you're spending too much. When you sit down to pay the bills and you find that you have to use your already exhausted credit cards in order to pay them you are definitely spending more than you can afford to. If you find yourself using one credit card to pay another that's a very bad sign.

While having more than one credit card is nice there isn't any need to have a couple dozen that you use everyday. When you can't manage to get to work without using the credit card to fill up your tank you're living beyond your means. Transportation costs should be a part of the budget that's built in.

When every shopping trip ends with you using your credit cards to pay for the purchases then you can't afford them. While credit cards are nice to have when you find that you're dependent on them you are spending more than you can afford to. Shopping at the most expensive stores you can find just to find the perfect outfit or accessory because you feel the need to keep up and fit in at the office is a bad sign. A worse sign is when you use a department store credit card for every purchase.

Each week you get your paycheck and there isn't anything by the time you get home. This is a definite sign you are living above your means. You take the check, pay all of the bills you can then use your credit card to cover the rest and purchase what you need. This is a bad sign.

Then there are the collection calls because the bills are constantly late. When you keep falling behind because of your inability to pay the bills and keep buying more things then you're living far beyond your means. Reaching the maximum limit on your credit card every month by using them to pay the bills, multiple credit cards and collection calls all indicate that you're living beyond your means.

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