Warning Signs That You are Living Beyond Your Means

Every one's ultimate dream in life is to have a happy life. People who are experts in financial matters said that the key to this dream is to have a financial life that is free from any stress, and this can be achieved if you are just living within your means. Statistic shows that almost 37% of the middle income Americans are having financial difficulties most of which are from the inability to pay medical bills or medication and missing to pay major bills. Of course, this is one situation that anyone of us don't want to be part of.

Now the question is how will you know that you are already living beyond your means? One of the most obvious is when you cannot afford to pay your basic needs; food, shelter and clothing. Sometimes, your mind is preoccupied of other things that you are blinded to see the other signs. Read the paragraphs below and see if you are in one of the situations.

If you cannot set aside a 10% savings from your weekly or monthly salary, this is one indicator that you are living beyond your means. Although people have different opinions as to how much will the exact rate of savings be, 10% is the general rule but you can add some more if you earn more.
If you have your credit card bills, go ahead and check if the balance has gone down for several months. If the answer is no and you see that it goes higher and higher every month. You are on your way to get yourself a big trouble. Remember that credit card debt is being considered as Bad Debt and it is not deductible from your tax for the main reason that this is very expensive.

If you are planning to buy a house, make sure that the mortgage is not more than your weekly salary because if the mortgage payment goes beyond one quarter of your income, you are indeed living beyond your means.
The facts mentioned above are only a few among several signs that you are living beyond your means. And I bet, even for those simple things presented above most readers would say "Yes, I am on this situation right now."Now, the first thing to do of course is to eliminate these debts. You can start by looking at the things around you and sort it from the the most important to the least important. List your priorities and start from there, it may be hard at first but if you want to get out from debt slavery, its worth the try.