My name is Giselle Mohess, the Principles of Business and Principles of Accounts teacher here at Ashley B’s Learning Academy.
As an ACCA affiliate with an Msc in Professional Accountancy and an experienced tertiary and secondary school accounting teacher, accounting is in the blood in my veins. I would be lying if I say that it is not challenging being an accounts teacher. Students and adults alike are often intimidated by the sound much less the sight of accounting.
Covid-19 has opened my eyes to start seeing accounting in my everyday tasks! It is with great pleasure I share what I found with you. Accounting is the language of business and we may not realize how much we use it every day in our personal life. If I told you that from tracking your spending, to shopping for groceries, to paying bills, you have used some basic accounting principles. Simply purchasing a cup of Rituals or Starbucks involves accounting for both us and those businesses. We exchange money via cash, debit or credit in exchange for the desired drink. “One Rituals Mocha Chiller to myself = satisfied craving, $30 to Rituals = satisfied sale.”
Given the fact that this is an inescapable part of everyone’s lives here are some ways in which you can apply accounting to make your life better to earn or save some of that sweet money.
Budgeting your money – Your salary is your income, your mortgage, telephone, car insurance, grocery bills are just some of your expenses. Setting a budget on these expenses can help you use your income wisely and avoid unexpected shortages due to overspending. Using budget apps like Mint can really be useful. Tracking your expenses and income – after budgeting our expenses we need to ensure we keep a track of how we spend our money. This is a continuous action that we need to record every time money leaves or enters our pockets. When we do this we can adjust out budget accordingly to accommodate any new plans that was not available when we first budgeted our money.
Pay yourself first – always try to budget in a way that you save first! I call this paying yourself first because you will thank yourself later that you set money aside first before you start spending. These savings are for “rainy days” when emergencies and unexpected expenses pop up, or even for your goals of maybe a new home, a new car etc.
Investing to make more money – if you were able to save enough money after following the above steps then the best move for you is to invest it and let your money grow. Here is where stocks, land (only in Trinidad), forex, cryptocurrency (yes these things are real and big money makers!) can be your go to. Or you can start up a small business to help you make more money that you already have.
Regardless of how accounting applies to your lifestyle try following some of these tips next month and see if it makes you feel a little more organized. When you deposit that salary or swipe the card at the grocery I hope you remember this blog and me!
Remember life is like accounting, everything must be balanced.
