Don't purchase big ticket items on the spur of the moment. If a person does not have sufficient income to repay each month's bills, help will be needed. The job of CCC is to assist individuals in formulating a debt management plan. Some people choose bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should only be considered as a last resort.
Bankruptcy has long term negative effects on an individual's credit rating.
A budget is a plan for spending money written down before the spending takes place. For example, the monthly budget for November would be prepared at the end of October. Many people find it helpful to budget expenditures by category, such as rent or house payment, utilities, food, gasoline, debt payments, phone, etc. A budget worksheet is printed below. Feel free to make photocopies of it so that you can budget your income and record your expenditures each and every month.