by Joseph Kenny | 12/2/08

Getting on your feet financially is something that everyone should strive for. However, it means more than making enough money to pay for obvious purchases, like food and shelter. It's about carefully maintaining a budget and putting your money towards predicted expenses and ensuring that you have enough to go around without getting into debt. Towards that end, there are several things you can do for yourself that can help you maintain a good credit score, or build one.

The first and most important rule of good credit is to never spend more than what you can reasonably afford to pay back. It sounds simple, but it's not always easy to follow. You can buy a lot more than what you can honestly afford with the likes of a credit card, and then put yourself into a bind by having huge monthly payments with added interest to manage on top of everything else you pay for. Even if you maintain steady payments, you can harm your credit if you don't carefully follow the policies of your card provider.

Another simple but timeless principle is to pay your bills on time. This sounds like another obvious idea to follow. It is! Just know that when you miss payments, you do more than just create debt. You can possibly cause higher interest rates to occur with future credit purchases, incur late fees, or even suffer from the serious blow of wage garnishment. While the latter is an extreme example, any debt that is forwarded to a collector will end up on your credit report, harming your credit score as a result. This is something that can last for up to seven years without any effort to remedy the problem, so it is in your best interest to prevent debt before it happens, or to pay it off fully and on time when it does occur.

If you can't handle paying off a bill entirely, then at least pay the minimum amount due every month in order to avoid any additional fees that may be charged against you. This is essential to maintain your financial stability. Only bad things can result from letting bills go unnoticed. Without dedication to paying your minimum, you'll only be putting yourself into further debt and ruining what you're able to do already.

If you own a credit card, never exceed your credit limit. This is because you're spending future income, not extra money. You can't spend more than what you can afford in the future combined with the debts you have now, so always keep in mind that your credit is a loan against what you earn.

Last but certainly not least is to always be responsible for your finances. Keep your paperwork secure and well-organized, always store your cards in a safe place, and never given out your personal financial information and tools to friends. This means things like your credit card number, security confirmation codes, bank cards, etc. all of that. Never keep carbon copies of your cards and financial tools, maintain a collection of relevant receipts, and pay attention to what you buy and how it affects your budget.