I envy people who have no debt. I want to be like them. I really do. I have the skills, I have the desire, yet it seems like a goal floating in the wind. I can see it. And almost touch it but it keeps floating away from my grasp. Oh I’ve made some progress over the years, but unsteady income, child care and investments in my education have all ensured I don’t get too far away from debt. Not yet anyway. But I’m nothing if not persistent!
Keeping track doesn’t have to be painful. You want to find a system that works for you, something not too complicated. You don’t have to track expenses for the rest of your life, but hopefully, you will realize the value, as I have, and want to make it part of your financial plan.
A retired couple, who came to me for financial advice, were in for one of their follow up Counselling Sessions. I had them track their spending for the previous month and was asking them how they did. They felt they had done a good job except for the fact that (in her words) her husband did not get receipts. He was openly frustrated with this requirement to account for every cent spent.
Budgeting & Money Management / Credit Relationships / Dealing with Debt / Get Out of Debt / Spending Patterns
Is anyone really happy with the amount of income they’re making? I think we all feel that we deserve to have more, we deserve to spend more, we deserve to have less stress worrying...
Talking about money can be more difficult that discussing sex in a relationship. Yet finances are a thread that runs through every relationship and an open dialogue on the subject is essential to the success of a couple’s unity. The following are some guidelines for cleaning the lines of communication – for love and for money!
Its true! Just because we help people find solutions to their financial woes, doesn’t mean we don’t have our own.
I’m sure fitness instructors sometimes have lazy periods, Investment advisors have lost money and great chefs order pizzas. The point is, we are all human and we all make less-than-perfect choices once in awhile. In fact, it is our very mistakes that help us help you. As other has been heard saying, “do as I say. Not as I do”.
I’m in my car. On my way to work. Listening to the radio. And one commercial catches my attention.
A lady comes home with a shopping bag. Her husbands asks what’s in it and then exclaims, “Don’t you have enough dresses?” (Like that’s actually possible). She replies, “But honey, they were 70 percent off”. He pauses and then replies, “That’s a lot.” In reality, this is a general perception. If it’s on sale and I’m getting such a great bargain, I should buy this.
We have a weekly tradition in our household. Every week, assuming they have earned it, we stop at the local convenience store, where my kids get to pick out a movie. We head to the non new-release section. Its a great deal. A 3 day rental for 2.00. The kids get an entire weekend of entertainment (assuming they have time to watch the movies. And if they don’t, it’s only 4 bucks.)
If you step back and look at your finances, you will find that you are in one of three stages of financial being – The first stage is “survival mode”. The next stage is the “breathing room” stage. The third stage, which is where we all strive to be, is the “comfort zone”.
Trimming your budget is a lot like trimming your waistline. Consumers spend millions of dollars every year looking for that magic solution to losing weight. And businesses increase their bottom line while relatively few consumers decrease their bottoms/middles etc. The same phenomenon happens in money management. We tend to look for quick fixes – consolidation loans, second mortgages, payday loans. Neither works for the masses. Why? They do nothing to address the underlying problem…
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