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When I decided to do this blog, I wanted to begin with your most pressing problem areas. That, as we all know, is money! It doesn’t matter who you are, we all want more money! How many times have we said “if only I had more money”? Or “if I only could win the lottery”? Or I wish I had a rich uncle”? If you had three wishes, wouldn’t money be one of the first?

When you think about it the reason we want more money is simply because we haven’t learned to live with our means. We tend to overspend because we don’t know the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’. We “need” the basics: food, water, shelter, and maybe clothing. That’s it! That’s all we need! As long as we have these basic things, we will survive just fine. Everything else is merely “wants”!

Now there’s nothing wrong with wants. We should have some of them to fulfill our God-given right to the pursuit of happiness. But when we start spending more than we can afford on wants we run into trouble. Instead of being “a means to an end”, money becomes “an end” in itself! Thus we live to work instead of the other way around.

So what should we do? Live in abject poverty? Merely survive with the bare minimal requirements of survival? Although some of us feel that’s what we’re doing now, this is not the answer. Remember I said we have a God-given right to the pursuit of happiness. The trick is to live within our means. Don’t spend what you can’t afford. You can still reap the rewards of your labors but, you need to do it wisely. This is the way out of money worries! Let me repeat that; “ This is the way out of money worries”.

O.K. I can hear you now. “Easier said than done” you say. Of course it is! If it was easy more people would do it. This requires some self-discipline and a change of spending habits. So here’s the answer. Every time you spend so much as a dime you must ask yourself these questions:

Does it fulfill a basic need (food, water, shelter)?

If not what “need” does it fill?

What are the positive results of buying this?

What are the negative results?

Is there a less expensive alternative?

What happens if I buy it?

What happens if I don’t buy it?

CAN I AFFORD IT?

Write these questions down they are important. Put them on a piece of paper. Carry the list with you and look at it every time you spend any money! They will help you get a handle on your spending. They do this in two ways. One, the questions slow you down. Taking time to answer these questions gives you time to reconsider spending. And two, they give you a clear assessment of why your spending your “hard earned” money.

This is your first step to true financial independence. Do this and you will spend less on low priority “wants”. Give it some time it takes 28days to develop a habit. But after a while it will become automatic to you. You will be “spending wisely”. The first step out of your money worries!

Next we’ll talk about tracking your money. Once you know exactly where your money goes, you can adjust spending to a more efficient level. See you then. Thanx for coming. And don’t forget to leave me a comment or two. Your input is very important.

caretakerray

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