Do You Control Your Money or Does Your Money Control You?

money troubles

I had a conversation with someone who has consistent financial troubles. I learned the main issues were a lack of sufficient income and money management skills. I began to offer suggestions such as searching for a higher paying job, limit eating out and carpooling to work. Unfortunately, every suggestion I gave was immediately shot down with what I considered to be an excuse. In the middle of the conversation I realized I wouldn’t be able to help this person. In hindsight, I don’t think the person wanted my help. It made me realize that some people aren’t truly ready to make improvements to their finances. If you want to improve your finances you have to be ready to get real. The first step is to take responsibility for making your situation better.

I began noticing a pattern when speaking to people about their money issues and concerns. What I heard was complaining about not having enough money and not getting ahead in life. The few times where I interjected and asked what they planned to do about it, I could tell my question was unexpected.

I pose the same question to you, if you are unhappy with your financial status, what do you plan to do about it?

Do you honestly want to put in the work required to generate change? Or are you hoping your money issues will work out on their own?

Do you believe that you can live a better life? Or do you quietly tell yourself that everyone struggles with money and you are no different?

Today I saw the quote, “In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”-Nikos Kazantzakis

The mind is an incredibly powerful tool. If you don’t have the correct mindset you can sabotage your journey before you even take the first step. You can be told over and over that it is possible for you to increase your quality of life and decrease your financial stress. However, it will never happen if you do not BELIEVE it can happen.

If you are having a hard time taking control of your finances and you think the task is too big, then start small. Set small obtainable goals and prove to yourself that getting a handle on your finances is possible. Your goal should have clear and measurable results.

For example, if you need to increase your savings, make a goal that every time you get paid you will put a certain amount into a savings account. You can start out small with $25 or 5% of your pay. Challenge yourself to do it for three months. Another goal could be to decrease the amount of money you spend on eating out. Allow yourself to eat out only once a week for a month.

The goal is for you to turn these trial practices into habits, but you have to take the first step. Once you have smaller challenges under control you can then begin to focus on your bigger financial problems. Remember you didn’t get into your current financial situation overnight. It may take some time to get you on the right path, but slow progress is better than no progress at all.

Continue to remain encourage and move towards progression. “If you believe it, you can achieve it”, may be cliché, but it holds a great deal of truth.

Why Don’t I Have More Money?

I know that I said in my last post I would tell you how to create your monthly budget.  Before we do that I want to address a situation that you, amongst many others, may be in. After calculating your monthly disposable income, (by subtracting your monthly expenses from your net monthly income) did it appear that you should be doing better financially than you really are? On paper, do you have money left after paying all of your bills but still fall short each month? If this is the predicament you find yourself in, we need to further exam exactly what you are spending your money on. You are spending more than you can afford and you need to be conscious of where your money is going.

I remember when I did a financial evaluation because I was starting the process of buying a home. I was happy with the final numbers and the amount of home that I could afford. I was also fully aware this was nothing more than my financial picture on paper. My financial reality was slightly different. I had a few bad habits that I knew I was going to have to get under control before I actually purchased my home. I ate out way too much and I was known to frequent the mall a little too often.

To tighten the reins on your spending habits, begin by making a list of things that you have a consistent cycle of spending money on. For example, how often do you go out to eat, to the club/bar, get your hair done/cut, buy clothes or engage in one of your hobbies? If you did not include food, gas (or transportation expenses) as a part of your monthly expenses from the last exercise, include them on your list.  Once you have the complete list, give a dollar amount of how much you spend on these items each month.

Being realistic about your expenses and your spending habits is key to being able to create a budget that works for you and will allow you to stick to it. If you are having trouble figuring out exactly where your money is going, then I want you to track every penny that you spend for one month. Yes, I really did say, every penny for one month. Remember, I said I would help you make your finances simple, however it will take some effort on your part.

To track your spending, you can use your debit card for purchases so that you can have an electronic account of your spending in one place. If you need to pay in cash, keep all of your receipts. To make it easy on yourself, I suggest tallying your receipts each week. Then add up the grand total at the end of the month.

Once you have this valuable information, prioritize how important these expenses are to you. Think of how you can begin to scale back or possibly eliminate expenses. Once again, make sure that you are realistic. If you eat out 3 to 5 times a week and spend about $50, don’t make your goal to stop eating out altogether. Instead make a more realistic goal like eating out once a week with a limit of $15. If you stop each morning before work to grab a $2 cup of coffee, you can start making your own coffee at home. You can save $40 a month on the store bought coffee.

After evaluating your spending and figuring out ways to cut back, if you still don’t have enough disposable income, you need to figure out how to increase your income. Keep this in mind though, for every dollar that you earn you only keep a percentage of it due to taxes that will be taken out. However, you will be able to use the full amount of each dollar that you are able to save by cutting back on your expenses. Therefore, cutting back on your expenses, if you can, will be more beneficial.

Thanks for reading and walking with me towards “Finances Made Simple”. Make sure to check out my next post when I help you to create a monthly budget.