Simple Changes Create Big Changes
Truth: Managing your money feels overwhelming
but that’s a feeling you can change.
Imagine feeling like you had your money organized and feeling like you knew exactly what you were doing.
Imagine not imagining that.
You CAN create a world where you:
- Know how money works. Feel organized about where your money is and where it goes.
-
Don’t feel embarrassed and ashamed that your money feels less than in control.
-
Feel confident you can make all the right decisions for your retirement, your investments and any financial goal you want to set.
Today is the day you can start on a path that will get you there.
Let’s start small.
Let’s create something that you can fit into your life…forever.
Let’s celebrate the victories.
This is your 1% rule for changing your relationship with the money in your life.
It’s simple and easy to do.
STEP ONE
The first step is to create awareness of what you are doing with your money. Where does your money go? I’m betting that today you feel like you have all this money coming into your life and
you have no idea where it all goes.
Guess what.
That makes you like 90% of people in the world. You aren’t alone.
But today, you are going to change that.
I want you to use my 1% journal to keep track each day, for seven days, of where your money goes.
I know… simple right? This is something you can do. It’s not hard.
Just list all the money you spend. Do it as you go or sit down at the end of the day and make your list. Include cash you spend, charges to your debt card, checks you write, charges to your credit card and automatic payments that go out of your bank.
This will let you start to see exactly how much money you spend every day and how you spend it.
STEP TWO
For each thing you spent, put a check in the box on the right. Was this money you spent for something you had to have?
Something that was nice to have? Were you paying off debt? Maybe you put some money into savings.
Yup. Step two was as easy as checking a box.
STEP THREE
In a couple of words, describe how you feel about your spending for the day? Are you happy? Disappointed? Sad? Angry?
Frustrated? Worried?
Take a few minutes and sit with the feelings. Make sure you capture them all.
Chances are good that your feelings will be negative when you first start this journal. Over time, you will see those feelings shift
to a more positive place as you start to make changes.
Imagine looking back at this journal in a couple of months and feeling joy and pride that your feelings about your money and
your spending have radically changed.
For the record….this is an exercise I do every month….and I pay attention to the feelings. Do I feel good about my spending this month? If so, I enjoy the confidence and peace I feel in my heart.
If I feel those negative feelings of failure or disappointment inin the pit of my stomach, I know it means I need to work on my
awareness of my day to day spending.
STEP FOUR
Step four is where the 1% rule kicks in.
You may not be happy about how your spending went for the day.
I don’t want you to beat yourself up. I want you to pick ONE thing….yes….just ONE thing you would have liked to do
differently.
Here’s the thing, when we try to change too much at one time, it becomes overwhelming and we end up unsuccessful and feeling like we failed.
But if we focus on just one thing, it becomes so much more doable. Doable turns into doing. Doing turns into success.
So pick your one thing.
STEP FIVE
The final step is super simple.
Rate your day!
When you are done with your seven days, I know you will already be feeling a huge sense of accomplishment. Feel free to repeat this exercise. Like I said, it’s one I still do on a regular basis after thirty years of successfully managing my
money. I love how it lets me get in touch with what’s going on in a really simple way.
Click the button to download a printable version of the seven day journal and get started!
If you have questions feel free to reach out to me at Linda@RealFamilyFinance.com.
I’m here to help!
You got this!
Linda