Author: goldewj

Sticking to a Spending Plan

So, you’ve set a spending plan or budget for your family. You have created this thing to help you plan to spend your money, now what? You are excited and feeling good because you are being a good steward of what GOD has given you.
At the same time, apprehensive because this spending plan/budget thing has never worked for me before. It’s just hard to follow.

So, you’ve set a spending plan or budget for your family.  You have created this thing to help you plan to spend your money, now what?  You are excited and feeling good because you are being a good steward of what GOD has given you. 

At the same time, apprehensive because this spending plan/budget thing has never worked for me before.  It’s just hard to follow.    

So, how do you stick to that spending plan that you meticulously crafted and are so proud of?  After all, for most of us, sticking to a spending plan can be the scariest part of managing money better.   

Sticking To a Spending Plan is a Mind Set

Creating and working with a spending plan is not a one-time and done thing its an ongoing process.  You have to work your money over and over again.  At regular intervals sit down with your spending plan and see where you are and where you need to make changes

 What adjustments do you need to make?  Are you sticking to your spending plan?  Do you need to cut here or cut there?      

Developing the right mindset for building wealth requires practice, as well as tenacity. Managing money well stems from a well-developed set of mental processes and you get a well-developed mental process with consistency.   

Here are a few ideas to help you stay on course.

First, refer to the receipts and records of your spending that you are now keeping.  Compare them to your budget or spending plan.  Do this weekly or even daily, to start with.  I suggest that you set distinct times to work your budget and money. 

Friday evenings, Saturday mornings, or Sunday afternoon, after church are good times (If you have young kids though, they probably wake you up on Saturdays). 

If you are within your budget, you are doing well and do not change a thing.  If you are not within your budget, make the needed corrections and keep monitoring you’re spending.  Keep a check on your spending and your financial situation at the top of your mind.  This can help to curb your desire to spend, spend, spend, and ensures you know how much you actually have to spend.   


Make it a Family Affair

Include the whole family in the budget.  Teach them that the family pack saves money or that saving a dollar this week means having extra money for fun stuff later. Have children go shopping with you and point out what saves you money.  Try putting savings towards something the whole family can enjoy, such as a fun weekend out of town.  Including the whole family in the budget will make it easier to stay on budget and teach good financial habits for the future as well.

Remember your Financial Goals

Remind yourself frequently of your financial goals.  Paying off a big debt, retiring early, or the emergency fund, are financial goals that can keep you on budget.  Keep your goals in front of you.  Post them on your mirror in the bathroom, your car dashboard, and your purse or wallet.  Pull them out and look at them when you are feeling weak. 

Stick to your Lists

Make a list before you go shopping and stick to the list.  Take the list with you and only buy what is on the list! 

It does not matter if it is Wal Mart or Home Depot…stay on the list! 

Additionally, do not go shopping hungry.  When shopping online look for coupons and comparison shop for the best deals.  Talk yourself out of purchases and do not spend money you do not have.  Give yourself some time to consider and rationalize before buying, and if you decide later that you need it, go get it.

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­Be Flexible 

Remember that life is unpredictable, and things happen that are out of our control. When­, you make a budget, try to allow some extra money for variable expenses.  Be gentle with yourself if you go over your budget, it can be hard to get back on track ­if you let yourself get too frustrated over a mistake or two.

­Follow­ing these tips can help you stick to your budget, and you can feel good about keeping your finances under control.  Make sure you update your budget regularly and prioritize your spending and know what is important enough to be worth your hard-earned money.

What are some tips that you use to stick to your spending plan?  Share your thoughts and subscribe to my blog.  I would love to hear from you.

Why Have a Spending Plan?

I write today to convince you that having a budget or spending plan is good.  And hopefully, provoke you to create a spending plan and see it differently than you currently do after you read this article. 

I was teaching a class of young people a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about budgeting or what some would call a spending plan. 

After a while, the conversation turned quite disturbing.  That’s because I found myself trying to convince them that having a spending plan was a good thing. 

A statement made by one of the young people was, “I can’t take the money with me (when I die), so I am going to spend it on what I want to, now.” 

These young people had a short-term view of money. 

So, I write today to convince you that having a budget or spending plan is good.  And hopefully, provoke you to create a spending plan and see it differently than you currently do after you read this article. 

A budget or spending plan is a plan for spending your money in a given time frame.  Why is that not a good idea?  Wait, why is that a good idea?

A budget is about setting targets for how you spend your money.  This is where you decide how you want to spend your money going forward. 

There are many good reasons for a budget or spending plan I will only give you five here:

  1.  A budget reduces money-related anxiety.  Money problems and fights are the leading cause or one of the leading causes of divorce in this country.  And for those of you who are single, you can still fight and worry about money.  What about those money worries.  “How am I going to do this or that?”  A spending plan can reduce and eliminate that.
  • A spending plan gives you control.  With a spending plan, you are telling your money where to go and what to do.  I do not know about you but, I work hard for my money, and I want it to go where I want it to go.  It’s mine.  When you don’t have a spending plan, the marketers are pulling on your money everywhere you look, and you are bound to spend money on things you did not need or really want.

While you are reading this, someone somewhere is trying to figure out how to sell you something.

  • A budget helps you reach your goals.  Having a spending plan helps you save money.  And with the savings, you can build assets and improve your quality of life.  You can buy things of value like houses and businesses.  It helps you to avoid diversions that may try to keep you from reaching your goals. 

A plan for spending your money – a budget, can also be a plan on how not to spend your money.  It can help you avoid bumps in the road to your goals and dreams. 

  • A budget helps you be a better steward of your money.  Without a plan to spend your money, are you being the best steward of your money that you can?  In today’s environment, it is crucial to have a plan to spend money.
  • A spending plan is crucial in business and should be for “You Incorporated” as well.  Would you think of running a business or managing a business without a spending plan?  Can you imagine the chaos that would come by not having one?  Why would you manage your personal finances without one?

Although there are more, there you have it, 5, very good reasons to have a spending plan.  A spending plan is crucial to your financial health and wellness.  I think it is a mistake to try to manage your money without it.

Are you convinced that you need a spending plan?  Leave a comment below and subscribe to the GoldenRules Blog and learn how to create a winning spending plan for you and your family.  And share this with people that may benefit.

Track Your Spending to Manage Money Better

I believe that if you do not, track your income and expenses, you are not successfully managing your money because you do not know where you are spending it; you do not know where it is going and therefore you cannot – effectively manage it.  

Tracking your spending is a must if you want to do better with money. 

I believe that if you do not, track your income and expenses, you are not successfully managing your money because you do not know where you are spending it; you do not know where it is going and therefore you cannot – effectively manage it.  

Tracking your spending, on the surface, appears to be pretty straightforward and simple, but it can be a complex process and quite difficult. 

It is the consistency that tracking your spending requires that is the hard part and makes it difficult and overwhelming.   

To help fight this difficulty, you need to get into the habit of consistently recording your expenses.  Use some type of log to record the expense.

Whatever you use as a log, a piece of paper, some type of register, or a spreadsheet, every time you receive money, you should record it in the log. 

Whether it’s from a paycheck or gambling winnings, record it in the log.  And every time you spend money, whether it is a bill or that cup of morning coffee, record it. 

Track Your Spending Every time, every time, every time!

Tracking your spending helps to make your money and you’re spending more real.  You will begin to see it come in and go out and see it as a tool to help you achieve your goals.

It will give you a sense of control.  

Your awareness of your money and your behavior with money will sharpen, allowing you to make changes to improve your financial situation. 

This is an important skill with money. 

Here are a few tips to help you in tracking your spending:

  • Make it a routine.  Once you get into the habit of tracking your spending, it will become easier.  And always, do what works for you.  No one system is perfect for everybody. The important thing is to track your spending.  How you do this is up to you!
  • Be more careful with transactions that are easily forgotten.  Some transactions, online transactions, transactions without a receipt, can be quickly forgotten. Take special steps to remember these. 
  • Get a receipt for everything.  There are not too many places where you can spend money and not get a receipt.  If they do not give you one, ask for one.  Additionally, make it a habit of putting all your receipts in one place so that you know where to find them and do not forget where you put them.
  • It is best to record your transactions daily.  Although you can track expenses once a week, you may find this hard to do.  By tracking expenses daily, you do not run into the problems that you would by tracking them weekly such as I can’t remember a transaction or can’t find a receipt, etc.

For some, recording expenses will make you more connected to what you spend. 

It will make you think more about each purchase, and you will begin to see if your purchases line up with your values.  This may help you to keep unnecessary spending under control.   

Tracking your spending is a rewarding process. 

It will paint a picture of your spending habits as they exist and not as you think they exist.  You can then use this information to create a spending plan, or, at the least, to serve as a picture of where your money actually goes.

How do you track your spending?  Share your thoughts and subscribe to the GoldenRules Blog and learn how to create a winning spending plan for you and your family. 

The Three Things Money is Good For?

Money is only good for three things. If I were to ask you what three things money was good for what would you say?

Money is only good for three things.  If I were to ask you what three things money was good for what would you say?

When I am teaching how to create a winning spending plan, I always ask this question and get a lot of different answers.  Let me ask it in another way. 

The things you do with money can be put into three categories, what are they?

When I ask this question, I always get similar answers.  Answers like It’s good for paying bills, buying stuff, saving, investing, and going shopping. 

And then I would say something to the effect of okay, we got spending and saving.  I put investing into the saving category.  It’s interesting because at this point most of my students go blank.  Then I say something like ok money is good for three things, spending, saving, and…?  What are the three things we all do with money?

Most of the time I get no response and ask the class to think about and move forward with the class.

My point in all of that is it’s okay to spend your money.  It’s yours, you earned it, and you should spend it but, you should also spend it with a plan.  Create a spending plan to help you spend your money within some parameters. 

Simply, money is good for three things: spending, saving, and giving.  It’s interesting that in my workshops often we forget about the giving part.  That is a discussion for another day. 

Again, it’s okay to spend your money, however, my goal is to provoke you to create a spending plan for you and your family. 

First Rule of Money Management

I believe that the one best way to manage money better is the proper spending plan that works for you and your family.  It’s the one thing that can help families and individuals manage money better, not worry so much about money, and reach the goals they have with money. 

I believe that the one best way to manage money better is the proper spending plan that works for you and your family.  It’s the one thing that can help families and individuals manage money better, not worry so much about money, and reach the goals they have with money. 

However, 38% of Americans do not have or use a spending plan to plan their spending. That being said, there is not the same focus and emphasis put on creating spending plans. The spending plan gives you a method of attack and a way to use your money as a tool. It’s like the directions that you read and use to put something together.

Interestingly, some people use budgets at their work and for pay jobs consistently, but not in their homes and household. We will stick to that budget at work at all costs.

We are evaluated, promoted, and fired based on sticking to the budget at work but do not hold ourselves to the same standards in our homes.  Companies, governments, and departments use spending plans like their lives depend on it, but at home, not so much.   

My goal with this blog is to make spending plans as usual, ordinary, positive, and functioning as your smartphone. 

By 2020, the number of smartphone users in the United States is estimated to reach 275.66 million.  Imagine all those people with working operational spending plans.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. 

Everything starts somewhere, and better money management by families and individuals begins with understanding the budgeting process and following through with your spending plan.  It does not start with your credit report and does not start with your mortgage.  I am not saying that the credit report is not important, and that credit is not useful, but it is not first. 

I am not sure why people are more concerned with their credit report than their spending plan.  However, I am concerned about this, and with this BLOG, trying to change this. 

I intend to be radical about this because I believe this so strongly.  I am credible and an educated financial teacher/coach/counselor. I have a financial planning certificate, which means that I have taken all of the coursework to sit and take the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification exam.  Additionally, I hold a Master Certified Practitioner in Financial Capability (CPFinCap) certification. 

I only state this because I could talk about credit and credit reports.  I have done tax preparation for over 20 years, and I could talk about taxes, and I may as time goes on, but right now, it’s all about the spending plan.

One thing for sure is that if you are not working from a spending plan or budget as you manage your money, you are not managing it effectively and the best you can. 

In one class I was teaching a gentleman stated that he did not have the money, discretionary funds to plan a budget. My response was that if he did not know where he was spending his money, how does he know he has no discretionary money or places where he can cut some spending. Most of us do not spend money wisely and waste money often. 

I hope that something I say on this BLOG provokes you to begin to look at creating a spending plan as a way to finally start winning with money and then to help you in that effort.  Why do people not create spending plans?   Why do people not stick to a budget?  Why does budgeting seem so difficult?  These are just some of the questions that I would like to tackle with this BLOG.  Is there anything else you would like me to address?