Budgeting and Perspective.

Do you avoid talking about money?
Why? Financial discussions can be such an uncomfortable thing.
Is your self esteem locked into your view of money.
Budgeting is one step on the path to financial freedom.

Hello, My friends

Have you ever made a promise to yourself?
I made a promise to myself years ago that I would never go into overdraft again. I hate the feeling of powerlessness when the bank fines me for not handling my money wisely.

We have lived with a budget forever. Budgets bring freedom, I am a strong believer that what isn’t monitored gets ignored, and what gets ignored does it’s own thing.
And in the world of finances, ignored money management can bring a lot of heart ache.
Anyway the other day we went shopping, I bought the item I’d been wanting. (A small purchase in the scheme of things)
I had a feeling there was insufficient funds in my account, and chose to purchase this item anyway, and then I discovered my account was in overdraft. My brain went into a tail spin, the world was coming to an end. (Melodramatic, I know, but that’s what my brain can be like)
“Sally” (my inner voice, I gave her a name) was so critical, she began to remind me of all my past failures in handling money, and demanding to know how this had happened.
Does your inner critic try to remind you of who you were?

Six months ago, I redid our financial plan, we have always had a plan to cover all the big ticket items, like mortage, (rent), rates, power, and insurance.
But we didn’t include things like club subscriptions, business expenses like web-page etc, so when these yearly accounts came due, they would set us into a tail spin.
In our new budget we included everything! All our usual expenditures that don’t usually get monitored. like clothes, the yearly donations, all the items we’d been spending our money on previously that we wouldn’t admit to spending. Things like the once a week pie, hot chocolates in town, takeaway meals. Everything we spend money on got included.
We have four accounts, one for savings, one for accounts to be paid, one internet account, and one personal spending account.
Every week our money is divided into each of these accounts.
By listing all our regular expenses, I was able to divide these by 52 weeks and then that amount goes to the appropriate account.

So what happened the other day. Remember awareness is the key, how can you learn if you don’t investigate.
Well, we’d had a lot of yearly accounts going out, and I didn’t account for the exchange rates, oops, that won’t happen again.

Once I’d discovered my mistake of putting my account into overdraft, I had choices, I could beat myself up and dwell in pity mode, or I could transfer money from one of the other accounts and clear the overdraft. I could check my account before purchasing the goods. I could check my emotions to see if I’m buying things to avoid feeling an unpleasant emotion. (which created an unpleasant emotion anyway.)
The interesting thing about this entire situation is the shift I have noticed in my belief around money.

Everything we do, we do for the feeling we believe we will gain from doing the thing.
What was the feeling I wanted with my finances?
I want the feeling of freedom to purchase what I want with confidence.
This particular event did not give me that feeling, it tipped me right back into the feelings of scarcity and lack.
An emotion I promised myself I would avoid, and by the way, avoidance is not actually looking at the underlying cause of the issue.

What is the feeling you want from your finances?
Do you live payweek to payweek?
Do yearly accounts leave you scrambling to get the funds together to pay them.
Are you burdened by ‘consumer’ debt? This is the debt of using borrowed money for everyday items, like food, fuel, and clothes.

Each of these items can be budgeted for.
Awareness is the beginning of change.
Become aware how you feel about your money, do you hide your money? Do you feel like you never have enough?
Abundance or scarcity, these are thoughts. We can think about money with abundance -there is more than enough for what I need, or scarcity -there is never enough for what I need.
Perspective is important. And if you really don’t have enough, then you have the ability to earn more. You have the ability to become someone who earns more than enough.

My challenge for you today is to begin to look at your financial feelings.
What do you feel when you think about going on a budget, or how do you feel when you have money, compared to how you feel when you don’t.
Does having actual money in your wallet generate different feelings, to having money in a bank account?
What would feel better, managing the money you already have and making it do what you want, or to continue to allow your money to be an unruly child at the whim of your emotions.

If you want to build financial security into your future, begin today by being aware of where your money is going.

Until next time… Living an authentic life is looking at the cloudy spaces as well as enjoying the sunlight.

If you want help to gain mastery over your finances, I can work with you on building a sustainable budget.

oxoxo Linda.

As a certified Life Coach, I help you to help yourself, so you can create a well lived life your way. 

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