by admin | Jan 28, 2021 | Debt
Debt can do terrible things to your self-esteem, to your sense of purpose about what you can and should do. How you mentally and emotionally approach the debt you have is something you need to be careful about. I know that when I was at my lowest emotional state I had let my debts get the better of me. I was making the false assumption that I was my debts and that my debts were me, that I was not separate from them. Debts are just money recorded in a certain way. No more than this. But in my head I had resorted to 'stinking thinking' and was hurting myself and those around me by my terrible and destructive attitude.
For a couple of years this was plain to see for anyone who was foolish enough to talk with me. All they got for their support and gentle encouragement was an ear bashing about the unfairness of life. How low I sank while my focus was on a personal pity-party! But this is why I can say nowadays that you must take the time to see quite how much you already have in your life that is good and positive. Put your focus on whatever gives you real insight into who you are and what is precious and special and important for you.
You have people in your life who are quite capable of telling you how off-track you have been, if you will just let them. Such negative influence does you no good and you can get rid of these influences completely, or begin to limit the time you send in such company through being aware that your diary is your own. Don't let your debt anxiety and money worry overload get in the way of you maintaining and nurturing those relationships with your friends.
Take a moment right now to acknowledge what you have got. This can be something that you write down as a list or can be a process that you simply think through, picturing in your mind all the good that you already have around you. I believe the actual process of writing this down is more powerful than simply thinking it through, because you involve several more sense if you are having to think, to feel, to touch and to see what you write out.
Take a walk around your home and see what you have in your space. Pick up objects that have real significance to you. This could be a photo of an occasion, a book that helped you, a film which moved you, a toy from childhood, or perhaps a piece of furniture with real memories. Count your blessings and realize how much you have going for you. Be grateful for what you have and do not be surprised for the additional good that makes its way into your life. Let go of the stupid and pointless Pity Party. Just be you.
by admin | Dec 31, 2020 | Debt
Your website developer has issued you with an invoice for their work. Your book-keeper has sent you an email telling you the amount that you owe for the work she has done to get your accounts in order to get you to a place where because of her work you will have an accurate figure for your likely tax bill this year. Your landlord has sent you a reminder of your rent payment date, along with a letter that provides the details of her switch to a new business bank account.
You figure that you can send just half of the agreed figure to your web developer. You delay the money to your book-keeper another week and claim to have been too busy to make the payment. You don't pay the rent until the landlord chases you with a polite SMS message asking when you paid the rent and tells you she is trying to match your credit against others she has in her account this week. You reply with a message that you didn't get the new bank details and will send straightaway.
With this attitude you've lost the confidence of your website supporter and also of the person you really need to help keep your tax bill down. You've tricked your landlord out of prompt payment for your accommodation and you think you've done yourself a favour. But now it's only three weeks until the next months rent is due. You've only fooled yourself.
Paying for your Bank Account.
You pay a monthly amount of $10 or $20 to your bank and you allow them to take this from your account in exchange for points that are supposed to add up to something exciting like a discount on shopping at stores you don't frequently use, or that gives you reduced entry tickets to a theme park you will never visit. You do this, you allow them to charge for such a "privilege" account, but at the same time you have debts that are greater than the amount of $120 or $240 you are handing over each year.
Similar to the bank account, you might have a membership of a VIP Dining Card scheme that you pay a monthly fee for, and yet you either don't use the card enough for it to be a worthwhile membership or you go out to such meals and sit there sweating at the prospect of the bill after the meal being more than you know you should be spending. If you are uncomfortable then stop kidding yourself that this is a real or relevant thing in your life. Get your money in order and enjoy a meal as a reward for sorting things out.
It's not the 1st of the month again, is it?
You open your online banking account secretly hoping that there is $1,000 in your account and are disappointed or even angry when you see that you have just $180 available now that the water, electric and gas monies have been taken out, along with the grocery store money and the petrol from the weekend. You are a week from getting your next wage credit to your account and you know you will struggle to get through these next days. The chemist will need to be paid $37 for your prescription drugs today. Your car really does need two new front tires at $60 each tire, and the weather is not good. There is a $29 school meal invoice to be paid. You complain that life is not fair to you! Everyone else has it so much easier than you!
Get this into your head. It is irrelevant where other people are with their money. It is pointless thinking about anything other than what you can start to do differently or better around the way that you deal with your money.
Start to pay something against each bill that you receive. That you cannot clear the bill does not matter. Pay something. This is not about protecting your credit rating which is irrelevant right now. What you have to do is get into the habit of paying something towards what you owe.
The action of making the payment gets you closer to the psychological place you need to be in to get rid of your debts.
by admin | Dec 3, 2020 | Debt
In my first full-time job I used the pages of a Filofax as a diary and organising tool which came with lots of handy sheets to track money in and out. Nowadays, all types of journals and day planners exist to support you in monitoring to tracking your spending. Many of these can be bought cheaply at supermarkets as well as stationery stores, and the journal will often have a pocket in the back for you to keep tickets and receipts. Online software and apps for your phone make the ability to see pictures of your spending very easy indeed. You can just as easily insert spending items into your phone app and build up the spending pattern during the day, seeing it on a large screen when you get back to your laptop or PC. If you are visually motivated these tools will be a real help. If you are tactile in your approach then pen and paper will be what works for you. The key thing is to find a process that is easy for you because you enjoy it. If it's complicated you won't be giving yourself any incentive.
A pocket notebook that is easy to fit in your coat, or an envelope can both fulfil the role of place to store your receipts. There is no need for you to spend any real money to capture the record of where you spend and what you buy with your money. The key is to make sure every expenditure gets logged somehow. If you buy with a debit card at the shop counter or the service station you will naturally be given a receipt. With simple cash transactions at the hardware store or in the green grocer shop you will either have to ask for a receipt or finish the purchase, reach for your notebook and write down what you just bought and the cost of it.
If you're reading this at lunchtime you can still start to log your spending until you go to bed tonight. Tomorrow you can do a full day of recording the way that money is going through your hands.
The rules are simple:
1. Record each expenditure. Don't miss one.
2. Write down the detail as soon as you can after spending the money.
3. Log the exact amount, to the actual penny.
It's really simple to do this. From now on, you'll not put $50 in your pocket at the start of the day and then wonder at night why you have just $7.37 left over in change. You will know where the money went and what you spent it on.
Maintaining the daily record and learning from the pattern of your spending in this way, puts you back in control, not just of your money but of your life. From knowing the numbers behind your spending you then become conscious of your choices over what you buy. Only once you are fully aware of this can you start to make more informed decisions.
by admin | Jun 9, 2020 | Simple Self Help
Money will come to you to the extent that you offer a service that is of value. Of course, you could marry money, inherit money or even win it on the lottery, but the reality is that either one of those methods involves you in some processes you might either feel sorry for or sad about later!
The greater the value you offer, the greater the inflow of money. If you ever find yourself thinking you are earning less money than you are worth, then you need to look at your contribution to service. When people know that you offer something of value, they will turn up in droves to hand over their money.
Receiving money can be as simple as asking for it in the first place! When was the last time you actually stopped racing around and said aloud "I need more money and welcome it now" instead of simply spending hours worrying about the lack of money you were experiencing at the time?
For whatever reason, it is very easy to push away money in the same way and for often the same reasons that we push away so much of the goodness and the riches that life has to offer us. One reason we reject it is because we are unable to receive with ease and without guilt. So the more time you can put into receiving with pleasure and to saying 'thank you' for all the abundance that the Universe has to offer you, the more likely it is that you will start to notice some great things turning up in your life.
Being able to receive is crucial to your earning money for you will turn opportunities away until you can receive without concern or without worry. Simply receive in the moment.
If you are experiencing lack of inflow and plenty of outflow, you need to reverse the trend. The easiest and simplest way is for you to review and reflect upon the value of the work you do, and the people you deliver it to.
- What skills can you offer? How about a level of service, support or problem solving?
- What are you good at naturally that your friends and co-workers often express surprise about or ask for your help with?
- Do a skills audit of your abilities and talents, of those of your friends and family.
- Look at the amount of money that these skills and talents can be worth in the right market place. Notice that I said "the RIGHT market place." Having the right talents applied to the wrong market, to the wrong audience group, or to the wrong potential client, will have no value as you will have missed the mark.
Get creative over your ability to earn and to attract money into your experience. Start with something simple and develop from this level upwards. Take an example such as manifesting or attracting to you a cup of coffee or a big smile from someone on the street. Once you have managed this and proven to yourself how easy it can be to receive what you put out for, then you can move onto bigger and better things and situations.
Just the same is true for money. You might begin with saying to yourself "I am attracting the funds needed to pay for my car maintenance" and then let go of any attachment to the outcome. All manner of things could happen to get you the desired end result of having the car maintenance bill settled. It could be that someone gives you the money as a gift, or you receive a tax credit for a matching amount of money, or maybe you find a windfall to the same amount. What matters is that you ask for the result and let the money make its own way to you.
To attract money from your job or a small business that you choose to set up and run, first decide what service you will offer and then commit to delivering that service. Invest time and energy in identifying the buyers for your skills, services, products and talents. Make it your business to be in business with these buyers.
In the context of your job, invest your energies in becoming a valuable resource for the business that employs you.
Learn more about your niche, develop your skills in such a way as to make you more important to the success of the company. This might be through online learning, attending in-house training events, or simply through getting involved within your local business community.
As your work related learning and abilities grow, it is very likely that this will be matched with greater opportunities and benefits that can be measured in terms of reward and money.
When this happens be ready for it, and make sure that you take those rewards to the bank!
by admin | May 12, 2020 | Simple Self Help
Money is a topic that so few of us ever learn at school or from our family when growing up. I mean, how are you supposed to get a financial role model from a schoolteacher who is just surviving on salary that is only enough for them to pay their own bills, let alone develop your own savings and patterns of Financial Independence?
We have to learn about it now and we have to get on with it. Every month that you refuse to acknowledge and learn the basic principles of financial success and money management is another month wasted, and another month of compound interest missing from your savings. Before you can know it you have to learn it and there sure as hell is no better way to learn it than to start handling money right now in your life.
Facing the subject of money and the emotion that it brings up for all of us is a strong beginning to dealing with the whole subject. An example of facing money as a topic might be something as simple and straight forward as opening an envelope that arrives and which you know contains a bill. Once you get the bill out you are in a position to file it and set a date for it to get paid.
Keep a running file of the amounts you owe and track the money you have coming in. When it comes to handling and managing money, your conscious awareness is nine tenths of the reason for your success. The less you know about your financial situation, the more you deny needing to own and control the detail, the more likely it is that you will struggle to attract it and keep it.
The last thing you should do is leave opening the post until another day or until you think you might have some cash in to pay it. By opening the post and dealing with it you are back in control of your situation.
One significant key to getting in control of your money is the ability to speak to your creditors, the people you owe something to. Once they know that you are communicating with them, much of their nervousness around the debt you owe will reduce. This allows you to make steady and constant payments within your budget, reducing your debt until it is all gone.
Being aware of your numbers is one of the keys to understanding and being in control of your finances. If you are bringing in enough money you can meet your bills and save. If you know your numbers each day, then you will also know when it is time to turn up the energy and attract more money into your life.
