Knowin Where It's Goinin

You've seen the headlines of someone famous and rich who filed for bankruptcy and you think how could that be? And we all have the thought; "if I made that much money I could do better, I wouldn't squander it all away like they did." The truth is, it's not about how much we make, it's all about having a reference point to be balanced financially, that is to know where our money is going regardless of our income. All of the news stories of someone rich failing is simply a picture of this.

In order to have a good reference point for balancing your finances we said this past weekend that you gotta be knowin where your moneys goinin.  (Yes, I know I spelled knowin and goinin wrong!) So many of you have been tracking your money this week to discover where it's all going. You cannot have a plan to end up in  balanced financially without having a reference point first.

One of the things I was shocked to discover this past summer as I tracked my money closely was how much I spent eating out. The dollar menu at a fast food place seemed painless when I would order. But after tracking it all I discovered that I spent a lot more each time I went for fast food than just the dollar menu. One of the things I have changed dramatically is simply making and taking my own lunch. Not only have I begun saving a lot of money but I definitely make a better sandwich than most of the ones I was buying.

Don't get discouraged as you track where your money is goin this week - remember you are working to simply have a reference point so that you can develop a plan to get balanced financially over the next several weeks. Don't rush ahead and try to fix it all today - just get the reference point this week! 

This coming weekend I will be talking about Reading The Fine Print. We will be looking at developing and having a clear objective for our money.