Learning About Me

One of the many ways to learn about yourself is in finances. Do you have a budget? Do you have a detailed budget? I have been finding that people who struggle in setting a foundation in life oftentimes have a difficult time with a budget.

One of the things that can hold a person back from their full potential or big dreams is knowing how to handle finances. See, many individuals want to jump in and start a business or get married or begin a new life journey, but you have no clue how to create a budget or the discipline behind it.

I am here to say start now.  Our dreams are linked to finances and even if you are seeking to use an outside source, do you know how to handle those finances?

Are you ready to challenge yourself? Are you really ready to find out what you really focus on? So let’s begin:

1. Get a month calendar preferably blank.
2. Choose a past month
3. In every day write down everything you spent on those dates, from every account you have (Cashapp, Credit Cards, Checking Account, Savings Account, Zelle, Paypal, Square, Cash, Etc)
4. Combine like purchases on each day, for example, Dining Out, Clothing, Nail Salon, Hair Salon, etc
5. Then give totals at the end of that much for each category
6. Now ask yourself where did you spend the most money?
7. Do you need to spend that money?
8. What senseless spending can you cut out?

After going through this exercise, start really asking the hard questions:

1. Do I pay my bills on time?
2. Do I pay my necessary bills on time (Rent, Utilities, Transportation & Food)
3. Do I have a monthly saving?
4. Am I investing?

The goal here is to start teaching you how to make your money work for you and not you working for your money. Especially during this time of COVID-19, we have or should have learned to live on only what is necessary.

So try this and let me know if this worked for you. I am not a finance specialist! I am one who didn’t even know what a budget was, but the steps above I did and still do to this day. It has drastically helped me raise my credit score and be disciplined about my finances.

What I learned in all of this, is that there are things that can wait until I reach the status to have them and there are things that must be taken care of now! I learned so many more things during this process.

Every time I do this exercise with a client they learn more about themselves as well. So if you know how to handle the little things and handle them well, you will know how to handle the big things. It is time “to live a positively Mpowered Life.”

Here is a tool you can use to help you through this process, budget tools.

As always please let me know how it works for you and I am always here to help.