Getting your finances under control isn’t as difficult as many people think but it does require some self-discipline and a desire to change things. Everyone’s journey will be different but the first step is always the hardest: recognizing that things need to change.
Not that many years ago, keeping your finances under control was much easier. You got paid, often with cash, and the cash you received had to last until the next paycheck. This is where you get the notion of envelope budgeting. Once paid you would put the right amount of money into different envelopes to pay the upcoming bills. After doing that whatever you had left had to last until the next pay day.
Today it is a lot more difficult. Anyone can get multiple credit cards and getting car and other loans is easy.
Times are very different.
Surviving from paycheck to paycheck without going further into debt is a start, it stops the downward spiral, but it doesn’t help you get ahead. What does help you get ahead is to learning to spend less than you earn.
Easily said, but it isn’t as hard as you think. When you stop thoughtlessly spending money and think about what is really important in your life and what makes you happy, then suddenly you discover a lot of money you never realized you had.
In Australia there is a woman who became very rich by getting people who were struggling with their finances to let her take control of their money.
Each paycheck would get sent to her and then she would allocate money for all their bills and give them back a small allowance to spend on themselves. A little like the old days.
Of course, she would keep an amount for herself, that is how she got rich.
Anything left over was used to pay off debt or added to savings.
Think about that for a moment. People who were drowning in debt, who could see no way out of the mess they were in, actually had enough money to pay this woman thousands of dollars a year and still save enough to pay off their debt and begin saving for the things they always wanted.
What is more amazing is even after people obviously had their finances under control, they continued to pay this woman to look after them.
Her method provides discipline and forces them to stop thoughtless spending, but does it help them develop self-discipline?
Sooner or later you need to take responsibility for your own finances, it is much cheaper and you will learn so much more.
