Good morning.
Happy Tuesday.
Today’s post is an interesting one. As you all know, I’ve made goals for myself for the month of October. If you haven’t read it yet, you can check out the post by clicking here. Well, one of my goals is a goal that I’ve been struggling with the past few years, and that is being in charge of my finances. During my mid-twenties, Mom helped me with my financial plan and I was able to get my first apartment, as well as nice furniture. At this point, I did not indulge in the world of online shopping.
Then the year of 2018 changed my life…
It started with Vera Bradley, which then transferred to Amazon, and then it spilled into my current apartment. I was treating myself every so often, but it got to the point where I wouldn’t realize where most of my money was going. Thank you statements, you revealed to me the ugly truth. Also, I’ll be thirty this year, and I told myself at the beginning of 2020 that I wasn’t going to bring my financial burdens into my thirties. So today’s post is all about creating a financial plan.
WRITE DOWN YOUR PROBLEMS
The first thing you’ll want to do is create a brain dump or mind map of the things that you buy. Anything that comes to your mind at that moment, write it down on paper. If you know the price, write it down. I’ll use myself as an example. For majority of September, and most of this year, I’ve spent money on Amazon and UberEats. I can only imagine what my yearly statement is going to be like, but we’re not going to worry about that right now. Once I did that, I was able to work on the next step which is to create a budget.
CREATE A BUDGET
Next, you’ll want to write out a budget for yourself. To start, I wrote down what I would use my money towards (WISE SPENDING), and what I would stop spending. For instance, for food over the past few months, I’ve been cooking my meals now that I’m being more disciplined with my health. If I’m out with Mom, and we do go out to eat, I’ll use cash instead of my card. Now, I buy enough groceries to last me for majority of the month. I’m more of the healthy eater than Dad at the moment, so if I’m hungry, I’ll get up and cook myself something to eat. I won’t go too much into detail with this part because I think most of us know how to create a budget. If you’re unsure, do your research to figure out how you want to approach it.
READ A FINANCE BOOK
I read articles saying that it is important to familiarize yourself with the area of finances. Growing up, I really didn’t learn much about managing money until I got into early adulthood. Honestly, I’m still learning, but I want to be more disciplined in this area of my life so that I don’t mess things up for myself in the future. So, I got myself a few financial books to learn how to take care of my finances. Also, I’ll read the Word to see what the scriptures say about finances to help guide me in the right direction.
Ok you all. I hope these steps helped you. Again, I’m learning more about myself and trying to become a better version of myself and break away from old habits. I’ll check in with you all later with another post!
Until next time…
❤️
