Gearing up for 2013 and wanting to make some changes to help you achieve more financial success? Head on over to Not Quite Amish where I’m talking about The Best Way to Jumpstart Financial Success. Here’s a snippet of my post:
Most of us have big goals and dreams for our finances, but executing those grand ambitions is easier said than done. Life happens, busyness creeps in, bills need to be paid, setbacks occur . . . the years tick by and somehow we never seem to make any traction on our financial goals.
I’m here to tell you a secret I’ve found for jumpstarting financial success. When I started implementing this a few years ago, I was amazed at the results. For the first time, I wasn’t just coming up with all these big ideas — I was actually following through and getting things done.
What’s the secret, you ask?
…Read the whole post over on Not Quite Amish.
For months I swung between wanting to keep track of every penny and just not budgeting at all. We are already frugal, but I have been feeling a need to be more aware of where the money is going. I wanted to have a budget and make saving goals and [micro]- manage our spending, but I think it was just too big of a leap, and I got overwhelmed when I tried to make the budget. Finally last month we decided to go with three categories: rent, tithing, and everything else. This is our first month trying it, so I’m not sure how it’s going to work out, but I already feel less overwhelmed. Rent and tithing are basically fixed rates, and then we’ve set a spending limit for “everything else,” so now I know how much I can spend. Once we get the hang of this we can add some goals for saving. I was feeling so overwhelmed because I felt like I needed to have a super-organized budget with a category for everything like my sister-in-law, but it was much easier to handle when we decided to start with something basic.
Your tips apply to so many additional areas besides financial. I remembered when I set out to paint our first renovation home. It was overwhelming every room, every ceiling every piece of trim, every door needed paint, and I could only carve out about 12 to 15 hours a week in 2 to 4 hour chunks of time. I applied the principles you wrote about in your article and concentrated first at one ceiling at a time, then one wall, then one room of trim then one door and soon enough it was done! Looking at a project in pieces instead of a whole really does work. All I have to do is look around my room at my pretty colored walls and remember snail pacing might not be fast but it gets me to the finish line, and that’s what counts.