When I was living paycheck to paycheck, I was immediately sick of it.
The unfortunate reality is that roughly half of Americans currently live that way, and imagine they’re also sick of it.
I’m going to share the process that helped me to break free of this vicious cycle. I want you to make the shift from being broke to being good with money.
And here’s the reality; living paycheck to paycheck happens to every kind of person, rich or poor. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it can just be a temporary phase.
More month than money
There are a lot of factors that cause us to spend all the money we earn.
Some are beyond our control, like an illness or death in the family.
Others are self-inflicted, like simply spending too much.
Whatever’s causing you to get to the end of the month and not have any money left, here are the steps to follow to move to a better financial future:
Let’s get started.
Shift your thinking
There was a time in your life when you didn’t know how to walk, read or tie your shoes. Now, I’m assuming you can do all of those things.
Personal finance is no different.
You just need to learn how to do it, and you’re perfectly capable of doing it.
The way you think about money is really important. If you think you’re bad with money and you’ll never get ahead financially, you’re going to have a hard time getting ahead financially.
So make a shift in the way you think about money. Let’s look into the future for a moment.
Think about a time, three years from today, when you’re debt-free and saving money every month. How would that feel?
That’s how I want you to start feeling now.
Instead of making a goal to be debt-free and saving money, why not instead adopt the mindset of a person who is financially successful?
Start saying to yourself every morning, “I’m financially successful. I’m good with money.”
Who do you want to be?
Why have a tendency to think about our goals wrong.
We think, “once I’m debt free, then I’ll have peace of mind.”
Instead, let’s figure out how you want to feel, and start living that way now.
Fill in the blank with the way you’re feeling right now: “I am ______ with money.”
Now, who do you want to be?
Fill in the blank with how you want to feel: “I am ______ with money.”
Why do you want that?
Why did you write that? Why did you choose that word?
Perhaps you want to be a good example to others? Maybe you want to have peace of mind so you can stop worrying and stressing over money? Maybe you’d just like to be able to go out to eat more?
Whatever your reason, write it down.
Tactical steps for making it happen
Depending on where you are financially, personal finance can be overwhelming. That’s the opposite of what I want for you.
With that in mind, here is a step-by-step process for getting started;
For each of these, put a timeline in place.
This could take a long time.
And it’s important to appreciate, embrace, and commit to however long it will take you.
Here’s the thing; once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have financial security. You’ll be on budget and you’ll be moving towards that ideal version of yourself and towards financial prosperity.
That’s worth the effort and you’re worth the effort.
Budgeting
Have you ever seen the golf balls and rice experiment? The challenge is to fit a bunch of golf balls and a large amount of rice into the same bowl.
The trick is getting the order right.
If you put the rice in first, there won’t be enough room for the golf balls and many of them will end up rolling away from you on the floor.
The proper order is to put the golf balls in first, and then the rice. You’ve got to put first things first.
The same is also true of our personal budgets. If we’re budgeting out of order, we’ll remain stuck in the paycheck to paycheck cycle.
To continue the golf ball and rice analogy, your needs are the golf balls. Your wants are the rice.
If you’d like to dig deeper into personal budgeting, one of our Certified Partners, Money Alignment Academy offers a Get a Budget course.
If you’re looking for an easy way to keep track of your personal budget, consider Tiller Money. They make the process easy.
Credit
Credit plays a very important role in our lives. It has a hand in dictating where we live, the car we drive, even where we work. Therefore, it’s important to be working towards having good credit.
The first step on the path to good credit is checking your credit report which you can do at sites like FreeCreditReport.com. You’re looking for discrepancies such as debts you’ve already paid off, accounts you didn’t know you had, or names or addresses that aren’t yours.
From there, you’ll start proactively building credit. If you’d like to dig deeper into that, you can access our Improve Your Credit course at no cost.
If you’d like help in clearing up and building your credit, one of our Certified Partners,
Dovly, can help.
Conclusion
Living paycheck to paycheck is no way to live.
You deserve to break free of it. You’re capable of doing it.
If you’d like some additional help, you can connect with one of our Certified Financial Coaches for a no-cost conversation.
Let us know how we can help you on your journey!
Resources mentioned
If you’re ready to take control of your financial life, check out our DIY Financial Plan course.
Improve Your Credit course
We’ve got three free courses as well: Our Goals Course, Values Course, and our Get Out of Debt course.
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