Three Habits For Accomplishing More: #2 Manage

Jul 20

This past Monday I shared step #1 in my 2016 Habits For Accomplishing More Series. If you missed it you can find it here. Today I'll be sharing step number two which was to get my finances in order.

As I mentioned in my introductory post to this series I felt that I was handling my finances well and

wanted to take further steps to move closer to my goals. I decided to take a financial planning class in my area which turned out to be be Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey.

Prior to enrolling in the course I honestly had never heard about Dave Ramsey. I didn't think I needed to learn how to budget. I did want to get out of debt but thought I would, eventually, and that was fine. I basically went because I wanted expert advice on investing, IRA's, and buying a home.

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To be honest I thought the first few class topics were "lame". I mean balancing a checkbook & creating a budget, really? I thought I already knew all I needed to about saving. I couldn't wait to get to the "good stuff". Still, I was determined to follow the steps laid out in the plan so that I could see proper results. Even if it meant using cash. Yuck. Oddly enough this was the part that I really had a hard time with.

I learned so much in that class. Way too much to recap here but I will say that those "lame" lessons really changed the way I thought & helped me make some serious life changing progress. I finally started managing my finances by planning ahead instead of spending out of control and then reacting.

I actually enjoy creating a budget (not having to stick to it, just seeing money left over at the end of the month) and assigning a task to every dollar to give me a realistic idea about how much I earned and spent each month. It felt really good to be paying down debt as opposed to watching it accumulate. I felt more in control. I was starting to gain traction towards my big hairy goals.

It was like a workout. It hurt to go through it but the results made me feel good.

Below are some of FPU's planning and budgeting resources. Check them out and while you're there see if there's a class in your area. Being in a group with other people with the same goals, supporting each other is a big help. If you're on our Avon ANTS team of representatives you can also tune in to our team conference calls for more finance advice.

Another tool that I discovered along my financial journey was Mint Money Management. It's available for free as an app as well as a website. It allows you to keep track of your budget in real time.

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Being able to enter my cash spending right into my phone (which is already always in hand) and view my remaining budget made keeping a budget easy & even fun. The graphs and tracking tools gave a fast and easy way to see a snapshot of my finances. I've continued to use it after switching from paper budgeting forms and you might even see me consulting it before going to make a purchase.

Stay tuned to see how taking that one financial planning class went beyond my finances to improve another one of my areas of struggle