Managing Your Money With Intention
November 14, 2011 – 12:24 pmManaging money effectively can change your life. No matter where you are financially, you can turn that around. And some more good news… you don’t need a financial counselor or a finance degree. The steps are simple. It’s implementing them that takes courage and commitment.
When I left my corporate career, we went from two hefty paychecks down to one. I was the bread winner and we spent money like it was water at the time. I was maximizing my 401K contributions and putting money aside for the kids, but our savings wasn’t maximized like it could have been. I certainly could have been a lot less of an impulsive buyer too.
All the spending, pretty much kept us on a paycheck to paycheck living cycle. And then, when payday came, it started over again.
I thought I was managing things well. The bills always got paid - first - and our credit scores were excellent. However, I never heard of an “emergency fund” and I didn’t mind carrying a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt. I’d continue to pay the bills as they came in, no big deal.
After we had kids though, it was a constant struggle to want to continue as the “career woman” I had become. I wanted more flexibility. Let’s face it, if my kids were sick, I wanted to be able to spend the day holding them and caring for them… without asking anyone if I could.
We had to take are long hard look at our spending in order to create the lifestyle we truly craved. Sometimes having less is more. A big lesson I learned is that happiness comes from within. There is no material possession in this world that will give you true happiness for the rest of your days.
So, taking a long hard look at where we spent our money was our first step. Then, shaving those unnecessary expenses and becoming totally debt free was the next.
Being financially savvy is fun. Being a work from home mom is even “funner.”
Andrea Pokorny writes about becoming financially secure at MainstreamMom.com. She is passionate about delivering tools and resources to help Moms pay off debt and change their financial life. Visit her site and receive her free workbook titled “7 Simple Strategies to Take The Stress Out of Money Management."
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