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Making New Years Resolutions That Will Stick

December 28, 2010 By Shane Ede 5 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!
It’s that time of year again!  That wonderful time when everybody is all hopeful and cheery and bright.  We go about spreading our cheer and hope and then declaring it to the world by making New Years Resolutions. Each year we resolve to lose the weight, quit the smoking, work less, and so on.   And each year, we all make it to about the 15th of January before we give up on those resolutions.  Not only do we go back to where we were before the new year, but some of us get even worse!

The problem isn’t that we’re weak.  It isn’t even that we make bad resolutions, although that sometimes is part of it.  What really, really kills those resolutions is the scale.  We fumble and stumble over the sheer breadth of our resolutions.  And that is almost directly a response to the overwhelming hope that we feel going into a new year.  Hope is good, don’t get me wrong, but we have to learn to channel it and control it so that it works for us, instead of against us by laying traps.

Think carefully about the resolutions you’ve made before.  They almost always go something like this: “I resolve to lose 100 pounds this year!”.  And they almost always fail.  But, like I said, it’s all about scale.  Instead of resolving to lose all 100 pounds this year, try making the resolutions scalable.  Something that has smaller increments and can be used as a checkpoint through out the year.  When you haven’t lost 10 pounds by the middle of January, you aren’t as disappointed, and you can keep working instead of giving up and going on a binge.  Try something like “I resolve to eat less this year”, or “I resolve to lose a pound a week this year”.  If you miss a day or two, or even a week or two, you can still catch up.  Or, you can just forgive yourself those few days or weeks and continue on the next day or week.  The same can go for smoking.  Instead of resolving to quit smoking entirely this year, and then giving up the first week, because you tried to go cold turkey, resolve to smoke one less cigarette each week than you did the previous week.  You might not quit as quickly, but it helps you taper, and it gives you goals that are achievable.

Use these same principles to modify the resolutions that you give yourself for your finances.  Instead of jumping right to the max contribution to your 401(k), maybe increase it a percentage or two so each quarter so that you’re at the max by the end of the year.  Instead of trying to save the full amount you want to out of your paycheck, do the same and increase it slightly each paycheck.  Not only will it still achieve your goals, but because you’re doing it gradually, it won’t produce the same shock to the system that it would if  you tried to do it all at once.

This new year, give yourself a fighting chance.  And remember, just because you want something, and you make a resolution about it, doesn’t mean it’s gonna just fall into your lap.  You’ll still have to work for it in any case.

photo credit: jazzlog

Shane Ede

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.

You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.

www.beatingbroke.com

Filed Under: General Finance, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: new year, resolutions, resolve, Saving, stop smoking, weight, weight loss

Frugal Christmas Tips

December 13, 2010 By Shane Ede 3 Comments

Close Up of Christmas TreeI don’t want to panic you or anything, but Christmas is just around the corner.  Inf act, it’s only a hair more than 10 days away.  Some of you are way ahead of the curve and have had your presents bought and wrapped for months.  Others, like myself, are still finishing up your shopping.  For me, it’s a procrastination problem.  Others, it’s a funding issue, and they just have to wait until they have the money to spend on all those presents.

If you ask me, the presents are the worst part of the season.  I enjoy the holidays, but I truly despise the commercialization of them.  I’d rather not do any of the presents schtick and merely enjoy the time off work spend with family and friends.  Never mind that it would save us all from having to endure the marketing blitz that is the month of December, or the horror stories of those who risk life
and limb to get that super cool toy at 3 a.m., only to have their children play with it for five minutes and then go off to build a fort out of the box.

But, unfortunately for most, that part of the holiday has become so ingrained into the holiday that it is impossible to remove.  For those, I offer a few tips to help lessen the burden.

  • Give Homemade Gifts.  Maybe you are an excellent baker, or a scrapbooker extraordinaire, or maybe you’re handy with a tool.  Not only will making your own thoughtful homemade gifts be cheaper, but they also show that you put more thought into the gift than just perusing the circular and finding the latest thing.
  • Go in on gifts.  Many people, including myself, don’t have a very long list of smaller priced items that they want or need.  But, most have at least a thing or two that is higher priced that they either want or need.  Go in with a group of relatives or friends and buy that one big item.  You’ll get away with paying a lesser amount, while the person will receive a bigger gift that they want rather than a bunch of smaller gifts that they don’t really want.
  • Go dutch.  Instead of hosting a big meal and cooking it all yourself, make it a potluck.  Not only will you get the best that your friends and relatives have to offer as far as holiday food goes, but it will significantly reduce the amount you’ll spend on groceries.
  • Fill the holidays with activities.  It sounds silly, but the more down time you have to ponder the lack of presents, the worse everybody feels.  If everybody knows they’ll only have a little bit of free time before going off to play board games, they won’t notice a few less presents.

Whether you take advantage of ways to save money this holiday season or not, do try and keep in mind that the season is about spending time with those that you care about.  Try to overcome any of the usual holiday squabbles and enjoy their company, and enjoy the season!

photo credit: Tatiana12

Shane Ede

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.

You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.

www.beatingbroke.com

Filed Under: budget, Consumerism, Frugality, ShareMe Tagged With: christmas, frugal, frugaler, Frugality, homemade gifts, Saving

Financial Intentionality

December 10, 2010 By Shane Ede 6 Comments

Financial bloggers, myself included, speak rather frequently about setting goals for your financial life.  Goals are super important.  If you don’t have a goal, you have no direction.  Further, if you don’t have a goal, you have not intention for your money.  You are intention-less.

What is your intention for your money?  What purpose should your money serve?
Pay-offA typical goal for money is to pay off this or that.  To save for this date, or this item.  But, deep down, there is an intention there.  If your goal is to pay off a debt, the intention is for your money to make you debt free.  If you’re saving up for something, the intention is to buy what you want without adding debt.  If you’re saving up for a date, the intention is to reach that date with some amount of money to pay for things without adding debt, or having to live in a trailer.

Financial Intentionality, in my mind, is more important than financial goals.  If the intention is all wrong, it just won’t help you out.  I don’t think that it’s black and white.  Call it karma, or morality, or whatever, but having a good intention will always get you farther than a bad one.  Not only that, but I think that intentionally guiding your money is a better way.

My intention with my money is to facilitate a debt free lifestyle where I can enjoy what I do, and not have to worry about where the next payment is going to come from.  There are sub-intentions.  Or, rather, intentions that lead towards that grander intention.  I intend to use my money to pay off my debt.  I intend to use my money to provide for my family in a way that allows us our necessities and a few luxuries without causing us to go further into debt or life extravagantly.

What are your intentions with your money?  Are the goals that you’ve set in line with those intentions?

Study what you do with your money.  Are your spending habits in line with your intentions?  How about your goals?  Perhaps your intention is to become debt free, but, one of your short-term goals is to save up for a new HDTV.  If you don’t really need that TV, your goal is way out of line with your intention.

Spend your money with intention.  Keep your intentions in mind as you set your goals and spend your money.

photo credit: Truthout.org

Shane Ede

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.

You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.

www.beatingbroke.com

Filed Under: Debt Reduction, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: budget, goals, intention, Saving, spending

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