Change 2

[vaneramos]

I've been dragging my heals about getting started with Change No. 2. Or maybe I've just been too busy. One or the other. Anyway, I still have the rest of March and April, so there's lots of time, but I mustn't procrastinate any longer.

Change 2 of 6 for 2010 is to "establish and maintain a budget." I'm not sure whether I'll stick with the idea of a budget specifically; one friend has recommended a different approach. But the goal is to get a better handle on my spending habits and start paying down my credit card debt.

I have deliberately put off a meeting with a credit counselor until this month, when I would have time to prepare and follow up. Now is the time. The appointment is on March 15. Here is what I need to do during my free evenings this week:

• Monday: tidy the office, sort through bills, and locate the work sheets that were mailed to me several months ago.
• Thursday: do the homework, which includes writing up a budget.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Comments

[smileyfish.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

I'm finding your approach and progress useful and inpiring :)

[lupinebear.livejournal.com]

If there's anything I can do to help with this, let me know. 'Cause this one is going to suck. *hugs*

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

More than anything I need accountability and encouragement to stick with it. For too long I've tried to solve my financial problems without telling anybody except Danny and my writing partner from time to time. That hasn't worked.

Changing my spending habits will be hard, but I doubt it can can be more distressing than having my credit card maxed and my bank account overdrawn for the past six months. I've already made some progress with that, and the relief is a reward in itself. Now I just have to remember not to reward myself by spending myself back into the hole.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, knowing that others find it helpful makes it easier to slog through! I adopted the 6 changes approach from this blog:

http://6changes.com/

[apel.livejournal.com]

Money is a biggie. I'd be surprised if you didn't have any resistance to this topic.

I've tried creating a budget on paper but have never succeeded. Money, for me, is intimately bound up with other things that were scarce in my family of origin: love, kindness, security, food.

So far I've found two strategies that work for me:
1. Earn enough money that I don't have to worry about it.
2. Automate everything about money so that I don't have to spend time thinking about it.

Neither of these are going to work for everybody, and I'm keenly aware that they are a way of avoiding the problem rather than dealing with it head on. But sometimes that's what works best.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The puzzling thing is my parents provided for me pretty well, but I still have these hangups about money. One way or another, I suppose, we get saddled with the notion that money equals happiness and security.

I have trouble imagining myself in a job where I can be happy and earn a lot of money. I would prefer to achieve a simpler lifestyle and learn to be content with it.

I automate all my bill payments, too. The challenge is making sure there's enough money in the accounts to cover them!