Good morning Dinks. More than half the year is over and it’s time to check in on your 2013 goals. How is it going? Are you on track to achieve all your goals by December? This year I set a few goals for myself which included the usual – losing weight and saving more money.
Was one of your goals for 2013 to pay off debt or save more money? If so then let us help you.
Welcome to our Dinks financial rehab:
1. You have to be willing to make a change. Just like any big decision that you make in life, if you want to make a change in your finances you have to be willing and wanting to make the change. Some people call his bottoming out. It means that you have hit rock bottom and don’t want your financial situation to continue on as it is, so you consciously make the decision to start making changes.
2. Recognize that you have a problem. You will never be willing to make a change in your personal finances if you don’t think that there is a problem with your money management. If your credit card statement comes in the mail every month and you can only afford to make the minimum payments then maybe your finances need a little rehab. If you have to choose between paying your rent and buying groceries every month then maybe your finances need a makeover. I was in both of these situations only a few years ago – so if you are there right now, I know how you feel.
3. Find the new habits that you want to have. Before you can start to make any changes you have to know how to want to change and what you want to change in to. If you want to pay off your debt, how are you going to do it? What do you want the end result to be? Make those decisions and then make a plan to achieve your goals. We can’t change if we don’t know how we are going to do it. Making a plan and visualizing how I want my life to be gave me the motivation that I needed to get a second job and start paying off my debt.
4. Right your wrongs. This may sound like a 12 step rehab program and it’s close to it, but not quite. After paying off my debt I decided that I was never going to let myself be in that type of situation again. So I decided to change my financial habits, change my outlook on money, become debt free and right all of my wrongs. I would much rather save $600 rather than spend it on paying off debt. Don’t you agree?
Money is the bread and butter of our lives. Not in a shallow way, but in the way that it pays for our house and food. Without money we can’t survive so doesn’t it just make sense that we use our money wisely?
Photo by rick
I’ve been doing pretty well with my 2013 financial goals. I haven’t paid as much as I’ve wanted to on my student loans but I have made a pretty big dent in them.
Losing weight. That most unobtainable of goals.
Well, that ice cream ain’t gonna eat itself!
@Cat – don’t you just love being on track with your goals? I like setting goals because I like working towards something, but I also like to make lists – so it’s a win/win.
@No Waste – OOHH I heart ice cream, especially if it’s a chocolate vanilla twist with sprinkles on top.
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