Taking inventory: becoming better managers of the money we already have
Are your finances causing you worry and anxiety?
Anxiety can be caused by a feeling of helplessness. Helplessness in regards to our financial lives often comes from the fact that we are not managing our money very well.
How can we expect to prosper if we are not good stewards of the money we already have?
I will admit I have been pretty lazy about managing my money lately. A few of my excuses include:
I am a busy mom/teacher/wife/blogger, etc.. I don’t have the time!
It’s depressing to really look at my financial situation (much easier to stuff bills in a drawer and not think about it much)
I make so little as a school teacher it is hardly worth the trouble (not the best attitude to attract abundance into my life I admit)
I don’t have to balance my checkbook anymore because everything is there on my online banking account…
You get the idea. (I’m not feeling particularly proud at the moment). Perhaps a few of you out there can relate?
The good news is that at anytime we can choose to change our habits.
The first thing anybody (including myself) needs to do to take control of their finances is to take inventory.
What do you have?
What do you owe?
I’ve had a little bit of a clearing house lately.
I’ve:
1. Cleaned out my bill collecting drawer
2. I’ve closely examined all credit card and bank statements (it’s amazing how easy it is to forget about accounts you open for services with a “free trial” on the internet that seemed like a good idea at the time but you end up not using them. But you forget about them and the charges keep coming…)
3. I have made a promise to myself to be eagle eyed when it comes to my account statements. I will also no longer sign up for any new program online until I get my finances in order.
4. I am taking a magnifying lens to the amount I bring in and what I am spending…
5. I am devising a plan that includes both ways to not spend as much and ideas to supplement my income.
I will stop there.
It is your turn to take your financial inventory.
Knowing and looking squarely at our financial situation (as frightful as it may seem) is a necessary first step to getting on the path to prosperity.
To be continued!
Debra
When you open up your mailbox and pull out bills, how do you feel?
Perhaps many of us don’t have a lot of money because we don’t we feel good about it.
Think about this:
How do you feel when you get bills in the mail? How does your stomach feel? do you stuff these bills in a drawer somewhere in your house with an “out of sight out of mind attitude” or simply “I just don’t want to deal with this right now”?
You child asks you for something, and your automatic response is” no, we can’t afford it!”
In your journals tonight I encourage you to reflect on how you feel about money.
On our next post we will explore ways we can feel better about money and our financial lives.
To prosperous living,
Debra
Money is like mother’s milk: how do you feel about money? A journal writing exercise
On the whole we should regard money as mother’s milk: it nourishes us and it nourishes others. That should be our attitude to money. It’s not just a blank coupon that we have in our wallet. Each dollar contains a lot of past; Many people worked for that particular one dollar, once cent. They worked so hard, with their sweat and tears. So it’s like mother’s milk. But at the same time, mother’s milk can be given away and we can produce more mother’s milk. So I wouldn’t hang on to it too tightly.
~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
What are your feelings about money? Do you hoard it and never spend it or do you spend it or give it away freely? Do spend it quickly as soon as you get some? Do you spend money that you don’t even have (yet) and run up debt.
Until we examine our feelings about money we will not be able to heal our relationship with money and develop a prosperity consciousness.
I encourage you to think about these questions and do some writing in response to them in you journal.
To your prosperity,
Debra
What are your true desires? A Journal Writing Exercise
According to Shakti Gawain in her book, Creating True Prosperity, the process of creating prosperity depends on our knowing what are needs and desires truly are.
Here’s a simple journal exercise you can do to help get clarity on what is really important to you.
Sit down with your journal or notebook in a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for an hour or two.
Then ask yourself: “What do I need on each of these levels: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically”?
Now write down everything that comes to mind.
Then look at each thing you wrote and write about why it is important to you.
See what surfaces.
If life is so abundant, then why is there not more money in my bank account? A Journal Writing Exercise
Do you ever feel frustrated about your financial situation? Perhaps you are a good person, raising a family, working hard at a job (or looking for one), watching your spending, etc. etc. and still,no matter what you do you are living paycheck to paycheck.
Hmm… what is going on here? I’ve been asking myself these questions for a while now and I am getting closer to figuring it out. I sense that although I am doing very good and noble work as a public school teacher, there may be another calling for me. I believe I have been holding myself back, not pursuing some of my long dormant (but thank goodness, not dead, dreams). Can I be bold enough to dust off some of these dreams? Is it too late? No, of course it is never too late.
Good ideas, passions, and dreams are where it’s at- but only if we take action on them. It takes courage (which literally means “with heart), confidence, and a lot of determination.
In your journal today answer these eight questions:
- Where in my life have I not felt confident?
- What am I procrastinating?
- How many times do I start something but don’t finish it?
- Do I suffer from “analysis paralysis”? (overanalyzing everything to the point that you don’t ever do anything)?
- If I had no fear, what would I do?
- What is worth doing inspite of my fear?
- What is worth doing despite any obstacles that will be on my path?
- What baby action step can I take now towards making something worth doing (one of my dreams) become a successful reality?
Five affirmations for abundance in your life
Five simple affirmations for abundance in your life:
- I am thankful for my many blessings.
- Life is rich.
- I have plenty.
- I trust and have faith that I have everything I need
- When I see something I love I bless it and love it. If this something belongs to someone else I bless that person.
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Service As a Path To Prosperity: Ten journal writing questions for the New Year
When you are able to shift your central focus to how you serve others, you will be in a position to know true miracles in your progress towards prosperity ~
John Donovan
Many of us want to be prosperous. Being prosperous does not mean just having a lot of money. It also means living a rich, rewarding life; a successful life. Serving others is one way of living a rich life- a life that is bigger than ourselves.
As the new year approaches, what ways can you think about serving others? Perhaps this can be volunteer work or a career path.
In your journal, ask yourself:
- What causes do I feel passionate about?
- What do I love?
- Where do I see a need in my community?
- How can I fill that need?
- What do I value?
- How can I put my talents to good use?
- What puts a smile on my face at the thought of doing it?
- Who do I want to serve? (children, adults, older adults, males, females, animals, sick people, poor orwealthy people, etc. )
- How can I add value to others’ lives with my time, products, or services?
- What is my purpose in life?
To service and a prosperous New Year!
Debra : )
An affirmation for your prosperity tonight!
Act as though you are and you will be!
Before you can prosper you have to think of yourself as prosperous.
So, affirm daily:
I AM PROSPEROUS
EVERYTHING I DO PROSPERS.
I GIVE TO LIFE AND LIFE GIVES BACK TO ME.
Source: a wonderful book entitled All About Prosperity And How you Can Prosper by Jack and Cornelia Addington
Write this affirmation in your prosperity journal. Put it on a sticky note and put it on your computer monitor and in your car… wherever you will see it
frequently and daily. Include it in your meditation and spiritual time in the morning and at night.
You have to feel and believe that you are prosperous now. Be thankful for it. Focus on your many blessings and all the abundance you see everywhere.
Don’t watch the news (it tends to be a lot of negative spinning stories). See the good that is out there (and there is a lot of good going on out there if you are
looking for it). Don’t listen to the doomsayers. Don’t worry about the recession. More successful companies were built during times of recession and depression.
There is so much opportunity out there. Focus on the good. There is plenty of good for you!
To your prosperity!
Debra : )
Ten Disciplines For Managing Your Money
For those of you who are familiar with The Warm Milk Journal you know that we focus on ways to conquer fear or anxiety or anything else which may be preventing us from living a well balanced life and sleeping restfully at night.
One issue that has often plagued me with fear, the loss of sleep, anxiety, health symptoms, and marital troubles is the issue of money.
The Warm Milk Prosperity Journal is a place to explore and apply principles and lessons learned about living a more prosperous life from a variety of sources. Perhaps if we can improve our financial lives we will live happier, more peaceful lives- and yes, sleep much better at night.
Ready to get started? Good!
Today’s lesson comes from a wonderful book I picked up from the library recently: Life Management for Busy Women Living Out God’s Plan With Passion & Purpose
by Elizabeth George.
In Chapter 11, Page 133 Ms. George begins to prescribe ten disciplines for managing our money.
They are:
- You shall not be in debt. Yes, debt is an issue for many of us. I think of how much more financial freedom I would have if I did not have a car loan (as much as I do love my Honda Accord, but that $500 payment is a killer), a student loan, and two credit card payments. Avoiding debt in the first place would be preferable. If you do have, debt, however, Ms. George has a few good suggestions. She encourages going on a spending “fast”: simply cut out unnecessary spending. Just say no to that daily latte or eating out so much. For dinner, make things you already have in the pantry and freezer first before running out to buy new food. Get rid of any unnecessary items and sell them at a garage sale or E-Bay.
- You shall not spend more than you make. That’s related to the debt issue, isn’t it? If we lived within our means we would avoid borrowing money in the first place. If we are not in the habit to live frugally and within our means (or even under our means and save and tithe more), that would be a wonderful new habit to work on. I will be the first to admit that I have a real long way to go with this but one has to start somewhere.
- You Shall not buy on credit. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.
- You shall not covet what others have. Affirm abundance by blessing the wealth and affluence of others instead of being envious. Bless what you want.
- You shall not love money. I think this idea has a lot of interpretations. I know there are references in the Bible about it. I am spiritual but I’m not an overly religous person so I try to find the universal truth in whatever a scripture or spiritual text is telling me. Ms. George does quote from the Bible (1 Timothy 6:10): “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. I feel that although money is not everything, not having enough really affects the quality of one’s life. I think God would want all of us to live well and prosper. Perhaps if we neglected our families or health in pursuit of money or we were unhealthily hoarding money that would be another matter- what do you think about this one? This would make a terrific conversation. Feel free to comment, please!
- You shall give regularly to your church. In an earlier post we spoke of tithing 10 percent of our income. I have never been good about this but I am interested in giving this a try.
- You shall give generously. What a wonderful principle to live by. I am heartened by all the stories I read about in the paper about people giving and helping those in need. If we are giving, we are affirming our own prosperity as well ( the same can be said about paying our bills by the way- we are blessed with the resources to pay our obligations- so bless those bills!)
- You shall know your financial condition at all times. This makes quite a bit of sense. This is another area I really need to work on. My fiance is very good about checking the stock market and seeing what is going on with our retirement accounts. I am not. My head has been into other things in recent years. I’m not even very good about balancing my checkbook since I do everything online now and hardly write out any checks anymore. Hmmmm….maybe if I paid closer attention I would be in better financial shape. Did I mention those pesky charges on credit cards on things I had forgotten I had signed up for and don’t want or use? Time to take care of those!
- You shall have a reserve. In an earlier post, we spoke of saving ten percent of our income (as well as tithing another ten percent). I sctually started doing that and was very good about for a few paychecks. It was very exciting and empowering to know that I had a little nest egg building. Then I decided I needed to dip into it to pay for my wedding dress and other wedding related expenses (my fiance and I are getting married in March). I guess I will start over. New habits don’t happen overnight.
- You shall practice self control. Lovely idea. I will work on it! I am not too much of a spendthrift. I don’t shop a whole lot. I don’t like clutter so I’m not into buying too many things. But I will admit I like what I like: my daily Starbucks, going out to eat a few times a month, buying high quality and fresh produce, meats, and seafood (I love to cook!), wine, my Netflix subscription, my XM Sirius radio subscription,my gym membership, little adventures and trips here and there ..etc. I do like my little luxuries. I will have to look at this. Am I willing to give any of these things up? I will keep you posted….
Towards a more prosperous path ( a work in progress)..
Yours truly,.
Debra
Objects that enhance your wealth area
According to Feng Shui principles, we can do much to attract prosperity and abundance into our lives depending on how we arrange our living and work spaces. When you walk through the main door of your home or office, look to the Northwest part of the room. This is your wealth area. How does this space look and feel to you? Is it cluttered? Clean? Does it have objects or furniture that pleases you?
Here are some ideas for objects to enhance the wealth area of your living and work spaces:
- Anything that represents wealth and abundance to you.
- The colors purple, black, blue, green and red together, or gold.
- A colored cloth under an object or a ribbon around it in suggested colors.
- A water fountain, which symbolizes good flowing energy
- A green plant with lush round leaves.
To learn more, I highly recommend The Feng Shui of Abundance by Suzan Hilton
Debra : )
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Recent Posts
- Taking inventory: becoming better managers of the money we already have
- When you open up your mailbox and pull out bills, how do you feel?
- Money is like mother’s milk: how do you feel about money? A journal writing exercise
- What are your true desires? A Journal Writing Exercise
- If life is so abundant, then why is there not more money in my bank account? A Journal Writing Exercise
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