Important & Smart Financial Advice Post

I learned something AMAZING last week about how to be more financially responsible. I know, I know, I have two kids and I'm not financially reponsible? No. Of course we are. BUT - This advice is changing the way I perceive "savings" and I hope that it will be helpful for those of you that follow my blog ((thank you for following me! I feel special! MUAH!))



Unless money started growing on trees recently, you may want to pay attention to what I'm saying, yo!

Here's step number 1 in this new financial process that I sincerely challenge you to try - Why should you want to try this process? To help you achieve some dreams... Want to be debt free? Want to save money to buy a house? Want to go on vacation? IT. IS. POSSIBLE.

Read on please and try these steps:

1. Create an account on the website called Mint.com. This is FREE online budgeting tool and best part about it, it gives you a 90 day summary immediately about how much you're spending and shows you by category where your money is going. It can help you reach your goals and budget more accordingly in certain areas of life (rent, food, student loans, etc.). YES; it does take some time so commit at least a half hour to setting it up, especially if you want to get ALL your accounts squared away and for pete's sake, since you're already committing to the process BE HONEST. If you have a credit card, indicate that. Face it. It will get paid off. (Stepping off soap box).
2. You may be slightly depressed after completing step number 1, especially if you're me and you realize you spent $800 on food alone last month and over $100 on alcohol alone... But, the point of all this isn't to depress you - it's to get you to open your eyes and RE-PRIORITIZE. Do it. Use your paycheck to build yourself and your life in a more positive direction - this tool is just the starting place. Step number 2 is to look at your spending, see where you're overindulging and set a reasonable budget for yourself in each category of your life. Figure out the "must pays" and the "optional pays" - "Must pays" are bills that you HAVE TO pay each month. "Optional pays" are just that... They're optional.
3. Look at your "must pays" and minus the total of all the "must pays" from you total monthly income. Now here's step number 3 - Is there any money left over after you complete your "must pays"?? For over 50% of the population, there isn't, so don't feel bad if there's not much there or even nothing left, but if there is money left over don't just leave that money sitting in your checking account to get spent!!!!!!! Which leads me to the next step...
4. Put any money that you are not spending on "must-pays" into a savings account. Put that money to work for you! Even though the interset rate isn't real high right now, it's better sitting in a savings account than in your checking account not working for you or worse, getting spent... AND ALSO, putting the money in a savings account makes it harder for you to access and spend on "impulse shopping" or other non-necessities in your life. It also makes it more PAINFUL to go dig into that savings account, because if you know anything about savings accounts, they're harder to access than a checking account and you'll know the reason you're "digging into" the account is because you went over on your budget and you'll feel like a piece of poo-poo; OR, you'll be grateful the savings is there if something happens... Either way, it's a win/win and a good lesson.
5. The final step is to do this process for as long as it takes to reach your financial goal - whatever it may be - for us, it's saving money to build a house... What's your goal?

You guys, I'm telling you right now that I'm the first person to say financial planners are full of foo-ey and I did this process for us recently. I honestly thought my husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck - but, you know what I discovered? $500 extra dollars every month that aren't getting used on "must pays". You guys, we have two kids, my husband isn't working right now and you know what else? We both have student loans and credit card debt and guess what? I'm not going to tell you how much I'm making at my job, but I will tell you that mama ain't makin' six-figures at her job... Bottom line... There is hope and ways to save money if you just try and budget and spend accordingly.

I had to share this advice with you! Please try it and I hope that it works for you and your families!

Definitely want to hear feedback from those that do it...