This seems like an odd thing for which to have courage. However, I know people who eat out all the time and then can't figure out why they don't have money. My son had just moved into an apartment with several other roommates, and he was the 'new' one. He went to the store and bought flour, sugar, ground beef, eggs, and other staple items. His new roommates laughed at him and couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then...it happened. It was not quite close to payday and all of his roommates were counting change and dollar bills. One night when they couldn't even pool their money to come up with enough for pizza; my son was in the kitchen preparing lasagna. He said to them, "You laughed. But here's some dinner if you want it." From that day on, they pooled their money for groceries instead...given to my son to make the menu and purchases. Eating out is expensive. Money that could be spent on necessities that are post-poned and in some instances, incur late fees. Or, it can be put away in savings. Or, it can simply give the saver peace of mind that there is a few dollars left in the checking account at the end of the pay period. No one can use the excuse that they don't know how to cook. One simply needs to read the recipe. Oh, yeah. The recipe. Cooking doesn't mean buying pre-prepared meals and heating them up. It means cook your meals from scratch. It takes planning. It takes budgeting. I suggest taking a calculator and a list, and keep up with the total. My son-in-law updates their shopping list as they need it and when they make their menu on the store app. Then, when they are ready, he pays the bill and they go to the store later that day and pick up their order. I know Walmart and Kroger do not charge extra for this service (however, I would offer to tip the employee that brings it out to your car). This is an amazing way to keep track of what is spent, and cancels out impulse purchases. Dave Ramsey, the financial expert, suggests that one separates your paycheck into envelopes for purchases for the month. One envelope is for groceries, one for entertainment, one for gas, etc. So, when you check out (or as you are adding on the calculator), you stop when you get to the amount in your envelope. He suggests, if you are not using a calculator as you shop, that you put the things you really could do without at the end of the conveyor belt so that when the register rings in at your limit, you know what you can do without. For the planning part, write out a menu. You can draw out a calendar on a piece of paper and fill it out with the meals for each day. Or, you can download our calendar and print it off. (Click here). One more tip, allow one day for left-overs; unless left-overs are used for lunches the next day. So, what does this have to do with Courage? It takes courage to make changes. It takes courage to stick to a plan. And, the freedom and peace of mind this small change makes in your life will be a fairly immediate reward. And, not all of our goals provide immediate results!
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Carolyn Bendall"After years of teaching people how to develop their 'outside' image; we realized the 'inner image' need just as much work. Let's take this journey together!" Archives
August 2022
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