I’ve got a message for you, particularly if you are a working or single mom, and you’re not comfortable managing your money
A lot of us, when we grew up, we’re not taught how to do that. And we get into adulthood and like a lot of other things it’s not comfortable to admit that we don’t know the best way to do something. Well, I created a course that actually is for you, if that’s the situation you’re in. Because it’s a safe place where you can learn actually how to do it. I want to share just a message with you, a brief message about a spending plan.
When I was having conversations with people, I was putting this course together, and other courses that I’ve taught, and I would talk to them about the B word, a budget. A lot of people get a knot in their stomach when you say budget. And so, I prefer to call it a spending plan, and there’s a reason for that. That’s what a budget is. A budget isn’t… A budget is constraining. I’ve got only this much and I have to spend this much on these things. And that’s how we think about a budget. Well, a spending plan, really it’s the same thing in principle, but the words reflect the reality of what it is. You are choosing how you’re going to spend the money that you have available to you. It’s a spending plan. I’m going to plan how I’m going to spend my money. Gives you more control, hopefully, it takes away some of that negativity.
But why do you want to have one in the first place? I talked to some people that say, “Why budget? Why do I even bother doing that? My goal is to have the minimum amount go out and the maximum amount come in. That’s my budget. That’s my spending plan.” Well, that may be great for you. But in most cases, it doesn’t work because we’re not really in command of our money.
Here’s an analogy for you. Maybe you got kids that played high school football. I wasn’t one of them. But if you’ve been to a football game, for example, and you go as a spectator, you’re sitting in the bleachers and you’re watching. You’re excited about it. You want your team to win. You’re screaming. You’re yelling at the refs for their calls that you don’t like. All that stuff. You’re a spectator and it’s fun, right? It’s fun to watch, especially if your team wins. That’s not how you want to take care of your money.
When you are in charge of your money, you are actually the coach on the sideline, or even more, you’re the quarterback in the game. You’re not watching, you’re controlling it. That’s the difference between having a spending plan and not having a spending plan. If you don’t have a spending plan or a budget, then you are like the spectator sitting in the stand and you are more of the silent observer than the person in control. And it’s not good if it’s your money and you’re spectating. You can do better and you can learn how to do it better in the course that I put together specifically for you. So I invite you to look into that and learn more about that. But don’t be a spectator. Be the coach or be the quarterback.