Mindset Over Money

I have been through a great deal in order to get myself Totally Debt Free (Just shy of two months away). 

I have learned that your thinking is most important with regards to your finances. It is not so much the bills that you have, or how much you make but how you think about money and its usage. 

For the longest time I had been beaten down by the system to the point that I believed that all I was supposed to do was to earn cash and spend all of it. 

This was subconscious, of course, but that was the effect. I would: wonder, wail and rail at the injustice of my unending situation that I, myself, was perpetuating.

May people think that I have done something extraordinary by being able to pay my debts off, when in actual fact, the secret is quite simple.

My secret was to find a way to not pay rent (that was: legal(ish), ethical, and moral. I have cheated no one, I have not squatted on anyone’s land or apartment.

I then used the massive chunk of my monthly budget that I had saved and put that to use to chip away at my debts.

In the process I had to watch what I was spending and where my money was going. In so doing, I started to change my thinking around money.

That it really was mine to do with as I pleased and I was just a “cash sprinkler.” 

I have fought hard to take control of my finances and eliminate my debts, you can too. You just have to get started. The first step is to take stock of where you are, fiscally. 

• What debts do you have?

• What are you spending your money on?

• Where can you cut back your spending?

• How can you downsize your lifestyle so as to free up money in your budget?

• How can you drastically save on rent?

If it will help, try this thought experiment. First make your monthly budget as it is now. Then imagine that your pay has just been cut in half. Now, find a way to balance your budget. 

If you can figure that out, if you can make that budget work comes the only one that really matters . . .

Will you put that plan into action?

As always: Keep you head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!