Number 5 – Follow Through

Okay.  You’ve finally decided to get your financial house in order.  You’ve worked through the numbers and sorted out your bills.  You’ve filled out your budget – (My favorite? You Need A Budget) – and you and your spouse on the same page.  There’s just one more thing you need to do — Follow Through.

How many times have you said that you were going to focus on debt reduction, only to put it off for “one more month”?

How many times have you “thought” about creating a will or buying more life insurance?

How many times have you “really meant to” fund a Roth IRA?

How many times have you talked about saving for kids’ college, or a newer car, or new appliances?

Don’t just think about making a change – Make a change!

It doesn’t matter how many times you rework your spreadsheets or retool your debt reduction plan.  If you don’t implement your plan, the plan becomes useless.  So, turn of the TV, grab that stack of bills, get started – and keep going!

You rock!

This post was written twenty minutes after Interval Training Thursday – if it reads a little coach-like, that’s why! 

Number 6 – Work Together

A good friend of mine owns a two-person pedal boat.  The last time I got in the boat, my nine year daughter and two of her friends hopped in the boat with me.  As you can imagine, I did most of the pedaling.  By the time we circled my friend’s pond and arrived back at the dock, I was exhausted.

It can be tough trying to go it alone, feeling like you are the only one working to get out of debt and save money.  If you want to succeed, you have to develop a plan which allows you and your family members to work together.

Talk With Your Spouse

Let’s face it.  If you are reading this blog post, then you are, more than likely, the person in the household who handles most of the financial paperwork – paying bills, filing taxes, balancing checkbooks.  As such, you probably feel overwhelmed, from time to time, with all of the responsibility you have.  If so, take a few minutes, maybe over a quiet dinner, to talk with your spouse.  Don’t argue, don’t condemn, don’t blame, just talk.

I’ve actually written a couple of posts about this subject -

How I Avoid Arguing With My Spouse About Money and

Is It Really Possible To Talk To Yur Spouse About Finances Without Getting Into An Argument

Talk With Your Kids

I have three kids, ages 9, 4, and 6 months.  Obviously, I have a different conversation with the 9 year old than I do with the 4 year old, but they both know that we “honor every dollar” that comes into our house.  If you are heavily in debt, and worried, some of that worry is bound to rub off on your kids.  Be reasonable.  Don’t put more on you child than he or she can bare.  At the same time, be as honest as you can and let them know that you – and the whole family – are working hard to save money.  As kids get older, let them in on, little by little, to the realities of family finances.

Here’s a post I wrote a few months ago -

5 Ways To Teach Young Children About Money

Become A Team

As corny as it sounds, when my two older kids get in an argument, I take both of them by the hand, and walk them to a quite place in the house.  Kneeling down, to their eye level, I remind them that we are a team, and that we have to work together.  The same holds true when it comes to managing family finances.  The entire family has to be moving, together, in the same direction, like minded and determined.  As an adult, you can cultivate a good attitude if you celebrate victories, those big and small.  If your daughter receives a twenty dollar bill at Christmas, teach her how to save a portion, give a portion, and spend a portion.  Let her have some freedom, but also teach her some responsibility.

Find Your Role

Do what you do best and let your spouse do what he / she does best.  Support one another.  I like graphs, charts, spread sheets, and calculations.  So, in our family, I do most of the paperwork.  My wife, she’s more of a people person, so she handles a lot of the human interactions – calling doctors, insurance companies, etc.  This works for us.

Here’s a more in depth look at the subject of family roles

How Free Spirits And Money Nerds Can Help Each Other Out

Number 7 – Get Fit

About two years ago, I began a search for new term life insurance policies – one for myself and one for my wife.  When the quotes started rolling in, I noticed something.  Her premiums were lower – much lower – than mine.  At first, I thought this might be because she’s a woman and I’m a man.  I called an agent and asked why there was such a discrepancy, and he told me that it had much more to do with the fact that I was overweight, than it did with my wife being a woman.  As a test, I ran a few more quotes, using my ideal weight, instead of my actual, and I was shocked.  The premiums were reduced by more than 50%!  Moral of the story?  It pays to get fit.

Lower Insurance Costs

If you plan to purchase life insurance, disability insurance, or heath insurance, and you are not covered by a group policy from your employer, more than likely, the more in shape you are, the lower you premiums will be.

Lower Gasoline Costs

Back in July, Lazy Man wrote a very interesting post about saving money while driving – and he included a quick tip about how losing weight increases gas mileage.  I’d never really thought about this, but after doing a bit of research, it looks like reducing the weight in an automobile by 100 pounds will reduce fuel costs by 2%.  As some of you know, I also blog about weight loss, over at No. Calories Needed, and my ultimate goal is to lose (about) 80 pounds.

Lower Health Care Costs

When I write “get fit” – I usually mean “lose weight”.  The truth is, obviously, that getting fit is about much more than simply losing weight.  Here are two big time health issues that cost billions each year -

Smoking - If the fact that it causes cancer doesn’t deter you, perhaps the fact that it’s a very expensive habit will?  At $3 a pack, per day, your habit costs you more than $1000 per year.

Type 2 Diabetes – From WebMD: Anyone can get type 2 diabetes. However, those at highest risk for the disease are those who are obese or overweight… My grandmother had diabetes.  She had to learn to give herself shots, she was constantly checking her “sugar”, and she dealt with terrible pain in her joints and limbs.  Diabetes is a debilitating, expensive disease.

Lower Clothing Costs

This one might be stretching it – (get it? stretching it) – but, as a big dude, I pay more for clothes than a skinny dude does.  Well, I did, until last week when I moved down from 2X to XL shirts.  That’s write, after losing more than 8 pounds, I bought a new shirt in the regular sizes department.  Larger sizes, of the same style garment, cost more (at certain retailers).  Losing weight not only reduces the cost of new clothes, it also makes those “one day I’m going to get back into these” clothes in the closet into “wow, these fit” clothes.

I’m sure that there are other benefits that I’m forgetting.  Can you think of some more ways that losing weight helps us save money?

Number 8 – Buy Fresh Produce

When you purchase a item from the grocery store, you’re paying for more than the item itself.  You’re paying for the cost to advertise, package, ship, store, and sell the item.  If you want to save money, consider skipping the traditional grocery store – and look for inexpensive shopping alternatives.

Start A Garden

If you have the space, grow your own food.  I’m going to do this next year, especially now that I’m eating only lean meats, fresh vegetables, and fruits.  (JD and Kris from over at Get Rich Slowly have been tracking their time in the garden this year.  There results have been very interesting.)

Depending on your level of green thumb-ed-ness, having your own garden can be a great way to save money – and it might give you a brand new, profitable, hobby.  If you have room in your freezer or pantry, learn how to freeze or can foods, for those long winter months.

Find A Farmers Market

Not interested in growing your own, but you’d still like to save some money and enjoy fresh food?  Consider a farmers market.  If you’ve never been to a farmers market, you need to go!  You’ll be amazed by how much better (in my opinion) the vegetables taste than the ones you find at the grocery store!

Here are some online tools to help you find a farmers market in your area -

USDA Farmers Market Search

The National Directory of Farmers Markets

If you can’t find a market using one of these online resources, don’t give up!  Just ask around – I’m sure that there is a “hidden gem” in your area, just waiting to be discovered.

Parenthetically, since we live in the rural south, it’s easy to find fresh fruits and vegetables, especially during summer and early fall.  Nearly every little town has a roadside booth, where one can buy fresh peaches, watermelons, squashes, turnips, and onions.  Last month, I bought a big, beautiful bag of peaches for $3.00!

Coordinate With Friends

I don’t know if this is a southern thing, or a rural thing, or both – but, where I live, people love to share goodies from their gardens with each other.  Last year, a friend brought us a “mess” of corn, several quart bags of green peas, and several 5-gallon buckets of potatoes.  If you’ve got friend with a garden, you’ve got a great friend!

Taking things a bit further, if you have a friend who is into gardening, it would be a great idea to work with them, coordinating the foods you grow.  For instance, maybe your friend really likes to grow potatoes, but isn’t interested in planting corn.  Well, you plant the corn, the friend plants the potatoes, and when harvest time comes, you share.

Growing up, my dad and our next door neighbor, Mr. Terry, used to do this.  I remember one warm day when I helped Mr. Terry pick strawberries.  As he picked them, I was supposed to put them in a bucket.  Instead, I just ate them, standing right there in the garden.  When he stood and turned around, and asked for the strawberries, all he got was an empty bucket.

Number 9 – Give Up Hobbies

I love to play golf.  If I had the time, and the money, I would play everyday.  But, while getting out of debt, I quit playing golf.  For a year, my clubs sat in a closet, gathering dust.  Sure, my game suffered, but I had to stop playing, and stop spending money, and focus on debt reduction.

Take a look at your life.  Do you have some expense – some unnecessary expense – that is eating away at your financial progress?  If so, get rid of it.

After getting out of debt, I started playing again.  I play two or three times a month, and it feels great to be back on the course.  You can always go back to your hobby – just wait until AFTER you get out of debt and have a increased your emergency savings.

In almost every case, when I take a look at some one’s budget, I can find at least one category that should be reduced – entertainment.  People love their books, DVDs, movies, bowling, golf outings, collecting, hunting, etc.  And, almost as universal, when I suggest decreasing that particular budget category, people will resist.  Why?

It’s natural to feel entitled, especially after a long week of working hard, to reward ourselves.  I had to learn to say NO – to myself, and to my buddies when they asked me to play.  By the way, never underestimate the role that peer / social pressure plays in determining how we spend our money.  It’s amazing how quickly some people can be convinced, by their friends, to make certain purchases or do certain things.  Make up your mind, make the sacrifice now, and in the near future, you can really enjoy your hobby, when you can actually afford it.

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