Why Financial Freedom?
Financial Freedom sounds like a contradiction. Until you have achieved it, the term "finances" makes give you instant anxiety. It may seem that the only way to be free from your finances is not to think about it. But take a step back for a minute, when was the last time that not thinking about your dirty dishes resulted in them cleaning themselves? The only way to have clean dishes is to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher after every use and not letting them pile up. Dishes are much easier to clean one by one right after the food was on them, than trying to catch up after there is a pile and the food has dried and stuck to them. The same is true with finances.
Let's Get Started by Setting a Goal
The first way to start any project is to set a goal. At this point in your life, you've probably already hit that moment where you realize that anxiety over finances is taking over your life. You need to do something, and you need to set goals. Individual goals are personal, but they all start with Financial Freedom, freedom from the anxiety that your finances are causing you. Reaching Financial Freedom is a long and sometimes difficult process, but in the end it will be worth it. Once your financial house is in order, when your debts are paid, your bills are current, and you know exactly how much you have left over to splurge as a reward for a job well done. It may take a while to get to that point, but is such a rewarding feeling to look forward to.
Step One - The Hard Part
A proven way to get over any fear is to confront it head on. You need to take a look at your finances, how you have actually spent your money in the last three months. Pull your bank statements, put them into a excel spreadsheet or use a highlighter, and start categorizing each individual transaction. At this point, you may start to get overwhelmed, so take it slowly but keep going. Realizing that you have spent money without really thinking about it sometimes results in having no memory of having spent it. Buying things you don't truly need, and bank fees that were unnecessary and add up to amounts that could have been better spent elsewhere. We will be using the information in this exercise to create a budget which I will be blogging about in a separate post.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Now that you have looked at your finances, you may be wondering why you work and work and still worry about money. Setting a budget and sticking to it, is a great way to have money left over at the end of each month and creating an emergency fund to give you peace of mind. After paying off your debts and ridding yourself of those pesky interest rates that are making the banks so rich, you'll be able to reassign that budget line item to something more fun, and save so that you can be your own bank and make yourself rich. Financial Freedom is the light at the end of the tunnel, and the first step is always the hardest.
