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Is Fuzzy Money Affecting Your Income?

by Wilma Allan on 21st Jan 2013

The topic of money is huge and more taboo than sex.  It impacts every aspect of our lives and every decision we make.  It’s something we think about all of the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not.  It’s an integral part of our make-up because we cannot do without it, and most of us would like more of it to create the kind of lives we aspire to – and a healthy, balanced and increasing cash flow is an integral part of that.

This is all about creating the most effective mind-set you can around money, understanding your relationship to it and how this impacts on your ability to create a fulsome and increasing cash flow.

Your present habits represent your past and until you change those patterns and habits the drama, fear and anxiety most people recognise around money will remain. 

This is not just about creating ways to make more of it, but crucially it’s about having more of it around you more of the time.  It’s all about the size of the GAP between what you are bringing in and what you are keeping.  You could be earning a 6 figure or multi 6 figure income and still have poor money management, cash flow problems and more month than money.

Money is an emotional thing and is most usually tinged with fear and anxiety.  Improving your money management and cash flow will have a significant impact on being able to feel good about your relationship with money.

Creating a strong and healthy cash flow is about being a financial grown-up.   It’s about not being in denial, it’s about facing up to the truth when the flow of cash stutters and stalls and it’s about taking positive action and becoming self-responsible financially and avoiding passing the buck or blaming your situation on circumstances or other people.   If you’ve had a record of stop start cash flow, ask yourself, ‘What does it mean about me and my relationship with money that this pattern keeps repeating itself?’

The thing to understand going into this is that each of us already has our own money
habits and patterns – good ones and bad ones - and it just might be that some of those money habits aren’t really serving you well.

Here are 2 of 6 simple exercises that you can start to do immediately that will give you an improved and deeper connection with your money and also make you more aware of where it’s going, where it’s coming from and how often.

Track your expenses – This may sound obvious and possibly tedious but this is not about becoming our own accountant.  This is all about knowing what is going on with your money. You need to be informed about the choices you’re making and what and who you’re prioritizing.  When you get informed on how you are spending your money and tracking your income and expenses as a daily habit you will become much more connected to it - which is where you are looking to be.  The other obvious thing about expenses is, how in the world can you plan how much money you need to create if you have no idea of what your outgoings are?  The point here is that you are in control.   You want to be watching your expenses from a place of curiosity and expansion – not fear, anxiety or denial.
 

Track your income- this is much more fun and should definitely be done on a daily basis.  You want to be tracking your income to the penny every single day, full-stop.  Small change, money owed you by your children, income, birthday money – all of it. 
 

Create a sheet with the days of the month listed on it and add in on a daily basis all the money that is received on that day.  There may be days where no money comes in, so just put in zero, that’s ok.  Get excited about the money that comes in – don’t just take it for granted.

The curious thing about these 2 exercises is that when you track your expenses, you will find that over time they will diminish, and when you are diligent about tracking your income you will begin to see it increase.

E: wilma@beyondthebreak-up.com

W: www.beyondthebreak-up.com

 

 

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