What can you do? Far too often when faced with what at first seems like a financial challenge, the first response is to cut back – to immediately look at what needs to be cut out and how you can cut back. There is another way to look at ‘what can you do’ as well, and that is from an expansionary perspective. For example, you might review your various expenses and decide you should cut back on a $20 item. Perhaps, or you can look at your shortfall and ask how much more you need to make, and how could you make up that shortfall to accomplish a balanced budget. If you can earn $20 an hour, then you would need to work only 1 hour to make up the time to pay for the $20 item. If the $20 item also took time to source and cancel or to make up because you now needed to take more of your $20/hour time to do it yourself, you really need to ask yourself if you are further ahead by cutting back on the $20 item?

How do you know which is best and where to start? Simply with a pen and paper and taking inventory of what you have and what you want. Where is the shortfall? How much is it? Then break that down. If you are short by $200 a month, you know you need to make up 10 hours at $20 per hour, or sell 10 items at $20 each, or 2 x $100 or whatever the math is based on what you have to work with. Always remember that your options are not limited to cutting back or getting another job. ‘What can you do’ can help you expand your options far more successfully than it can when you look at cutting back and sacrificing your true desires. It is all about balancing what you have with what you want. What can you do with what you have that also moves in you the direction of your goals??

Obviously, money affects all areas of our lives. The trick is not to make your decisions based solely on the money. The process of making financial decisions begins with you – your values, priorities, goals, preferences and desires. Then your circumstances, situation and specifics about where you are and what you currently have in place need to be considered. Then you need to mentally take money out of the equation – pretend that it exists in infinite supply.

What would you do if you knew money was always going to be available to do what you wanted, when you wanted to do it? Seriously!! And, when you have done that, put a price tag on your decisions. For example, if you see a beautiful home, don’t simply say, “I will never be able to live there”, or “I would love to live there”. Instead, take your calculator and figure out a monthly payment for the house so you now have a reference point that is based on cash flow. Next, visually step inside the house and imagine yourself living there, visiting with your friends, having breakfast, and carrying on day-to-day life. This will help you put your financial decisions into a dollar and cents format as well as keep them based on who you are and how you live your life.

Some words will enhance your life and your communication and others create barriers to success. When you become aware of how a simple single syllable word can affect your entire life, it is a lot easier to systematically remove it from your vocabulary or begin to use it more strategically.

Where would you start? Can’t is relatively easy to eliminate by simply turning it around to ask the question, what can I do? Instead of an automatic reaction of I can’t do that. But, but on the other hand is so significant it will not only stop you in your tracks, but will also completely negate whatever was previously just said. And, for this reason, but is a single word that can quietly – yet ever so powerfully – sabotage your plans, ideas, relationships and your success. And, it is for this reason that we say take but out of your vocabulary and watch the amazing impact it will have on your whole life!!

How you spend your money is a great indicator of how you will make your other financial decisions. For example, if you are confident in your spending because you know you have financial resources to pay for the items you are purchasing, and that there are no potential negative consequences for buying or not buying something at that particular time, then you are able to enjoy guilt free spending. However, for many people, there are certain triggers such as holidays or celebrations where normal spending habits and controls relax or disappear altogether.

Why does this matter? Because spending money is a fact of life, it is important to understand that ‘how you do anything, is how you do everything’, meaning, it’s important to pre-plan your purchases; know how much you will spend on certain items; and have an exit plan for items purchased on credit – and to put your spending plans in writing, even if it’s just a simple list, before you go shopping.

You turn on the news and you can watch the stock market going up and down. Unemployment seems to be both up and down. Interest rates are up and down. Housing starts and real estate prices change constantly. Bankruptcies, government debt, government spending, the price of oil and world events are all reported regularly and all have an impact on the economy as a whole. One of these economic indicators is consumer confidence, which is measured by consumer spending and saving. From everyone’s perspective, a confident consumer is good for the economy – just like it’s good for you.

How do you fuel confidence when you are being bombarded with either negative news or statistics that are not fully understood? Obviously, the answer is not to spend now and pay later. The answer is to pre-plan what and when you will spend your money on and to use cash. This means making a list for everything from groceries to what you’re looking for in a new home. And, it means that if you’re going to use a credit card, you must also have preplanned how and when you will pay for the items purchased on credit. This doesn’t have to be complicated – a simple notebook and pen will accomplish this pre-planning so you can spend more confidently.

Squirrels are known for their habit of hiding nuts for use later. This process means that there are little bits of food scattered about in safe places for the squirrel when it needs it. This concept when applied to money means that you don’t have to necessarily have a specific purpose for funds like a true savings account. Squirreling means you have small amounts of money stashed in various places such as savings accounts, jars, drawers, etc.

Where, and how much you squirrel will depend on you. Some banks have accounts where every time you make an electronic transaction an amount of money that you pre-determine, will be automatically deposited into a savings account. It’s amazing how quickly $1 per transaction will add up when you leave it for a while. The same thing works with keeping a small amount of cash (not just loose change) in a jar in your bedroom or office, or car. You have to be strategic with creating your stash, however, squirreling isn’t the same as allocating a specific purpose to a specific denomination of coin or bill; nor is squirreling the same as a giant jar of loose change sitting on your counter collecting dust. Squirreling means you have consciously stashed small amounts of money for no particular purpose, other than the knowledge that some day you might need or want it.

To move ahead from where you are today, you will need to learn how and then do something to get you there. While this might seem obvious, it often stops people before they even get going. As soon as you target a destination, you create a gap. A gap can be uncomfortable, especially if you do not know how to bridge it. This is also why people often do not even set goals in the first place. If you don’t set a goal, you won’t have to do anything uncomfortable. When you break the goal down into smaller pieces it becomes more tangible. Therefore, rather than setting a goal to have $1 million dollars invested by the time you are ready to leave work in 30 years, set a goal to save $100 this month. Or, if you want to pay off your mortgage in 10 years, start with a goal to call the bank to have them make an extra $100 payment each month. It just takes one small step at a time.

Why? Because a one percent change in direction maintained continuously will build on itself, and eventually become a much bigger change. If you do something easy to implement, you will gain confidence and reinforce the idea that you can make things happen. For example, rather than starting out planning your life goals and making drastic changes to your spending, how about starting by committing to keep all the receipts from any purchases made the next day, the next week and the next month. Then add another step and decide to keep the receipts and record them so you can review them later. Then, add another step and keep the receipts, record them and organize them into categories. Then add another step to keep the receipts, record them in their categories and analyze the categories for possible adjustments, future planning and on and on. It is a process that, once started, is constantly evolving.