Without question, more money is preferable to less money. How much more, however is a concept that must be able to be articulated in actual dollars and cents. If you have a vague idea of how much more money you would like; or what and if more money will do for you in your life, then it is not real. If it’s not real, then it is not believable. And, if it is not believable, the tendency is for the money in your life to stay at the level that is believable because this is what is comfortable. Besides doing the research to specifically document the cost of your desired lifestyle, a powerful exercise you can do to ‘try on’ different amounts of ‘more money’ is to add zeros.

How? When you are shopping, imagine that the purchase price for your groceries had another zero on the end. For example, if your bill was for $100, could you imagine spending $1,000 for groceries? If your monthly income is $3,000, could you imagine it at $30,000? If the value of your home is $300,000, could you imagine living in a $3,000,000 home? Do you have a personal comfort level with how much you think is ‘appropriate’ or ‘realistic’? What is the most money you could imagine spending on yourself for say a pair of shoes? If you are comfortable with $50, could you image spending $500? What is the amount of money you could imagine giving away? If you are comfortable with $10, can you imagine $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000? At what point do you get uncomfortable? Pay attention to the zeros, and your response to them, and you will learn a lot about the connection between your comfort level and your belief which is what will ultimately determine your results.

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.