1) Create a Budget that will Work for You
This is where so many people become confused and give up when they are trying to live on less, but it does not have to be difficult. You need to learn how to create a realistic budget and how to stick to it.
Budgets are easy, but sometimes when you have more going out than what is coming in, stress follows. For now, don’t worry about balancing your budget, just worry about all of your main bills and your income.
Start by adding up all of the money you have coming into your home. If you have money coming in that is not guaranteed, such as child support, do not count this as your income. Only count what you know you will get no matter what. This is the amount on which you are going to base all of your spendings. The money that is not guaranteed can be considered a bonus, and we will discuss it later.
Next, add up all of the essential bills you have to pay. This means your electric, your phone, your internet, your cable, house payment and so forth.
Do not count discretionary items, such as going out to eat, purchasing clothing and entertainment. Only list the living expenses that you have to pay.
Grab a notebook and use it specifically for budgeting your money. At the top of the page, you are going to write your income. Then create a column of bills and debts you need to pay such as house payment and electricity. Next to the bills, write down the amount that is paid. For bills such as your electricity, use an average payment. For example, my electric is higher in the winter but very low in the summer, by using an average I am able to leave some money in the bank in the summer to use for electric in the winter. (Tip: Many utility companies allow you to pay the average monthly.)
Add up the total of all of your bills and see how it compares to the amount of money you have coming in. If you don’t have enough money coming in to cover what is going out, you will have to make some changes.
Finally, at the bottom of the page, you need to list additional items for which you typically need money, such as birthdays, school supplies, or clothing.
These are items that may not come up every month but still need to be periodically covered.
Once you have this completed, you are ready to start looking at what can be cut from your budget so that you are able to live on less. But what are the benefits of being able to live on less? (Maybe the cable is not as important as you thought, especially if you are constantly stressing over not having enough money every month.)
I once saw a Facebook post that said, “We spend our entire life focusing on earning a living so that we can have a happy life, then we find out that we are so busy earning a living that we have no life to enjoy.” Learning to live on less will ensure that you have time to actually enjoy life and not waste it working all the time.
2) Take a Walk
Many health experts recommend at least 10,000 steps per day for a healthy lifestyle. I’m here to tell you that unless you are a server at a busy restaurant or a professional runner, getting 10,000 steps per day is HARD. I struggle to get them in on a daily basis, but when I do, I notice a difference in how I feel and in my energy levels. For me, walking has so many benefits that improve not only my physical health, but also my mental health.
First and foremost, walking gets the blood flowing. Taking a walk is exercise and it is essential for good cardiovascular health. Walking gives me a few minutes to escape and let my mind wander to things of interest to me and not just work or what my family should have for dinner that night. Sometimes, I just walk to clear my head, and getting moving allows me the opportunity to step away from it all, even if for only 15 minutes. In addition, I recommend trying to take your walk outside, if at all possible to breathe in the fresh air and soak up some vitamin D.
I know some of you are thinking that you would love to take walks, but you just don’t have the time. Maybe you have meetings and conference calls all day and just don’t have an extra 15-20 minutes to step away. Trust me I have days like these as well. In this situation, I like to schedule it so that I can take at least one of my calls on the move. I put on my earbuds with the built-in microphone and listen or talk while I walk. I’ve actually found that some of my best calls have come while I’m out on a walk, as exercise and physical activity have been proven to improve brain function. So, if you don’t take a walk for yourself, take it for your company; they’ll be glad you did. Get out there and get to stepping!
3) Organize Your house
Hang a corkboard in your mudroom or foyer to help keep you organized as you dash out of the house. The board is perfect for those shopping lists, prescriptions, or reminder notes that you seem always to be forgetting. Give it some extra functionality by screwing a magnetic knife holder to the frame of your cork board. Use it to hold keys (not good for car keys with built-in chips), scissors, a screwdriver, and even a small flashlight.
Hang a large tote bag in a common area and use it to collect clothing and other items destined for donation.
Buy some clear plastic business card sheets to organize all those cards lying about. These sheets are also handy for organizing sewing kits, embroidery thread or even coupons. The larger divider sheets are perfect for storing recipes.
Between cell phones, MP3 players, PDA’s, you name it, we have more devices charging than we have counter space. Organize your electronic chargers in one box with a hole in the bottom to insert a power bar cord.
Attach the power bar to the bottom of the box and plug in all your electronic toys. Keep the lid open when in use to prevent heat build up.
Clothespins aren’t just for hanging wet clothes. They make great closet organizers for hats, mitts and scarves. Glue the pins to the inside of closet doors and keep your mitts organized in the cold weather. Use the same idea in an office cupboard to hang memos, cards, photos or small calendars.
Use pretty glass knobs or other coordinating hardware to hang towels over the sink in the laundry room.
Sometimes candles will sit in a drawer for an entire year without being used, and they may easily be broken during that time. Next time you empty a roll of paper towels, use your empty cardboard roll to store candles, labeling each tube with the color and size of the candle.
The next time you have to go poking around a dark place like your crawl space or fuse box, have a flashlight ready to go. If your flashlight is metal, simply attach a small magnet to the outside of the fuse box, or glue a strip of Velcro for plastic versions. Do not forget to put batteries in the flashlight.
If you purchase large bags of dog food, simply empty into a small garbage pail for easy storage. Close the lid tightly and the food will stay fresh for weeks.
Organize the cupboard under the sink by hanging small items like scrubbers, rubber gloves and dust rags on clothespins or hooks found to the door’s inside.
These are just some ideas, but the idea is to look around, embrace the clutter you see and do something about it!
4) Pause and Give Thanks
Texts, emails and social media got us running. Bills, work and hustling for money got us running. Five minutes into the day and we are humming.
Life is a whirlwind moving along at the speed of light.
We got dreams. We got plans. We’re building a better life.
That’s good but we don’t live in dreams. We can’t experience the joy of life in plans. We can’t build a better life without appreciating the life we’re living now.
Pause for a moment and take a look at your surroundings. Stay at the moment.
Look at life.
Look for the good. Look for what’s going right. See the blessings. Take it all in and give thanks.
Yes, things may not be as excellent as you would like. Give thanks for the good you see. Yes, many things may not be going exactly as you would like.
Give thanks for what is turning in your favor. And yes, it’s hard to bless the mess you may be experiencing. Do it anyway.
Reclaim your power. Show the world that society cannot bind you, technology cannot grind you, and fear cannot find you. Be the boss of you. Step out of the world. Step into faith.
Focus your heart and mind on good and declare for yourself that everything – everything – is all right. Nothing has power over you.
Free yourself now, at this moment with this affirmation, “Everything is all right with me and my world. Only good happens to me. Everything is all right with me and my world. Only good happens to me. Everything is all right with me and my world.
5) Ask for Help
If you are anything like me, then you have a problem admitting that you can’t do it all. I really struggle with not having the answers or not being able to handle everything in my life, on my own. I’m the one who helps others, not the other way around. Well, I’m here to tell you two things:
- No one can do everything on their own and no one is an expert in all things.
- It’s ok to seek help, guidance or advice from someone who is better than you at a task or an area of life.
Take an opportunity today to think of an area where you are not as strong as you would like to be. This could be any skill, including time management, money management, sales, writing, spreadsheets or something simple like doing a cart wheel. Find someone who is successful in an area where you could stand to improve and find out what they did to achieve this level of success. Tell them what you admire about them and seek their guidance. You would be surprised how many folks are willing to share their knowledge, especially when you stroke their ego a little.
If I could leave you with one key piece of advice from today’s lesson it could be summed up in two words. Be vulnerable. It’s ok to put yourself out there and admit you have weaknesses; because we all do. Weaknesses do not make you weak, but not admitting them will. Putting yourself out there and being vulnerable can be a key driver to success. It makes us uncomfortable, and stretches our boundaries, and ultimately teaches us something new.
Having trouble getting the conversation started? Try these icebreakers…
• “Would you mind helping me with…?”
• “I’ve noticed you are amazing at . Do you have 30 minutes to show me a few tricks?”
These are easy, to the point and difficult to say “no” to. Try it; the results will be phenomenal!
6) Fill Your Heart with Love and Conquer Fear
Fear is the root of all anger, discord and conflict. Trace any negative action to its source and you will find fear.
Fear turns discussions into arguments, dislike into hatred and anger into murder. It can poison relationships and sabotage success. Unchecked fear will kill everything it touches – even you.
The first lesson a person learns when swimming is not to be afraid of the water. Fear causes panic. People who panic drown. The way to stop panicking and drowning is to calm down and float. The same is true when facing life’s challenges.
When the arguing starts and you get a tightening in your belly, ask yourself what is it that we are talking about that makes me so afraid that now I am getting angry?
When the insult causes you to flinch and the anger swells, stop and reflect on the source. When the little pebble of dislike drops, before you say, “I don’t like so-and-so,” trace the reason to the root and you will find fear. You will also find fear at the root of a scary decision. Fear leads you to jump to conclusions and embrace bad decisions based on a boogey man shouting “what-ifs” at you.
Remember, fear causes panic. People who panic drown. Don’t drown in the situation. Calm down and float. Shift your attention to love.
You may not feel the love in the heat of the moment. But if you are thinking love, you are not thinking about smacking someone upside their head. Even if all you can manage is to spell the word “L-O-V-E” in your mind, your brain is too busy to try to come up with the clever retort or insult in response. You are thinking love. You are calming down and floating.
You may not think love is the solution to a serious problem you are trying to solve or dilemma you are trying to unravel. Love will stop you from drowning in a pool of doubt as you flail about looking for an answer. Even if all you can manage at first is spelling the word love in your mind when you think of the challenge, this simple act will allow you to calm down and float.
Eventually, you will make a better decision because you will be acting out of love instead of acting out of fear. Love conquers fear. Put love in your heart now. When you draw on this love in a moment of battling fear, draw upon it as your armor against fear; the love you put there now will still be there, use it.
Here’s a love centering affirmation, “This situation has no power over me. I am love. Love is me. I find the right and perfect solution in the right and perfect way to every challenge.”
7) Replace One Unhealthy Snack
For today’s task, I want you to take one unhealthy snack and replace it with something nutritious. Perhaps, instead of potato chips, you make the move to carrots and hummus. Or, instead of a candy bar, you reach for an apple. You will be surprised how filling an apple can be. Not to mention, it is full of nutrients and is surprisingly sweet.
Trust me, I have been there. It is incredibly convenient AND delicious to grab that unhealthy snack and bypass the stuff that actually has nutritional value. But, if you can make that switch, you will end up taking in fewer calories while adding additional nutrients. These small but significantly better choices will lead to a healthier lifestyle, a better fitting wardrobe, and a better looking, more productive you. Go out there and eat well and look and feel great! Remember, one good choice leads to another.
