This week I'd like to explore 3 habits you can start doing that should help eliminate some common fears about managing your personal money better. First, did you ever have that fear of something in your house that made ominous noises differently when you were the only one home? Or at night? In Home Alone, Kevin McCallister faces this fear with the downstairs furnace. At the beginning of the movie he encounters it and runs away, but in the middle of the movie he tells it to shut up! Part of what helped him overcome his fear was making the thing he was afraid of more visible. He willfully encountered it again so he could accomplish his task of laundry. Your budget can be approached the same way. You can willfully encounter your budget on purpose to review it and see how things are going. Each. And. Every. Day. I believe this actually works two-fold to help you overcome some hesitations about your budget. One, it no longer becomes something scary that reminds you of things you wish you hadn't done in the month. Two, it helps you keep track of what is going on on a day to day basis. This means you have less opportunities for budget item limits to "sneak" up on you. You've kept tabs on it all along! As we move into November, I encourage you to start making a habit of looking at your budget every day. Not just glancing at it and moving on. Really look at each category, see where you are with regard to your limits, plan how you will accomplish the day's tasks keeping those limits in mind. Keep it up long enough and you too, may be able to tell your fears about your budget to "shut up" while you get busy with more important things.
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