If You Think you are Bad With Money… - The Bossy House

If You Think you are Bad With Money…

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Think you're bad with money? You're WRONG. 

If you have been told you're bad with money or if you've TOLD YOURSELF you're bad with money, this is a lie. 

Read on for all my best advice about how to overcome this belief and take some concrete steps to take charge, even through tough times. 

Why take charge?

 I believe that taking charge of our finances, no matter where we are in life, is crucial. 

I’m not here to help you penny pinch. I’m not here to teach you how to find a side gig. I’m not here to help you get rich with investments. 

I’m here to help you take charge of the money you have now, with the circumstances you have now, so you can more quickly meet the goals you have for yourself. 

We all have goals. Most of us have the very best intentions to meet those goals but life gets in the way.

I help women create a customized plan for themselves based on their true cost of living. Then, we put it on autopilot so you can’t help but be successful. 

Bad with money? TOTAL LIE

Managing your money is something EVERYONE can learn to do. 

You just have the find the right plan for you. 

Is your idea of fun a 100 line item budget where you can itemize how much to spend on groceries and clothes and entertainment? And then check it later to make sure you didn’t go over in your budget this month? 

If you think this way, if you can hold yourself to a system that requires you to remember that you’d only spend $45 on clothing this month, then this might be the system for you. 

So if you overspend on groceries, at the end of the month you’ll create your budget for the next month that would move that money from somewhere, either savings or another line item. And then you’d have to remember that this is a new month and you’ll need to spend less. 

I think this is a recipe for disaster.

I can’t keep track of numbers like that, and I find it irritating to constantly be TRYING to spend less money. If the groceries cost more this month, I don’t want to have to reflect on it and pledge to spend less next time. 

This feels very “after the fact” to me. What’s stopping me from accidentally overspending? I have ALL the best intentions, I have ALL the willpower in the world… but sometimes you just spend $75 on clothing not $45. And what happens when you want to spend $400 one month and NOTHING for six months… how do you keep track of that? Do you write yourself a note on your calendar “no clothes until this date?” 

This doesn’t make sense to me. 

But I’m NOT bad with money. This system just doesn’t work for the way my mind works. 

For me, I want ONE number I have to remember. Or ONE process to pay attention to. I want to set my goals for savings or debt and NOT have to wait til the end of the month to leave it to chance. 

The end of the month comes and I never have anything left over--- but I did the math and my salary and typical spending says that I should have money. WHAT HAPPENED?

It doesn’t mean I don’t have the math right. It means that my system isn’t working to PREVENT overspending. 

The Bossy House system works for a brain like mine (and maybe yours). I created it when I was deep in debt and had very little money to spare. 

The system allows me to make my financial decisions ONE TIME, then put it on autopilot. I don’t make any decisions each month-- I just watch my money move around my accounts and go to where it’s supposed to go. 

So I can teach you how to do THAT system if it’s good for you. 

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Find the source of your wrong beliefs

First, you have to let go of this totally false idea that you are BAD WITH MONEY. 

You can pick a plan that’s right for you. You can then learn how to make that plan work so you’re affording your life and meeting your goals.

The mindset shift YOU need to make is from a position of weakness to a position of confidence. 

And you have to find the source of these beliefs you have. Find out WHY you believe you’re bad at money. Find out WHY you keep overspending. Find out WHY you avoid thinking about money. And find out WHY you have given up on getting good at this

YOU CAN LEARN, clean up the mess, and get yourself on track.

No longer "bad with money" with these steps

I want to talk about some of the foundational things you can do to begin the process of cleaning things up for yourself. 

People who are “bad with money” often give up and let the chaos overtake them. Is that you? Do you get a bill in the mail and put it in the pile and ignore it... and then you miss a payment and all of a sudden you’re getting collection bills? 

Do you even KNOW when your bills are typically due?

Here are a few major steps you can take to get things under control. 

MOST of our bills come in at the same time every month, and most of them are due at the same time and the same amount. WHY are you then surprised when they come in? 

Calendar Your Bills

You need to go through a list of your bills and CALENDAR them. 

Collect up those bills or better yet, go to your online banking system and look through a month of your charges. (This works if you pay your bills online.) 

If not, gather up the paper bills and make a calendar of a typical month. When do the bills come in typically, and when are they due? THEN put the AMOUNT they are typically next to each due date. 

Just doing this can get you feeling like you’re in more control. 

Next, add your pay periods to the calendar. So whenever you get paid, add that to the calendar in a different color, and write down how much you get paid. 

You might be more advanced, so you could think about getting months ahead or something like that. But for right now, assign your bills to a pay period. Give yourself a few days to have the payment get there. 

And so what do you do if MOST of your bills are due on the 15th but you get paid on the 15th? You have to assign those to the earlier pay period. 

Once you add up all the bills that should be paid with one pay period, evaluate. Can you afford these bills on this pay period? If not, you’ll have to redistribute them to an earlier pay period. 


Next steps

Now that you’re looking at your amounts… what you have LEFT after your bills is your free money that you could use for debt, savings, and spending. 

Are you having any aha moments? Are you thinking to yourself “THIS is why I’m always broke? My bills are all timed wrong!” 

The next step is to take some time, do this work, and clean up some of the mess of your finances. 

Go ahead and download this set of templates. It includes a calendar so you can complete this exercise!

And if you're having a hard time, check out the free live training on motivation and get yourself together for the year!. 

The Bossy House Financial Planning Templates

Get this set of financial planning templates to get started on your budget journey!

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