I believe that one of the most crucial components of debt pay off is clarity, and the single best way to gain that clarity is by using a Debt Snowball to understand not only how fast you will pay off your debt based on what you’re currently doing, but also to project how small changes can make a big difference.

What Is A Debt Snowball?

A Debt Snowball is a method of debt repayment where extra cash is dedicated to paying debts with the smallest amount owed first.  As each smaller debt is repaid in full, the money used to pay that debt is then applied toward making additional payments on the next-smallest debt, and so on until all debts are repaid.  The short way of saying this is that if you are now paying $250 per month total toward debt on all of your credit cards, you will continue to pay $250 until ALL of the debt is gone.  The payments “snowball” to the next outstanding debt balance as each debt is paid off.

How The Debt Snowball Makes a Difference

Here are the things that you get from a Debt Snowball that make your debt pay off more effective:

Reason #1: Reality

When people just look at each of their debts in isolation, they can mistakenly think it’s going to take longer to pay off the debt than it really is.  For example, here is a screenshot with 5 debts listed and how long it will take to pay off each debt: 

You can see the very last debt—Credit Card #5, the largest—indicates that it will take about 4 years (49 months) to pay off…so the assumption is that all debt will be paid off in 4 years, right?

Wrong.  If you apply the debt snowball theory, and continue to redirect each payment to the next debt on the list as you pay off the current debt, it actually only takes 37 MONTHS to pay off all of this debt.

And this is not even finding more money in your cash flow to devote to debt, this is just clarifying what you are already doing!

Reason #2: Organization

There is a huge connection between organization and effective debt pay off.  If you’re NOT organized around your debt, you’re only going to be making a payment on your credit card and not really be aware of the ramifications.  (This might be by design; some people don’t want to know the ramifications!) Once you have organized a debt snowball, you see how you need to approach your debt in a more methodical way.

Reason #3: Certainty

One of the greatest advantages I see with a debt snowball is the elimination of uncertainty.  When people haven’t planned their debt snowball “plan of attack,” they tend to question themselves every month as they pay their credit cards  (Should be doing more? Should I use my cash reserves?  Should I look for a lower interest rate?).  With the debt snowball, you can set your plan on autopilot and forget about it.

Reason #4: Motivation

Once the debt snowball helps you see what’s possible, I’ve seen it time and time again:  you become excited and motivated to make changes to do even more—even an extra $25 or $50 per month can make the difference! 

Actions This Week

• Can I help?  Check out my Finally Debt Free debt snowball package and see if it resonates with you—I’d love to help!  But regardless, you will need to . . .
• Get Organized.  Organize all of your debt so that you know the current balance, the interest rate and how much you’re paying it down each month.
• Get Clear.  How much can you consistently devote to debt every month and still be okay with the rest of your life?  Consider setting this amount and being methodical.
• Cut The Waste.  No matter how much I track spending, I usually need to re-commit to cutting back every few months.  It’s a process.  Spend some time identifying where you waste money and redirect some of it toward your debt.

And in the comments, tell me…

What do you struggle with most when it comes to managing debt?

Thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

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The post 4 Reasons You Should Be Using The Debt Snowball appeared first on Creative Money.

Whenever I speak with a potential client who is struggling with debt payoff, I can usually tell whether or not they will be successful.  Some of the key indicators of debt pay off are not only how a person perceives his or her debt but also how they perceive their role in it all.  The more shame someone feels over their debt, the harder it will be to pay it off.

The Language of Debt Pay Off

Language plays a huge role in understanding how close someone is to successful debt payoff, and this has nothing to do with how much you talk about your debt with other people, and EVERYTHING to do with how you talk about it with yourself.  I’ve help tons of people with debt payoff because I never judge, make them feel bad, or feel wrong or deficient or SHAMED for having debt. 

People need to do this for themselves as well.  If you think someone will judge you for having debt, don’t discuss it with them.  Especially if you’re still struggling to forgive yourself!  Debt is simply a symptom of a challenge that you were having, and your desire to achieve debt pay off says everything about what you learned from that experience.

It’s important to look at debt as a symptom of something greater.  If you focus on the language of choice and empowerment, you get out of debt.  If you focus on shame and regret, you get stuck.

Debt Pay Off Attitudes

While I never want someone to feel shame over their debt, I have noticed signs that will point to whether or not someone is ready to start seriously managing debt pay off. 

The signs I most often see are:

Continual Usage of Credit Cards.  If you’re crystal clear on how much you spend every month AND how much you have to pay on your credit card above and beyond monthly expenses, then you might be able to continue to use your credit card while paying down a balance.  The majority of people I see who refuse to stop using their credit card DON’T have this clarity.

Ongoing Reasons For Incurring Debt.  If there is always a reason why you have to charge something else on your credit card—and always a GOOD reason—then you’re not ready to start a serious debt pay off plan.

Not Believing They Have Resources To Get Out of Debt.  If you don’t actually believe you make enough money to pay off your debt and see no other alternatives other than to continue to carry the debt, then you’re not ready to start a serious debt pay off plan.

Until you release all external causes as the reasons you’re in debt, you’ll continue to have it.  (Tweet This)

You have to make the choice that it’s all up to you.

The Steps To Successful Debt Pay Off

Here are the crucial planning steps that you must take if you’re serious about debt pay off once and for all:

Start with your intention.  Whenever you start any successful venture, you have to define success.  What does successful debt pay off look like for you?

Gain clarity.  You can’t know if you’re making progress toward debt pay off unless you first understand the current situation and define a plan of action.  Just like you can’t know if you’re successful at weight loss until you step on the scale.

Identify recovery actions.  Most of the time, people expect debt pay off to go smoothly, but it never does.  Stuff happens.  You might have to charge something in an emergency.  When you get thrown off your “ideal” plan, have a back up.

Throw off discouragement.  Everyone faces obstacles, but if you’re resolved, then the obstacles never seem as insurmountable as when you lack confidence in your plan.  When you become discouraged at lack of progress, have specific steps in place to put yourself back on track as soon as you can.

Actions This Week

• Notice your language.  Are you berating or shaming yourself for what you perceive to be money ”failures?”  The sooner you forgive yourself, the sooner you can move on to creating the money reality you desire.
• Notice your mindset.  Did any of the excuses to NOT pay off debt resonate with you?  You might not be ready to change.  That’s okay.  No judgment here.
• Are you waiting?  A lot of times, people tell me they are waiting for a raise, to move in with their loved one, or for some other outside condition.  If that event never happened, what would be the next step you would take to pay off debt?  Now go do it.

And in the comments, tell me . . .

In what areas of life are you challenged to release all external causes for your circumstances?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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The post If You Struggle With Debt Pay Off, Read This appeared first on Creative Money.

People who use the principles of the Law of Attraction have an advantage when becoming debt free, because they begin with the idea of managing their thoughts, emotion and energy.  A huge part of becoming debt free is mindset, and when used correctly, the Law of Attraction can support a debt-free life.

The Difference Between Law of Attraction and a Debt Free Mindset

The Law of Attraction is about managing your energy and working on your life from the inside out.  It’s a great tool for understanding how you WANT to feel when it comes to your money, versus focusing on what currently frustrates you about your life (like the inability to become debt free).  Therefore, the Law of Attraction is a great tool to help you really connect with the vision of how you really want to show up in the world.

However, often I notice that choices made from a Law of Attraction standpoint can be misguided.  I see a lot of people going into debt because they believe that those purchases demonstrate their faith in the Law of Attraction and demonstrate faith in their future abundance.  The point is, if you truly believed in your future abundance, you could wait until then to make the purchase.  Or, instead of upgrading your lifestyle significantly, you can choose to make smaller upgrades.

For instance, if you really want a new computer but don’t have the money for a huge investment, don’t go all out on a brand new, fancy model—get a refurbished one instead.  Or if you’re used to buying your clothes are Target, you don’t have to buy designer duds to demonstrate your faith—there are several places that sell nicer clothes than Target but that still won’t break the bank.  The point is, use your manifestation as an opportunity to be creative.  That way, you’re still fulfilling your vision, but doing it in a more cost-effective way.

With mindset awareness, you make sure that you’re not making misguided money decisions in the process of connecting with your higher vision.  Mindset is the recipe for how you show up and the Law of Attraction is your barometer to tell you when you need to manage more closely!

For example, with fitness goals, it’s great to use Law Of Attraction to create some positive energy about future results, but mindset prescribes specifically how you’re going to eat and move your body.

Or with children; you can use the Law of Attraction to envision a fantastic relationship with your child and manage your energy, but you’re still going to need mindset to make tough choices and do things they won’t agree with.

In short, Law of Attraction shifts your focus to what’s possible and MINDSET gives you a holistic philosophy to operate from as you work on fulfilling that possibility.

The Role of Gratitude In Becoming Debt Free

The single-best way the Law of Attraction can help someone become debt free is gratitude.  Gratitude can shift the entire debt conversation.  Instead of approaching debt from the point of, “I suck because I am in debt and I am saddled with this until I can FINALLY pay this off,” Gratitude helps you maintain your long term vision, such as:

“I’m SO grateful I have the resources and the internal drive to pay down this debt, and I am so grateful that I live in a world where I have such freedom of choice. I’m grateful for the lesson that I learned from having this debt and I am grateful that I am expanding my financial knowledge so that I can move onto building wealth in a more conscious way.”

Here are some other Law of Attraction tactics to use in the process of becoming debt free:

Reframe.  Stop thinking that you won’t be happy, satisfied or successful until you’re debt free.  Start focusing on what is good in your situation right NOW, regardless of the debt.  List all of the ways that this debt has helped you understand yourself and your money better.

Appreciate.  Debt is western world privilege.  This debt is representative of all of the choice, benefits and opportunity offered to you, and it’s not your job to resent it.  Appreciate your creditors for extending you this credit and give yourself a pat on the back for deciding at this time to use it in a way that is more in line with your vision for your money life.

Make “Debt Free” Physical. A friend of mine was helping her boyfriend get out of debt, so she stuck a mason jar on the counter.  Whenever they made a choice to do something fun together, or just were standing around, considering their weekend plans, they used that as an opportunity to “feed the jar.”  As they went through their week they would put $1-$5 into the jar here and there–It never failed, every week the jar would accumulate at least $20.  Feeding the jar became something fun and exciting, knowing they could add that money to his regular monthly payments.

Actions This Week

• Make a list of all of the things that currently annoy or worry you about your debt.  This is your resistance list and what you resist, persists.
• Reframe that resistance list.  The place I like to begin is by asking myself, “How is this experience contributing to my personal growth?” and then find ways that you can be gentler with yourself during the growing process.
• Experiment With Physical Reminders.  Look for ways to bring your LOA energy into the real world.  Choose one thing to do differently and see how it makes you feel.  My friend used a mason jar, but you could just as easily use a teddy bear as an energy symbol (debt teddy, sounds like a rapper) so that you start to smile when you think of debt.

And in the comments below, tell me . . .

What’s your biggest money/energy challenge right now, and how do you deal with it?

Thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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The post How To Become Debt Free Using The Law of Attraction appeared first on Creative Money.

In my blog, I don’t talk a lot about the nuts and bolts of personal finance, but recently, I was working with an individual client who was struggling with getting out of debt. I realized that I was forgetting how hard it can be, to make a shift from thinking of yourself as a person who “always” has debt to someone who is debt free.

The “Getting Out Of Debt” Mindset Components

Your mindset is what you believe about the world and everything in it…it’s the paradigm and belief system you use to make all of your decisions, and 90% of the time, people aren’t totally conscious about the mindset they are applying to the different areas of their lives—especially when it comes to getting out of debt.

The components that are important to look at then, are the ones that create conditions in your life that don’t make you happy (like having debt). Many people want to believe that since they have never thought about it, they don’t have a money mindset/paradigm. You DO have a money paradigm, even if you’ve never thought about it.

I’ve found the three most important components of mindset when it comes to money are:

Short-term over long term thinking. Long term can be 25 years or it can be next week, but there has to be something compelling built into your mindset that makes you want to act for tomorrow as well as today.

Pain versus pleasure. Your mindset might be entirely about avoiding pain or finding pleasure, so your mindset has to include ways to deal with instinctive responses you might have as you go about your day.

Who you are. Most importantly, a money mindset has everything to do with identity and self worth, which answer the questions of: “Who do you want to be in the world?” and “Who will you ALLOW yourself to be?” Even if you haven’t thought through the answers, your subconscious is already making decisions for you!

The Challenges With Getting Out Of Debt

The biggest obstacle to getting out of debt is not knowing how you think about the mindset components. Each one of us has a choice to make: can we take responsibility and change our effect on the world around us, or are we just victims, a leaf whirling on the winds of change and circumstance? I choose to believe the former—and when it comes to getting out of debt, it’s essential to believe that you are the solution to the problem.

To strengthen your mindset you must:

• Take responsibility for your choices and seeing yourself as “willing and able” to effect change in your life
• Become conscious of how your behaviors and past decisions paint a picture of the mindset you’ve been operating from, and
• Connect the dots for yourself between short term gratification and long term vision so that BOTH are equally compelling for you, so that your behavior moves you closer to the vision that you have for yourself.

Getting Out Of Debt Requires A Conscious Mindset

To get started on changing your mindset, consider taking these 4 steps:

1. Examine your current beliefs/mindset. Ask yourself: “What would someone conclude about my attitude toward debt or money based on this evidence?” Evidence is current financial situation, choices you make throughout your day, etc. (This isn’t about shame/blame, it’s about empirical evidence).
2. Identify what has to change. What do you WANT someone to conclude about your beliefs and mindset by looking at your behavior, choices and situation? WRITE THESE THINGS DOWN.
3. Commit to change. Decide: what are the behaviors and steps I would take to embody this new mindset?
4. Baby steps. One small step at a time, start taking manageable actions to change the way you’re showing up.

And in the comments, tell me…

What would you like to change about your current money mindset?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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The post Four Steps To Getting Out Of Debt For Good appeared first on Creative Money.

Maintaining control and clarity over your financial management system can be a pain in the . . . neck.  It’s easy to get obsessed on the one or two things that you think are going to make or break your current, short-term financial life (underwater mortgage, staggering student loan debt, being 8 ½ months pregnant . . . ).  Reality is that slow, incremental consistent steps with your financial management system win out over dramatic action every time.

10 Steps for Simple Financial Management 

I recently saw a list of over 30 things that a person should do to clean up their financial life—perhaps one for every day of the month?  Yikes . . . even for me–a financial planner–that is just plain nuts.  Here’s a list of my top ten things you can do to clean up your finances this month and still stay sane:

Start Mint.  I say this ALL THE TIME.  The single greatest indicator of a person’s future wealth is their ability to save money.  But first, you have to know where it goes!  And Mint is the easiest way to start paying attention to that.  At a recent consult, I saw within 5 minutes how much more clarity Mint brought than another less-effective, not-to-be-mentioned software program the client had been trying to use.  Nothing is more user-friendly than Mint.

Save Monthly Into Cash.  To be “financially fragile,” is to be unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days, in the case of an emergency. And, according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, nearly half of Americans fall into that category.  Even if you can only save $25 per month, you MUST start a cash reserve.  Try to keep this separate from normal monthly expenses and day-to-day checking.

Get A Good Rate On Your Cash.  If your cash savings is in a simple savings account, it’s probably only earning a tenth of a percent right now.  Google “high-interest online savings accounts” and find an account where you can earn at least a couple of tenths-of-a-percent more!  Even the difference between a tenth of a percent and eight tenths on cash savings of $5,000 is $35 annually.  I could USE that $35.

Review Your Monthly Bills.  Is there a monthly bill you’re wasting money on?  When I review spending for clients, I’m always asking, “What’s that?” and they say, “Oh, that’s something I used to do (gym, subscription, online membership, etc.).”  If you’re not getting value out of it, stop the automatic pull.

Download Online Statements.  I have a whole post on document retention standards and the best ways to organize your data, but at minimum, download pdfs of your banking, mortgage and investments.  I try not to go longer than three months without catching up.

Rebalance Your Investments.  If you haven’t rebalanced your investments in 6 months to a year, it’s probably a good idea to do it before second quarter earnings report—meaning mid-July.  You should always have a model portfolio to balance back to (if you don’t, you should talk to me!).

Automate Debt Payments.  If you’re trying to pay down debt, you should have the same monthly amount automatically going toward each balance.  This takes SO MUCH emotion out of the debt payment process every month!  You can set it up, and then forget about it.  And, do I need to say it?  Stop using your credit cards if you’re not paying them off every month.

Increase Debt Payment by $5 (or more).  Once you automate your debt payments, go back every 6 months and increase the amount by $5-$25.  Most people don’t even miss that amount in their monthly spending, but it can shave months off your debt payment schedule.

Automate Your Charitable Giving.  It’s so much easier to have my charities take out $25 per month than it is to write them a check for $300 once a year.  Virtually ALL charities have this option now, starting as low as $5 per month.  You feel so proud of yourself after this step!

Ask Yourself The Question.  Question:  Do you need a financial planner?  You might be wondering how long it’s going to take to pay off your debt, or how to best allocate your 401k, or even if the 401k is the best place for you to be saving.  Many people feel a lack of clarity over the connection between what they do now, and how that translates into their imagined (desired) future.  A financial planner can answer any and all of these questions for you (and more)!  But better yet, you won’t have that nagging uncertainty that you’re not making the most of your money. 

If there is ambiguity in your mind, then you probably haven’t fully committed to financial action.  These steps are small and easily implemented without having to do a lot of research or make a commitment to huge financial change.  Like so many other things in life, small, gradual steps are the key to staying on top of your finances.  Who knows, perhaps by completing the top ten, you’ll be inspired to do more in the coming months!

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This week’s post is a companion piece to my own post on ways to save money on food, from Sonnet Lauberth.  Sonnet is a holistic health coach, food educator, blogger, and writer on a mission to help people create fresh food that nourishes their body and tastes good! She is the voice behind For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog that’s filled with recipes to help you live a healthy, sustainable life.  We’re joining together to bring you Conscious Money, Conscious Eating.

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What are your biggest challenges to eating healthfully?  There are a few I hear from readers and my health coaching clients all the time…

Eating healthy is boring; healthy food isn’t delicious. I like to eat things that taste good — and that usually means they are bad for me.

Eating healthy is EXPENSIVE! I can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods every day.

Eating healthy takes a lot of time and I’m a busy person. It’s just not possible to eat healthfully and cook all the time with my schedule.

I definitely know the challenges. And believe me when I say that I’m not made of time or money either, but it is possible to eat healthy, delicious, amazing, good-for-you food without spending a ton of money or a ton of time in the kitchen.

Today I’m going to share a few simple ways to get started.

1. Plan Your Meals

Ooh, the daunting task of planning meals. It sounds so overwhelming and time-consuming, right? I mean, don’t you need a calendar, twenty cookbooks, a shopping list, a calculator, a pot of coffee, a snuggie, and a Masters Degree to get started? Wrong.

Just hearing the term “meal planning” makes some folks run away in fear. But, let me tell you, there is no reason to be scared. Meal planning can be as simple (or as complicated) as you want it to be. Meal planning works differently for each person and every family, but in my house, I set up a loose structure for the week to give me some guidance, but allow for flexibility as needed. I start by thinking about:

• Produce that is in season
• Flavors or certain types of food that I’m craving (or that have been requested by my partner)
• How much time I have for meal prep and cooking this week
• How many meals we will need for the week

Then I map out a simple plan from there including recipe ideas and assigning prep work to different days. I usually like to do a large batch of cooking on Sundays and prepare our meals for Monday through Wednesday. Then I typically try to reserve my Wednesday evenings for cooking Thursday through Saturday. Having a meal plan helps me to keep cooking time to a minimum because I can cook in batches since I know exactly what we’ll be eating.

2. Inventory Your Cupboards

One of the best ways I’ve found to save money on food is to not waste any! I regularly inventory our cupboards and refrigerator and incorporate any items that need to get used up into my weekly meal plan. Quinoa been sitting around for too long? Quinoa for breakfast it is! Bought way too much asparagus at the Farmers Market last weekend? Great, it’s going to be an asparagus stir-fry week! Greens on the brink of going bad? It’s smoothie time! Once you get in the habit of doing inventory regularly, you’ll usually find that you go through items quicker and this process begins to feel easier (thus, saving you time).

3. Stick To The List

I absolutely refuse to go to the grocery store without my list. When I shop without a list, I become a scattered mess and end up buying random things that don’t make sense for meals, too much or too little of items, and become especially prone to impulse buys if I am hungry. I used to use a handwritten grocery list, but I found myself constantly forgetting it so I switched to an electronic list and haven’t looked back since. (Nowadays I use the free Remember The Milk app on my iPhone.) Each week when I am menu planning, I add the ingredients I need to my shopping list. As I am cooking or in my kitchen throughout the week, if I realize that I am low on certain items, I update the list as needed.

4. Shop Less Frequently

Even though I rotate my shopping between a few different stores and a farmers market, I usually only go to the store 1 – 2 times a week. The beauty of having a menu plan and a coherent shopping list is that you can save time by getting everything you need in one shopping trip. I usually do my big shopping trip on a Saturday or Sunday morning and then visit the farmers market for seasonal produce. Shopping less not only saves time, but I’ve found that it saves a lot of money because I’m not tempted to pick up extra items all the time.

5. Be Realistic About Your Eating Habits

This tip is uber important. In fact, it might be the most important tip I give you here. In order for meal planning to be effective (instead of stressful), you have to know your own eating habits.

I know that it isn’t realistic for me to cook from scratch every evening so I do batch cooking 2 – 3x a week so there are always fresh meals ready to go in the fridge. I know that by Friday, I am exhausted and sometimes the thought of doing anything on a Friday night (even reheating leftovers) sounds like a lot of work. For this reason, I usually mark Friday as an “eat out” night on my meal plan because I know that I’m going to pick up something from the cold case at Whole Foods on my way home.

I also know that sometimes, as much as I may try to resist it, I’m going to want a snack or a treat. One of the things that I have found really helpful is to specifically include a weekly snack or treat as part of my meal plan. This means that I always have a delicious something on hand that is far healthier (and usually tastier) than if I let my craving go too far and venture to the store in need of something yummy.  The key is that I know myself well enough that I can plan for this ahead of time.

If you are interested in saving money, saving time, and eating healthier, here is how you can get started:

1. Take a look at your current situation around food and money.

What is working well for you and what isn’t working well? What do you wish were different? What are some of the barriers you have found to eating the way you want to AND saving money in the process?

2. Start small.

Start by just making one simple change this week. What is one thing you could do today or this week that would make a difference?

3. Check back with yourself and assess progress.

After you make that one change this week, check back with yourself in a few weeks and see how it’s going. Is it working well? Great, what’s a second step you could take? Is it not going so well? No problem, let’s re-evaluate and see what could be done differently next week. The key is to have compassion with yourself and know that changing habits is a learning process and takes a little time.

4. Join the Program!

Conscious Money, Conscious Eating is Mindy’s and my brainchild, specifically created to help people make the transition to more conscious, affordable, and sustainable eating.

In Conscious Money, Conscious Eating, Mindy will show you how to be more conscious around the way you spend money on food and I will help you to get started on the conscious eating track with simple, easy-to-implement strategies that will make meal planning, preparing, and cooking a breeze. If you’ve been struggling with making some changes around eating healthier and saving money, this program was created for you. Find out more here.

Sonnet Lauberth is a holistic health coach, food educator, blogger, and writer on a mission to help people create fresh food that nourishes their body and tastes good! She is the voice behind For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog that’s filled with recipes to help you live a healthy, sustainable life. Sonnet has been featured in Vegetarian Times, Simply Gluten Free Magazine, Huffington Post.com, Anderson Cooper.com, Saveur.com, Women’s Health Magazine.com, The Kitchn, Dr. Junger’s Clean Program, Organic Authority.com, Allure.com, and Glamour.com. You can also find her health and wellness articles on Mind Body Green and One Green Planet.

Connect with Sonnet…
Website: For The Love of Food
Facebook: For The Love of Food
Twitter: @SonnetLauberth
Pinterest: SonnetLauberth

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Save Money on Food appeared first on Creative Money.

If you’re looking to cut back on your spending, you are probably wondering how you can save money on food as a budget item; which makes sense, because it’s much easier to cut back on a variable expense like food, versus a fixed expense like rent or mortgage.  There are a lot of good websites that discuss frugality with food—Wisebread, for one—but if you’re just starting out in your quest to find ways to save money, sometimes it can be overwhelming. 

How You Can Save Money On Food

I admit that I wasn’t very good about figuring out how you can save money on food; for many years, this was another blind spot for me.  But when I broke my ankle, my mom came to help for about 3 weeks, and I was awed and impressed at the ways she pulled together meals for us—and she spent MUCH less than I would have in the same time period.  She made the process seem very accessible, even for me, who doesn’t like to cook.  I recommend beginning with the following five steps:

Plan Your Meals.  As I sat there, broken ankle, hopped up on Vicodin  my mom would take a piece of paper and map out a two-week schedule.  She’d ask me what I was hungry for and make notes on that.  She makes a mean pot roast, so I am sure we had that, but instead of just having pot roast one night and then having leftovers, she planned to repurpose pot roast into a Mexican dish as well as an Asian dish. 

If it had been me, the leftovers would have languished in the fridge, and I eventually would have thrown them out, but mom revitalized the meat by adding different flavors in subsequent meals.  Since I don’t cook, the lesson I took away from the experience is to never cook your meat for only one meal—so I typically cook all of my protein on Sundays so I can just heat them up and throw them into different things as I go about my week.  Since half the prep is already done, it’s easier to throw together what you planned to eat, instead of eating takeout.

Inventory Your Cupboards.  Another way my mom demonstrated how you can save money is by using up my excess inventory.  She would poke around my freezer and cupboards to see what I had, and if she saw I had a lot of rice, she’d factor that in to some of the meals.  Or if I had one frozen entrée, she’d simply add another to her grocery list so we could have frozen dinners together one night.  I used to have cans and cans of soup, but over the three weeks she integrated them into our lunches and some dinners, so that she was sure to use up anything I already had.  After she left, I noticed that the more I planned my meals and shopping, the less random stuff I had just hanging out in my cupboards!

Stick To The List.  By meal planning, my mom showed me how you can save money on grocery shopping just by accurately predicting what ingredients she needed for the upcoming meals.  What was even MORE significant when I adopted her process was the fact that having the meal plan almost completely eliminated impulse buys at the grocery store.  When I had already mapped out what food I would need for the next 10 days or so, I was able to pass up impulse purchases easily. 

Shop Less Frequently.  The meal plan always went out 10 days to two weeks, depending on how my mom repurposed different ingredients.  Sure, she might have ran out to the store for something minor, like milk or fresh vegetables, but for the most part, the major shopping was completed 2-3 times in a month.  When she left, I was still on crutches and unable to push a grocery cart—so I had AmazonFresh deliver my groceries.  I was amazed at how much money I saved by having them come only twice per month! 

Be Realistic About Your Eating Habits.  As I planned my meals and shopped for groceries less frequently, I started to be very honest with myself about what I was willing to eat for a two-week period of time.  I realized my tendency was to grocery shop for “perfect” Mindy, who ate lots of vegetables, no junk food, and was very clean and healthy.  But when I got bored with it, I got takeout—and drove up the cost on my monthly food bill.  I finally realized that planning “fun” food into my schedule made it easier for me to stick to it . . . for example, if I am tired at the end of the day and don’t feel like eating my low-fat healthy meal, I always have the makings for grilled cheese or a BLT sandwich—two of my favorite meals!  And they cost a lot less than takeout.

Since I have gotten more realistic about my eating, I have actually gotten healthier AND spend less on food.  I have just integrated simple organizational tools–which anyone can adopt–that made all of the difference in my grocery budget.  So if you’re looking for ways to save money on food, these five steps are a great way to start.

How You Can Save Money AND Eat Healthier

Recently, I realized I now have the desire to step up my healthy eating, but I felt intimidated to just jump in and start experimenting.  It seemed like whenever I tried to implement these organizational steps while trying new healthy ingredients, I ended up spending more.  I needed some inspiration to get started, plus a resource to guide me through some menu planning.

Enter Sonnet Lauberth, holistic health coach and voice of For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog.  Sonnet shows you how to prepare healthy, delicious food without spending extra money or wasting time in the kitchen. She makes new ingredients less intimidating by taking the mystery out of preparing them! I wanted to eliminate the excuse once and for all that preparing healthy meals and saving money couldn’t co-exist, and I believe that we have!

Actions This Week

1. Take Stock of Yourself.  What do you like or NOT like about the role food currently plays in your life?  What would you change if you weren’t afraid of costing yourself MORE money?
2. Make One Change.  It might be hard to implement all 5 steps together, so take your favorite and start experimenting.  
3. Assess Progress.  After implementing one step, decide how you feel about it.  Is this something sustainable 75% of the time?  I usually give myself August and December off from budgeting, since I tend to travel and eat out a lot those months.
4. Join The Program!  Click here to check out Sonnet’s and my upcoming program to help people make the transition to more conscious and sustainable eating! 

And in the comments, tell me . . . 

What’s your favorite way to save money on food?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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I didn’t feel right about writing about money this week.  Somehow, it seemed trivial to write about personal finance when almost 200 people are injured or dead from the explosions.  I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop as we figure out how this could happen.

I’m not political.  Most of my political views are shaped by Aaron Sorkin (the writer of West Wing and The Newsroom).  However, from a political standpoint, I believe that the constant onslaught of fundraising and position emails should have stopped for more than a day, as a moment of respect and reflection for our dead and wounded.

And considering the cost of health care WITHOUT being blown up and losing a limb, maybe Homeland Security could say, “Sorry folks, we missed all of the signposts for a domestic terrorist attack completely, we take full responsibility and the cost of your medical care is on us.  For life.” 

Chances are, many of the amputees will experience real financial hardship as they reshape their lives, their work and their plans for the future.  Yes, it sucks.  But one thing these people have (or will have) is perspective.  Between financial devastation and life, always choose life.  Devastation is temporary.

In moments like this, I think about our human spirit.  After 9/11, one of the most memorable clips I saw was several days after, a fire fighter, dusty from work, telling the reporter, “They picked the wrong city to mess with, we’re New Yorkers.” Hell yeah.  We’re Americans.  And Boston is one of our locations of historical bad-assery. 

I realized, marathoners are some of the toughest people alive.  The mental and physical conditions that you must work through to finish 26.2 miles of running is astounding.  Americans are bad-ass, but these people, marathoners…these are our gladiators.  If anyone in the world can get through losing a limb, it’s this group of people.  If any kind of family or group of loved ones can reinvent themselves after an attack like this, it’s them.  Please, let it be them.

I don’t like the word tragedy.  I come from a theater background and the definition of a tragedy in that context is a performance meant to bring about a catharsis for the audience.  We can’t have catharsis, not yet.  The word tragedy distances us from what is still happening, and wraps it in a descriptor that avoids blame and messiness.  This was an attack, a bombing.  If someone gets raped, it’s offensive to call it a tragedy (I think).  Call it rape.  We get bombed and senselessly attacked on a day where more than 20,000 people came together, each specifically to meet his or her personal best—call it what it is.  Murder.  Terrorism.  Let’s not soothe ourselves by using semantics.  We still don’t know how this happened. It should still piss us off that we now live in a world without Martin Richard or Krystle Campbell—the names of those we know perished.  There will be more names.  This isn’t over.

We can’t shift to catharsis before understanding what happened.  But our spirit helps us make sense of what we can.  As someone who gets most of her political information from television drama, it should come as no surprise that my world view is inspired by science fiction icon George Takei.  He posted this on Facebook only hours after hearing of the bombing:

“When tragedies strike, heroes rise to meet the challenge: the first responders seen sprinting toward the blast site, the runners who changed course to run to local hospitals to donate blood, and the fine citizens of Boston who at once opened their homes to marathoners in need of a place to stay. When we come together, we cannot be brought down.”

We cannot be brought down.  We aren’t victims, we’re survivors.  Warp speed ahead, Mr. Sulu.

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Back when I was having hard times and money problems, I wished daily for less struggle.  More ease.  A relationship with money that sustained me, instead of needing to work constantly to sustain it.  What I realized—and what changed my relationship –is that the idea of less struggle and more ease starts on the inside, not the outside.

Less Struggle

I recently had an incident that reminded me of this.  I experienced a setback (business related, but not money related, which is how I console myself that I initially didn’t see the connection) and I found myself thinking, “Why do I have to remain CONSTANTLY vigilant to make sure my business is on track?” I was frustrated, irritated and really feeling my inner Tyrannosaurus Rex (RAWR!  I will lay waste to all that I see!  RAWR!)

First, I stopped myself and got grounded.  We typically have enough basic awareness to TRY and assess what is REALLY happening, but often we forget to get our brains off of the Tilt O’ Whirl of activity and just STOP.  For me, I have to walk away from all electronic devices and get some fresh air.

Next, I asked myself, “What attachment did you have to this setback?” For me, success = intelligent, effective business person…but I didn’t have a positive characterization for myself if my experiment wasn’t successful, so I immediately jumped to TOTAL FAILURE, even though that’s probably a bit extreme.  When I calmed down, I realized that I am allowed and REQUIRED to make mistakes to continually improve.

Then I asked myself, “What is the personal growth opportunity?”  An ongoing “growth opportunity” for me is preventing isolation.  I was raised in a family where you worked alone and did everything yourself.  My default is “alone,” so my personal growth opportunity is ALWAYS collaboration and expansion.  I realized that this setback probably wouldn’t have happened if I had not tried to do it all alone and had asked for more support.

Finally, I asked myself, “What did you learn from this setback?”  I learned that I was in “overfunctioning, control freaky mode” trying to accomplish a set of business tasks, and that is NOT the kind of energy I want to bring to my business!  And creating any tactics when I was in that head space would not be effective.

Once I was able to reframe the experience, I felt a lot better about it, and I was able to start planning my next experiment to incorporate all of the elements that made this last attempt fail—collaboration, expansion, support and the spirit of possibility—instead of attachment. 

Money Problems

So how can this be applied to less struggle with money problems?   I see the same dynamics happen when someone is having money problems:

Overwhelm – people are always trying to make money decisions when they ALREADY have 10 different things happening at once!  Stop the merry-go-round (or whatever your favorite throwing-up-ride-at-the-amusement-park happens to be).

Attachment – people starting thinking, “If I can’t pay this bill now, the world falls apart.”  It actually doesn’t, that is just your projection if things don’t happen perfectly (and they never do).  Ask yourself, “Is that REALLY true?  How can I know that it’s true?” Ala Byron Katie. 

Personal Growth – You are where you are because of WHO you are.  Whenever you feel struggle, there is always an opportunity to show up in a different—and ultimately better—way.

Learning – The real world learning is what you can apply from your personal growth lesson.  For some, it might be “never carry credit cards in my wallet,” or “ figure out ways to show up in a better way for my family and our money.” You get to decide.

Actions This Week

If you’re in the midst of a struggle over worry over something, consider these steps:

1. STOP everything.  You can’t get clarity or feel better until you “reset” yourself back to the present moment.  Go outside.  Walk your dog.  Dance to Earth, Wind and Fire (no judgment).
2. Reinforce:  NOTHING IS WRONG.  This current struggle is powerful information, about yourself and how you deal with issues.  Lean into it.  Be willing to take the lesson.
3. Connect with a loved one.  I recently read Jenny Lawson’s book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened…first of all, I laughed so hard I cried, but secondly, it reinforced for me the powerful of having someone in your life who loves you NO MATTER WHAT.  This is VERY beneficial when you’re in the dregs of money struggles.

And in the comments tell me …

What causes most of your freak outs, struggles and attachment issues?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community, I appreciate it!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking about the universal truth about money…which to me, is different than spiritual truth, because acknowledging your role in the universal truth is a STEP toward losing the fear, ambiguity and lack of awareness around your external relationship with money.  The universal truth is the key to uncovering your habits, thinking and behavior that might be a detriment to your money in the most fundamental, practical sense–and yet, it starts with inner knowledge.  It’s recognizing where you have not been fully living as yourself.

The Universal Truth

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Here are the universal truths about your money:

1. Financial ruin does not kill you.  Just ask anyone who has been through it.
2. Debt a result of past thinking.  Forgive yourself and move forward.
3. When you can’t pay a bill, it just means you can’t pay the bill.  Yet.
4. There are no financial victims.  The moment you take responsibility is the moment you change your financial destiny.
5. Quit focusing on your money fear—instead, focus on Money Possibility
6. Don’t let your money worry become an addiction, however…
7. The less you think about your money, the more it gets wasted.
8. Money waste is a symptom of unconsciousness.
9. You can’t spend money to avoid a negative consequence.  It’s still there.
10. Receiving money is passive.  If you tend to “overgive,” you’ll have money issues.
11. Spending money never improves a relationship.
12. Having money does not balance (or unbalance) the scales in a relationship.  Try not having scales.
13. There are no good or bad uses for your money, just whether it’s right for you.
14. Money is not a substitute for your personal power.
15. You deserve to charge as much as you want.  There are no worthiness hurdles to jump.
16. You can’t “buy” an identity by belonging to a group, you can only buy affiliation.
17. Never use money to keep up with the Jones.
18. Never make a money decision when you’re comparing yourself to someone else.
19. The more you know what you want in life, the easier it is to make money.
20. Never let money (or anything) be the reason you compromise your truth.
21. Don’t trust your gut about money if it is telling you to be afraid.  Intuition is not the language of fear.
22. Never make a money decision because of the way something “should” be.  Stick to WHAT IS.
23. Money solutions are never products or investments. 
24. The more you become aware of your behaviors and thinking, the more money you’ll have.

Improve Your Money Relationship

Here are some actions you can take to help you work through the universal truths:

Share this – with a loved one, or review it on your own to agree, discuss, journal and flesh out.  What universal truth is missing from the list?

Chose an area to focus on – when I first started my journey, consciousness was a big theme.  What theme resonates with you and your money history?

Commit to one small step.  Given the theme that spoke to you, what is one small step you can take this week to move toward a better relationship with money?

And in the comments, tell me…

What the universal truth about your money that resonates with you?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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