Lesson 29: Are you a Thrifty Thelma or an Extravagant Enid?
Ask yourself the question above (just substitute your name for Thelma's and Enid's). Think back to Lesson 1 and ask yourself again. Be honest, no one is going to know the answer but you, and it's important that you are honest with yourself.
Thrifty Thelma
Thrifty Thelma is a shopping genius! She knows how to get the best value for her dollar. Thelma has shopping, preparing and serving meals down pat. She shops the sales and buys in bulk, looks for the lowest prices and almost never pays full price for groceries. She has her Emergency Fund under control and her Spending Plan is well planned. She is ready for the financial issues that today's economy throws at her. Even entertainment is under control. Thelma doesn't sit at home in the dark, she goes out and enjoys movies, concerts and other events using discounts and coupons, buy-one-get-one-free offers and other special offers. She fills the car on the cheapest day (which she tracks) and carpools, walks or uses public transport when she can. She has shopped around for car insurance (and all her other insurances) and regularly checks for the best service providers for phone, water, gas and electricity.
Thelma is on the ball when it comes to managing her money.
Extravagant Enid
Extravagant Enid is a shopper! Enid is the see it, buy it type. Research isn't in her vocabulary and haggling is something you do on holiday in a foreign land. Enid pays full price for her concert tickets and would never dream of eating out on a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Enid has never crossed the threshold of a discount department store and can recognize a label at 100 metres. Enid is not only extravagant with her money, she is extravagant with natural resources, believing that turning lights off when you leave a room and appliances off at the wall is a waste of time with no money saving.
Enid isn't a lost cause though. There are countless opportunities for improvement and learning to save. Enid can start at the very beginning by tracking her spending. Using a meal plan and shopping list will start her saving on groceries. Cooking from scratch and building a stockpile of ready-to-heat meals in the freezer will help keep the food bill and the entertainment bill down. With just those few things under control Enid is already learning to shop smart!
Whether you are a Thelma or an Enid or someone in between, take a few minutes to think about where you are. Take your notebook and write some positives about where you are in your financial journey. Make a note of the areas where you are doing well in saving and pat yourself on the back.
Make a commitment to pay less for everything from now on.
That may mean changing your shopping day or the day you put petrol in the car. It may mean changing how you pay your bills or even learning to cook (I had too!).
Write down (in your notebook) what you want to do with the savings you make. Be specific. Commit your savings to building your Emergency Fund or paying of the credit card or saving for a holiday or whatever. But be specific.
It's not enough to just reduce your spending. Remember: money isn't saved until it's safely in the bank or paid off debt. Until then it's just not spent.
Look at areas where you can make some improvements. You may already have the grocery bill under control, but what about utilities? Or insurances? Decide on one area where you need to reduce costs and work on it.
To start, make a list of all the obstacles to saving money in these areas. Then make a list of ways you can overcome these obstacles.
Find out what your previous spending in these areas has been. Use your bank statements, receipts and credit card statements. Then compare prices and do your research. Remember to tackle one thing at a time. When you have that one thing under control, move on to the next item.
Make a plan for your cost-reductions. Print it out and put it in the front of your notebook.
The plan needs to be step-by-step so you can see at a glance where you are and what you should be doing. Track your savings and record them in your notebook.
Implement your saving plan and filter off the saved money into the appropriate savings account or debt. For example if you have money left from the grocery shopping, immediately bank it into your Emergency Fund or go straight to the bank and pay it off your credit card.
Finally, draw up a calendar of savings. Scheduling when you are going to focus on a particular saving area will keep you focused. You'll know what you should be working on and be able to concentrate on that area, moving forward, without worrying about what's coming next.
Lesson 29 Challenge: Write something positive in your notebook about your progress in the Saving Revolution so far. It doesn't matter if it's a huge thing or just one little habit you've developed. Write it down and then re-read it every day for the next week.
Thrifty Thelma
Thrifty Thelma is a shopping genius! She knows how to get the best value for her dollar. Thelma has shopping, preparing and serving meals down pat. She shops the sales and buys in bulk, looks for the lowest prices and almost never pays full price for groceries. She has her Emergency Fund under control and her Spending Plan is well planned. She is ready for the financial issues that today's economy throws at her. Even entertainment is under control. Thelma doesn't sit at home in the dark, she goes out and enjoys movies, concerts and other events using discounts and coupons, buy-one-get-one-free offers and other special offers. She fills the car on the cheapest day (which she tracks) and carpools, walks or uses public transport when she can. She has shopped around for car insurance (and all her other insurances) and regularly checks for the best service providers for phone, water, gas and electricity.
Thelma is on the ball when it comes to managing her money.
Extravagant Enid
Extravagant Enid is a shopper! Enid is the see it, buy it type. Research isn't in her vocabulary and haggling is something you do on holiday in a foreign land. Enid pays full price for her concert tickets and would never dream of eating out on a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Enid has never crossed the threshold of a discount department store and can recognize a label at 100 metres. Enid is not only extravagant with her money, she is extravagant with natural resources, believing that turning lights off when you leave a room and appliances off at the wall is a waste of time with no money saving.
Enid isn't a lost cause though. There are countless opportunities for improvement and learning to save. Enid can start at the very beginning by tracking her spending. Using a meal plan and shopping list will start her saving on groceries. Cooking from scratch and building a stockpile of ready-to-heat meals in the freezer will help keep the food bill and the entertainment bill down. With just those few things under control Enid is already learning to shop smart!
Whether you are a Thelma or an Enid or someone in between, take a few minutes to think about where you are. Take your notebook and write some positives about where you are in your financial journey. Make a note of the areas where you are doing well in saving and pat yourself on the back.
Make a commitment to pay less for everything from now on.
That may mean changing your shopping day or the day you put petrol in the car. It may mean changing how you pay your bills or even learning to cook (I had too!).
Write down (in your notebook) what you want to do with the savings you make. Be specific. Commit your savings to building your Emergency Fund or paying of the credit card or saving for a holiday or whatever. But be specific.
It's not enough to just reduce your spending. Remember: money isn't saved until it's safely in the bank or paid off debt. Until then it's just not spent.
Look at areas where you can make some improvements. You may already have the grocery bill under control, but what about utilities? Or insurances? Decide on one area where you need to reduce costs and work on it.
To start, make a list of all the obstacles to saving money in these areas. Then make a list of ways you can overcome these obstacles.
Find out what your previous spending in these areas has been. Use your bank statements, receipts and credit card statements. Then compare prices and do your research. Remember to tackle one thing at a time. When you have that one thing under control, move on to the next item.
Make a plan for your cost-reductions. Print it out and put it in the front of your notebook.
The plan needs to be step-by-step so you can see at a glance where you are and what you should be doing. Track your savings and record them in your notebook.
Implement your saving plan and filter off the saved money into the appropriate savings account or debt. For example if you have money left from the grocery shopping, immediately bank it into your Emergency Fund or go straight to the bank and pay it off your credit card.
Finally, draw up a calendar of savings. Scheduling when you are going to focus on a particular saving area will keep you focused. You'll know what you should be working on and be able to concentrate on that area, moving forward, without worrying about what's coming next.
Lesson 29 Challenge: Write something positive in your notebook about your progress in the Saving Revolution so far. It doesn't matter if it's a huge thing or just one little habit you've developed. Write it down and then re-read it every day for the next week.