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Welcome Back to this budget series. If you haven’t done step I or step II you can click on the links and check em out. (The hyperlinks are in the highlighted words above.) We are going to take steps I and II and apply them in step III and in step IV I’m going to show you how being disciplined will give you 3-4 extra pay checks a year without working more than you are now. 

Take the information about your bills. Include details like their name, minimum payment, or average payment. Remember that things like utilities will fluctuate. Add their due date and apply them to a month. You can do this on a digital calendar like your phone or Google Calendar. You can also print one out or apply it to a planner. 

Go down through your list.

On each due date, write the name of the bill. Include the minimum payment or the average payment. 

Do this for every bill you pay every month. 

Then stop. You’ve completed steps I, II,III! Way to go!

Stay tuned. In step IV, I’m going to show you how to give yourself an extra 3-4 paydays a year. You won’t need to work any extra. 

Look forward to seeing y’all next time.

Christmas mornings with adult children is different. And it’s actually pretty amazing. Life is all about perspective and the story you tell yourself. I learned from the Minimalists this tool. I had planned to get on a flight to Boise. I wanted to spend Christmas morning with my grandson and our other kids. Instead, I’m sitting at a computer alone. The rest of my family sleeps. After catching COVID, I was uncertain if my husband would get it too. I also didn’t know if I would be negative by Christmas Eve. As a result, we canceled all our plans to get our refunds. 

I’m grateful for this turn of events. We at least got to have Christmas Eve with our local children because I tested Negative. I’m grateful we had the good sense to cancel early and have that money to visit at a later time. It feels like I have 5 extra days. I can do whatever I want. We were supposed to be gone for a week. The possibilities are endless. 

I think there is great value in having space for feelings. But there is power in not staying in the negative or low level feelings of sadness, loneliness, or anger. If there was something that being poor taught me it was how to move on. When you’re working to keep your lights on you don’t have time to feel much less take time to grieve. If you reach for the positive enough it starts to become second nature. 

No matter where you are this holiday season you are an empowered and valuable person. Take the time to shift the perspective if you find yourself in sadness. I’m not saying don’t feel the pain, I’m saying don’t stay there. We need you and your unique talents in this world.