Show Me The Money - 5 Ways to Start Thinking and Behaving Differently With Money

I write about creativity, so why in the heck would I write about money?? Because, in my experience, people have a difficult time being creative if they are WORRYING about something in their life. LOTS of people worry about MONEY.

Worrying, in general, is a creativity killer and the sad fact is - the more you worry about something - the more likely it is to come true. I want you to be a thriving, creative being so, here are some tips to get you started on thinking more CREATIVELY about money.

Over the years, I've come to change my attitudes about money:

(It's okay, you can roll your eyes and tell me I'm crazy, after reading my ideas. My husband, after 17 years together is only now starting to start to agree with me on some of the ways I think about money. Hee hee.)

I believe that money needs to "flow", that I need to bring it in and send it out, if I hoard it, or spend with a "stingy" -or finite mindset-  things don't go well for me. I found myself in dire financial straights in my early twenties: barely any money for rent, lost a roommate and a broken-down car. I knew I had to change my situation and ATTITUDE about money, fast! These are some things I did that just might help you . . . .

1. DEFINE NEEDS VERSUS WANTS
Seriously. First step. As adults, our only basic physical needs are shelter, food and clothing -and medical attention/medicine if we are ill. Everything else is a want. If you're a parent, your kids will have some other absolute needs. But, that's it. When I was struggling with money this attitude-shift was the major one I had to overcome before I could get out of my hole. So many times, when I finally had some money, I'd spend it on a "want", telling myself, "I deserve this." Maybe I deserved it but, it wasn't something I needed and sent me farther into a hole!
It took many mis-steps but, I finally started by . . .
a.) Being grateful for what I did have (writing it down in my journal);
 b.) "Treasure-mapping" my wants by pulling magazine photos of things that I knew were wants and glueing them in my journal. For me, this helped me feel a little bit like I already "owned" those things. Over time, I'd flip through my journal and pull OUT the things I didn't want anymore. Funny thing was -as my money situation improved I knew I could be very specific about what I wanted and a lot of the "wants" I had came to me! And;
c.) Exploring creative ways to get my "wants" in free or inexpensive ways. Garage sales, thrift stores and the public library became my greatest resources and suddenly getting my "wants" met in this way became a game!

2. SIMPLIFY
When my car was dead, it certainly simplified my financial life. I didn't have to worry about being too broke to buy gas; pay for oil changes, etc. I even cancelled my car insurance -until the car was up and running again. I was lucky enough to live in a place with excellent public transportation and found that the time spent on the bus was time to read, learn my lines or take a nap! I also sold a lot of my extra stuff to make ends meet during that period in my life and found that there were fewer knick-knacks to dust, etc. Reduce, reuse, recycle is a good way to simplify. It has become another "game" for me to find new ways to up-cycle stuff after it's original use has passed. Or, if I'm "bored" with my house, I make a game of moving stuff around in new ways. A piece of furniture that I hated in the family room suddenly looks PERFECT in my bedroom!

3. LEARN
I read every book I could get my hands on about finances and money and flow. During this period of time I read:
The Wealthy Barber (Advice on how to handle your money, told in an easy-to-understand novel format.)
Your Money or Your Life (A look at how many HOURS of your life are spent
The Tightwad Gazette (A super-extreme treatise on paying the least amount possible for EVERYTHING)
The Millionaire Next Door (A surprising twist. The most cash-rich person in your world might be driving the most beat-up car.)

That combo of books and a TON of books on creativity got me to start thinking differently about money. I realized I didn't HAVE to think about -or behave with- my money the same way my parents had. Figuring out how I was going to deal with money so I actually HAD some became a creative exercise.

4. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
This is HUGE! Look around you. What do you own just because your friends own one, too? You'll spend a fortune keeping up with your friends. Dave Ramsey said it best:
"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."

Stop it. Just stop.

5. GIVE MONEY AWAY
Ooooh, this is the counterintuitive one. This is the one that freaks people out. (It's the one that REALLY freaked my husband out!) But, I truly believe that money needs to flow through this world. Your money supports what you're buying. If you're spending money on a product for a company whose ideals you don't believe in, you're supporting that company's ideals. But, when you give money to causes you believe in -or to help others- you are sending your money out into the world to support what YOU believe in. I tithe, I donate to causes I believe in and I volunteer my time to causes I believe in. And it all comes back to me ten-fold. Even when I was broke, I'd give away the coins in my pocket . . .

Freedom

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” -Henry David Thoreau

Argh, I read those words and my creative, artistic little soul just aches 'cause I've been there. I felt trapped and uncreative and like I couldn't do anything I wanted to do. I had to sincerely turn my head around and focus!

Those living desperate lives aren't leaders (yet) and usually are deeply in debt and cling to a lousy job situation because they don't have the freedom to take a chance.

Free people are leaders. Leaders are creative, unafraid of change, unafraid of taking a chance, unafraid to speak up when something seems wrong. Less fear is a luxury of freedom; it is one of the signs of being a leader. Singing the song in you, is true freedom.  

I read a comment in a book once that went something like this: "Deprivation is living paycheck to paycheck, I'd rather go without little 'wants' than live like that."

Are you living paycheck to paycheck? I've been THERE. I was working part-time and funds were so low that I would charge things on a credit card then go back to the store and get cash for the returned item and use it to pay bills. (Something I do NOT suggest doing, it just dug me deeper in a hole, as you can imagine.)

If you ARE living paycheck to paycheck. I'm fairly certain it impacts your work deeply. I know it did that to me. If you feel like you hate your job -whether it's the work itself, your boss, your co-workers, or the company you work for-  you feel like you're stuck because of that blankety-blank paycheck, right?

Time to get your finances on track; time to get some savings in the bank, time to get OUT of debt and back on track. The first thing you've got to do is get your head in the game. If you've been eating lunch out or buying expensive coffee, stop it -for now.

That's the first step. Reduce your spending. Separate the "wants" from the "needs". You NEED to eat lunch but you DON'T need to eat out. Take a few extra minutes and make a lunch before work; or, instead of driving out to eat, drive to the nearest grocery store on your lunch hour and buy some lunch things. A loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter in the bottom drawer of your file cabinet will be lunch for a week. Boring, sure, but do you want to create some freedom in your job? Having more cash each week will.

(I can hear you over there, saying, "My job is so awful I NEED to go out to lunch to get away for a while." Let me be honest here: you'll never break free if you think like that. Find some other way to get away. I used to go eat my home-brought lunch in my car so I could get away. Saved me a ton of money and I could listen to music while I ate.)

Here are some books that helped me:

Your Money or Your Life - I classify this book in the harsh-but-healthy category. After reading it, you might realize that the 2 hour commute each way reduces your hourly pay significantly. Some people realize that getting a lower paying job, closer to home is actually MORE cost-effective after reading this book. Some people realize that they'd be better of if one parent stayed home with the kids rather than spending an entire salary on childcare.

The Wealthy Barber - This book reads like a novel and has some really practical, down-to-earth advice on saving and paying off debt. It is told in such an easy-to-read manner that the advice goes down smoothly.

The Millionaire Next Door - This book didn't give me tips as much as it gave me a new mindset. It really made me realize that the people who "look" rich might be in debt up to their eyeballs and that the folks who seem "poor" might just be millionaires in disguise. The message of this book was driven home when one of the top ten wage earners of a company I worked for expressed real longing and regret when I shared that my husband and I had paid of our mortgage and were entirely debt-free. 

The Tightwad Gazette - SUPER extreme savers. But, for awhile I did re-use plastic ziploc bags and shop exclusively at thrift stores and garage sales. I never went as far as drinking only evaporated milk and making my own Bisquick, but it gave me TONS of ideas on how to save, especially during the very expensive baby years of our children. It also taught me to stock up on great sales.

If you are debt-free, or are working on becoming debt-free, what books/websites/programs have helped you?