Planning Ahead
|
*
Now, when your money is all gone you have several options.
Begging is the hardest work in the world for most of us and for me in particular. It is especially hard on the psyche as it soon gets sick, not to mention disgusted — and before long you’ll be disgusted with yourself too. Try not to beg; it does not become thee. Plan ahead, save a head. Borrowing is not quite as traumatic as begging. Pawn Shops urge you to borrow money. Credit Card Companies grin when you borrow money, Banks will loan money to you if your credit score doesn’t make them frown. Relatives will loan money to you if the situation is desperate or they love you too much to care what you’re doing to yourself. There are very few instances when borrowing makes sound economic sense. Making sure this predicament doesn’t happen again requires maturity and planning. I can only help you with the planning. See your mother about finding maturity. The first thing we want to do is find out what we need to plan for. Marleen has a shopping list that goes on the side of the refrigerator. When you run out of something, you write it down. That logic is simple enough, if you have run out of something you must be using it and consequently you will probably need some more of it someday. Unfortunately, Marleen leaves that list on the refrigerator instead of taking it with her every time she leaves the house. (She is frequently called upon to haul people less fortunate hither, thither and yon so she does leave the house frequently. Then there is the little matter of visiting family so the car hardly ever sits still for more than 24 hours at a stretch.) Subsequently she finds herself sailing right by the supermarket and coming back the next day at a cost of 23 cents a mile, or going into the supermarket with a prayer that she remembers everything on her list — and usually buying a lot more than was on the list and maybe missing a lot that was on the list — thus having to come back. So, after seeing these little catastrophes happen to you too often you finally realize how much better off you will be if you take that list with you every time you leave the house; I keep mine right in my front shirt pocket. My friends that gift me with a shirt or two every year are told to never buy a shirt for me that does not have a front pocket. Sure enough, Marleen bought a shirt for me that had four pockets. It is my favorite shirt. My list, as you will see listed below, is much longer than most people’s grocery list. That’s because I can’t afford to waste one cent. The first thing on the list is marked GROCERIES. That term means: food stuffs and it also means items of any sort that are needed immediately or shortly thereafter. Grocery list: hoe, car fuel, carrots, apples, fur coat, crackers, real charcoal, water, waffle iron. Water is a necessity for me because I live high on a mountain top where the banner of survival is unfurled. The fur coat I will be needing shortly because winters can be harsh and unforgiving of fools and lack of planning. They cost less now than when fools wake up and realize they need one right now. If some duty takes me to town I can pick up some of these things along the way and that saves me making a trip that costs me $3.00 to make. A $3.00 bill saved now is a $3.00 bill I can spend later. That’s almost as good as spending money twice.
Now that I am older and wiser I don’t have nearly as many
irresistible urges to spend money as I did last week. When they
do come upon me I am prepared to channel them so that instead of
buying foolish items that I have a need not of I can hunt for
bargains among the essentials that I soon shall need. Naturally
I have a list for that, too. When I have got to spend money I can spend it on these staples and the evils of splurging are at least partially contained. Yard sales and “incredible bargains stores” can further channel — or even eliminate — your need to spend money. Things like waffle irons, toasters, shirts, shoes, coats can be bought for a mere fraction of their retail price at yard sales and usually work just as good, if not better, than what you would have bought new in the store. If I have so much money that my need to spend money can’t be satisfied with merely purchasing essentials then I have — you guessed it — another list.
General: put fiber boxes in pickup, tied not – for use where
loose ends meet. You probably noticed that everything on that list is something to do. That’s because I usually live on less than $100 per month. Yes, that includes groceries. That figure does not include things like printers, computers, servers, Internet access as these are all business expenses. Planning ahead for things to do will help you
There is an easy way to make this list that will save you money, time and headaches. That is by looking backwards. Yes, that means that planning ahead is done best by looking backwards. For example, looking back, what is the one thing you should make sure you do in the first week of every month? “Pay Bills.” Hey, that’s right. You’re getting the nod on this game. But, let’s do some in depth research. Get out your last three or four bank statements and see what bills you paid in the first week, which ones in the second week, and so forth. Put these on your First Week List of things to do. You might even list them in the order of their importance as I have done.
Week 1
Week 2 Week 3 Phone bill, buy groceries Week 4 etc.. Week 5 Bonus, make the most of it, plan ahead. Did you discover in week three that something should have been done in week one? Update week one to include that item or task so that you’ll take care of it from now on at the proper time. Now, let’s do the same thing for the months of the year. January: vacation time, Tina’s birthday — etc. February spray for bugs
March
April May make sure fans are working, air conditioning. Sassafras trees are leafing out. My temple wedding anniversary June Everybody has a birthday in June. Ginger, Jessica, Cheryl, Emily, July blackberry, dewberries are getting ripe August spray for bugs September Pears are ripe
October check heater out.
November
finish picking up Christmas presents December pick up Christmas presents, make tithing settlement appointment As you go through the year (in real life) you will again discover things that should have already been done. Before you rush to do them, put them on your list in the appropriate area so they will be taken care of when the time comes — or before. As one month ends and another month begins, check out the things that need to be done that month and put them on your weekly list, spread out so they meld right in to your daily affairs.
Now, was that so hard? Plan ahead; save a head. |
Try The Amazing pH Miracle Diet
24 Major Articles On Our Site
Will Help you understand,
and get STARTED!
