Tag: new habits

Kickstart Your 2025 with New Habits

smbaccari

New Year, New Habits…???

Here we are at the end of another year!  Why is it that the end of the year is when most of us fall off the deep end and any bad habit we might have is now X10! You start the new year thinking you are going to eat better and be more mindful of your spending so you can save more! BUT we get to December every year and ALL that goes out the window! It’s Christmas Day 2024, and the day is not even over, heck the year is not even over, and I am ready to re-set!

I think I have had my fill of sweets and “grazing” on fun food people have delivered and or sent as a holiday gift. Don’t get me wrong, I love it ALL! That’s the problem. 😊

I am also ready to stop spending my money on all those last- minute stressed out, how did I forget about that person, gifts too. Too much stress! So today. Ok  maybe tomorrow, I will start getting back on my schedule with both food and budgeting. I am approaching 2025 with small steps each week or month to move in the right direction. I am making my to-do list, and I think I will actually LOOK at this list every couple of weeks, so that I can feel guilty IF I do not start getting things checked off this list! The list is the only thing that will keep me accountable, and it will help me work on my mental toughness. 😊 In order to keep the to-Do List reasonable and reachable, I will make the “items” attainable and not be too hard on myself if it takes a few weeks to do them.

I will stay focused on how great I am going to feel if I have one action item a month to complete and let’s say 6 or 7 get done by the end of the year and it sticks as a new positive habit! That would be amazing!

Some of the smaller items will be things like, cancelling a fairly new gym membership that’s just not working for me. I have decided I would rather stay at my old gym.

Another item on the to-do list is to investigate my husband’s cell phone rate. I think they are OVER charging him, a customer, for 10 years vs the current plans they offer existing customers. Cell phone companies lower the plan rates, BUT I think I must reach out to them and ask for that lower rate? Not really sure, but I need to check it out.  These little things you need to watch because they are banking on you NOT paying attention. It’s not nice. ☹Same goes for the Car insurance. I need to re-look at that too!

All these little things that take time and money out of our pockets because the mental energy we need to expand to get these tasks done is painful. The goal in 2025 is to push past this.

I tried this same thing last year, although I did not keep an actual list, I did make some small positive moves in the right direction that I am proud of, like increasing my 401K contributions each month and automating it. It was quick & easy and only a few % points, but it was done! I really did not notice the difference in my take home pay. I also cancelled 2 subscriptions; I was NOT using them.  

I was determined to save money on my cable and wi-fi bill too! Ok that one was very challenging and after 3 hours in the store, I lowered the bill by about $20.00 a month. My goal was $50.00 a month, which did not happen. ☹ BUT if I switched to that provider for my cell phone, I could save $80.00 a month, so I did! Hey, I was not leaving there after 3 hours of my time without a WIN!

Looking back, I guess I did make some positive changes in 2024, and maybe me and everyone else just accepts the fact that December is the one month we go off the rails a little. (key word here) and spend more money than other months, but we spend that money on family/friends and memories….  Enjoy the last week of the year and when setting 2025 goals, keep them realistic so that you can hit those goals and build on that!

Happy Holidays!!!

Week Three Money Challenge

smbaccari

We spent the last 2 weeks looking back at our bank statements over the last three months or so to see how we can FREE up $100.00-$200.00 per month. That “Found” money we put 1/2 in a retirement account we already had, or we started one. The other half we put in the “emergency fund” which hopefully is in a high yield savings account. While you were scrolling those bank statements/activities online, did anything else jump out at you? Maybe there were things like your debit card at the grocery store! Maybe there were random trips here and there that you see a credit card or debit purchase? It’s not pretty sometimes, right? Sometimes it feels like money just passes through our hands like water…. ☹

Being more mindful of WHAT you spend money on might help us NOT spend as much???  Everything we do in life in general seems to be due to a “habit”. So what if we make a habit of really thinking about IF we really need to spend money on certain things or items, vs the impulse to spend. It’s hard! I get it! Maybe we say ok this week my budget for groceries is $100.00 that’s it! I will use cash only and really plan for the week as well as plan meals out. I am assuming this for a family of four.

Maybe it requires you to go to two or three different stores over the weekend to get everything you need. Assuming the stores are not far from each other, maybe it’s worth it! I started buying things at ALDi and another main grocery store than the one at the bottom of my street. I did some rough math and saved at least $30.00 this week! I even googled some coupons and saved on things like the special dog food at the pet store! Hey, it all adds up! Little by little more money ends up in our pocket vs out of our pockets. Your challenge for this week is MIND SET! Be aware of what you’re spending money on. Do I REALLY need this? Is this product sold some place else cheaper? EX. I buy my organic spinach at BJ’s, which is the same price at my grocery store, but at BJ’s it’s three times the size and I freeze it!  Let’s only buy what we need for a few weeks and see if we have some extra cash at the end of the month before the next check shows up. That’s how we start moving in the right direction, living on LESS THAN WE MAKE!! Not saying it’s easy, but it is possible…. We do this EVERY month. This is our NEW Habit.