Necessities While Enjoying Your Desires in Life

you deserve to be happy!

Sometimes, I roll down the street (in my Cadillac SRX)
thinking about how easy it is to make money. I know a lot of my friends and family find it hard to make money. However, believe me, one of the things that I have learned over 50 years on earth is that everyone in your circle makes money either at a $12 an hour or $300 an hour. Even homeless people make money when they beg others for spare change while out on the town. It doesn't matter, everyone in the United States earns money in small or large amounts.

So, what does that mean for your savings? Well, it means
"Control Thy Expenditures". That's right, very simple.
However, so many people in my circle want to have fun.
I like to have fun too! However, you have to have a "spending plan" to afford your necessities while enjoying your desires in life at the same time.

The keys are:
1. Balance
2. Discipline
3. Spending Plan

1. BALANCE:

George Clason, (who wrote the book* "The Richest Man in Babylon") teaches us how
not denying yourself the pleasures of life is very important while working hard to make money.
I agree, to reach true happiness you have to find pleasure in spending money on the things
you desire most in life and leave you fulfilled each day, week, month and year.
Otherwise, why are you working your "butt-off" to make money in the first place.

In other words, "Enjoy Spending Your Money, you earned it and you deserve to be happy!"

2. DISCIPLINE:

George Clason, also teaches us to maintain discipline while having fun.
What does that mean? Well, if you make $2,000 a month (for our example in this blog).
That means you have to plan on living and partying with $1,800 a month.
The other $200 dollars you put in an investment account of some kind and you don't
touch it until you "REALLY" need it. The key phrase here is "really need it".
If you could give yourself a pep talk every time you tried to spend that $200 dollars
it would go something like this:

"I agreed to a spending plan (a.k.a. Budget) for myself to have fun without going broke
every month. Living paycheck to paycheck is depressing me!"

Believe me, you say this to yourself enough times each week and you will start to
visualize that living off of $1,800 a month really does work for saving your money each
week, month and year. Again, this amount is an example for this blog. You should
apply the one-tenth rule to your specific monthly income model.

3. SPENDING PLAN
(nine-tenths of your earnings):

So, write down all the things you desire in life including your food, home, car, drinking
with friends, shopping for clothes/shoes, mini vacations, etc.

Then select those that are necessary and the ones that can be purchased through
nine-tenths of your income ($1,800). Anything that does not fit within the $1,800 dollars
must go unsatisfied until you can afford it. Don't regret this decision because your
greatest desire should be to save $200 dollars a month. Before you know it, a year
has gone by and you have $2,400 dollars in your savings (not bad, right?).

Believe me, this year is going by so fast, one year will speed right past your income
with or without your savings. Less stress equals some of your money in the bank for you
to fall back on, not living paycheck-to paycheck.

Go have fun people! Peace.

Jerry Flanagan
(The VIP Gypsy)