Going back to basics

If your family is like mine growing up, you had to make changes at the end of August. Coming from a big family, my family would have to go back to the basics every September.  Setting bedtime routines for the children, making a shower schedule in the morning, and trying to figure out how we can cope with the new school year, with all of its promises and challenges.

As September rolls around, and school is back in session, this is a fabulous time to get back on a regular schedule, with the kids bedtime, your morning routines, and your personal finances. 

Let’s use the natural process of school starting, and summer vacation ending, to evaluate what we want to accomplish in the next few months.

As you try to build routines for homework, family dinner time, fall sports, parent teacher nights at school, and an assortment of fall activities, let’s also make time to do the little things to win big with your personal finances.

First, think about your life goals and financial goals for this year and see if you made progress in those goals over the last few months.  Make sure you write down those goals and read them regularly.

Most people who write out a simple budget and implement basic strategies tend to stretch their money more when they tell their money where to go, instead of wondering where it went. 

Pick one night with your spouse to hold short weekly money meetings.  This will allow both of you to share your thoughts, feelings, worries, and dreams in a safe, and productive setting.  I know many people who once they implement a money meeting, often share how they feel like their marriage is stronger, communication is better, and they both on the same page with their finances.  The wonderful by-product of these money meetings is that their marriage is stronger, healthier, and moving in the same direction. 

Make sure you are working on building an emergency fund to help prepare you for life’s unfortunate events that seem to appear every time you start making progress.  Your emergency fund should be between $1000-$2500 to start with. 

Another component to going back to basics is finding good material, good resources, and good people to help you stay motivated, committed, and on task of reaching your goals, which you should have been reviewing weekly.  I encourage people to read at least one financial article a week.  Remember that the average millionaire is reading one non-fiction book a month, and Dan Miller says that you can be an expert in any topic by reading 3 or 4 books on that topic.

As we move into another school year, let’s use this time to make the last part of this calendar year successful in our personally, educationally, and financial lives.

Please tell me how your family plans on going back to basics financially and with every entry, you will have a chance to win a free ticket to September’s 19^th Doing Finances on Purpose Seminar in Warwick. 

   Ed Finnerty