If you are reading this, you are most likely searching for a way to gain control of your finances. The best way to do this is to create a monthly budget and sticking to it. A sound budget is an essential tool for managing money, one that has allowed me to survive even on limited funds. One of the most important things that I do every month is organise my monthly budget, this has allowed me to systematically meet all expenses, grow my savings, and eliminate debt.

I usually map out my budget for the upcoming month close to the end of the month. This will prepare me with my expenditures in the coming month. It’s not a good idea to produce a budget after getting paid because, too often, that flush feeling of getting a paycheck results to unessential and spontaneous spending before the paycheck ever reaches the bank.

Managing my personal budget includes outlining all the things that must be paid that month like mortgage/rent, utility bills, and other essentials like insurance, car loan repayment, transportation costs, and phone. These are the crucial things that I must pay to keep a comfortable roof over my head. I like to pad these requirements to create “money back” after paying the bills and, if costs increase circumstantially, I’m always covered.

Next, my budget is subjected to a list of discretionary things I need to cover but could live without if absolutely unavoidable. An example are monthly savings deposits, credit card repayments and donations. These things are also essential, but in case of emergency I could put them off for a short time. By paying credit card companies the maximum instead of the minimum, I keep my credit score high and my debt low.

My budget will not include the cost of food, clothing, or entertainment. Ultimately, these items get covered by what’s left in the budget. Some months involve lots of beans and rice, slow-cooker meals, free or cheap entertainment, and only one inexpensive piece of clothing . This strategy of overseeing my monthly budget has worked out very well over the long term as long as I honor it conscientiously.

Handling my household budget can often be very challenging, not handling it properly can put me in to further debt before I realise it. The benefits from taking care of my budget correctly helps me save money and relieve some stress I have concerning my debt.

There are many things that I have in my life that regulate me financially, my household budget is the greatest influence. There are not a lot of people these days who have learned how to budget and this can result in many financial issues, including debt. One reason why so many people do not create a budget is because many of us think it is too difficult. But in actuality, devising a budget does not have to be troublesome at all; it is as easy as writing down our spending and updating it each month. By doing this, we do not spend more than we have.

It is critical for me to keep in mind that my budget is just my program for my monthly spending. Just like any plan, my budget does call for me to oversee it to keep it running correctly. The first step in devising my budget is organizing the information that I need in it. I monitor my expenses like car payments, utilities, car insurance policy, living expenses, etc. If I do not coordinate my budget, I can easy find myself in debt. It is vital for me to know exactly what I need on expenditures each month.

I see two benefits with maintaining with my finances through my budget. First of all, I am able to save money on unnecessary spending. And secondly, I can keep myself from going into unnecessary debt. When I spend my money wisely, I buy only things that are required and I free up money that I can use on something that I want or can save it. With the spare cash I am able to save, I have the option of putting it aside and investing.

Most call me a uniter not a divider, for no reason other than setting people up is a my natural job. I highly endorse joining Great Expectations. Can’t be denied, cupid strikes without notice. Great singles networks, like Great Expectations Milwaukee (one of the best), meet and get to know people and their dating preferences. Matchmakers orchestrate effective introductions like a mutual friend, for a personalized dating experience. It’s a little specialization delivering powerful payoffs by impacting happy lives till “death do us part”.

I have dispensed dating recommendations in my facebook group and for friends and clients. My latest post is not rehashed advice. Tips like: Pay attention to conversational tone, be diplomatic, try not to be uncomfortable, be honest and (this is key) steer clear of contrasting the people you date on a shopping list. Get to know someone at your own pace! Invite spontanaity in any situation. Another important one: do not try to pass as anything is not you. Suppose the relation develops into something longer-term, then your partner will be disappointed. My number one dating tip: I’ve always recommended Great Expectations. It’s no secret that dating advice is my profession I fine-tuned every day for as long as I remember. My great successes with singles around me created my brand of sorts. My coupled-up friends fill my life.

Take for instance Julie and Daniel plus their 4 kids. Take a stab at who pulled them to eachother at an improv class five years ago, and the success is hard to argue with. Gregory and Caroline also fell for eachother at first sight because I put them at the same table on a blind date with my late husband’s family. And of course my soririty sister Ashley and her companion. They say their vowes in Vegas in early August. These two love birds built their love via Great Expectations, from my endorsement.

So I have kept busy and quite productive at that! Tho I also regret it a little, as I’ve been perfecting matching up single friends realize the way to a relationship, I looked past my own dating situation. Do you imagine goes down when the matchmaker searches for a little serendipity? I turn to Great Expectations Milwaukee, because if one is you’re a pro it raises expectations. Perhaps this is the feeling that has kept me from really getting serious about dating. More than most, I know it’s not good to go through this world without companionship. So here I am, setting out on a dating adventure by having.

Wendy Pacheco

Just Call Me Matchmaker

When you start up a business you will want to look at all of your resources that you have available. So many times when people start up a business they look at what family members are available and what there skills are, and this is a great approach to it. Sometimes you might have a brother who is an expert in marketing and can help you and at the same time help himself, you both win, and when you both win everyone is happy. Family is awesome, they say that family is thicker than water, and it is. It does not only have to be with business, there is also many other ways that you can create win wins with family. If you and your brother both have many kids, then you can watch each others kids while taking your wives out for an amazing dinner and movie. You can also be there no matter what for each other. If something ever happens you know that your family will be there and never let you miss a beat, they will back you up and support you until you can get back on your feet. It is such a positive and helpful attribute in life to stay close to your family.

Men have consistently been self sensitive about being bald, nonetheless these days being bald is fast becoming a fashion fad. More of today’s male movie stars are sporting bald heads. People may find many of the trendiest younger stars with bald heads, by choice. There are also abounding elder celebrities that are not hiding up the reality that they are becoming bald. All of these crazes are awesome for men, that don’t need to worry about looking bald. The other excellent advice for men that are losing their hair, is that there are currently lots of advanced hair solutions, then ever before.

Should you need inspiration that being bald is accepted just look at Vin Diesel, Howie Mandel, Bruce Willis and Andre Agassi. All the above men are some of the most fashionable men in USA, & they are all bald. Whether bald by decision or by nature, baldness could make one look extremely acclaimed and trendy. When men are bald and confident, they are particularly appealing. Just like any fashion, being bald is all about attitude. When you are bald you need to own a positive attitude, then you can have no doubt attracting girls.

If you are going bald, but you are not yet confident with your brand-new look, there are many therapies available. Countless hair loss treatments, help you grow back your own natural hair. When you grow back your own hair, it can look & feel absolutely natural. Growing back your own hair will help you look & feel younger, and can often help you feel more confidant. Growing back your own hair is an awesome benefit, because you can continue to look like yourself, simply younger.

If growing your own hair again is not an option, there are of course many advanced hair cures that will aid you get a full head of hair back. No matter what kind of baldness issues you are experiencing, rest assured that there is a hair loss therapy that will apply for you. Some of the advanced hair cures are more complex, & it will take a longer period before you enjoy a full head of hair. Lots of men worry, about their hair looking natural after they use all these advanced hair therapies. Be sure to speak to a doctor or the person doing the hair treatments, to make sure you absolutely understand the results.

The most fundamental thing about hair loss, is that you feel natural and comfortable. If you feel charming bald, do not worry about getting hair loss treatments. If you are self conscious about your thinning hair, you are not alone. If you do your investigation, & get the very best hair loss treatment for you, you’re sure to feel great with your hair. Get expert advice in hair loss treatments from Advanced Hair Studio.

Firstly, You couldn’t describe me as downright happy being picky and not crack a smile. However, I’m not uncomfortable in that way, either. I merely mention it here as a delicious little tidbit foreshadowing what I will shortly explain in grand style.

This time last week yours truly met for coffee with Stacey, thinking of buying a membership to Dallas Personals site. Today, I sit to the blogosphere as a happy member of the matchmaking service. No kidding, and I almost don’t believe it myself! It’s full of fun, attractive people! If you have read my old blog, perhaps you’re thinkin’, “Stop blabbering and tell me about it already.”

Here’s how it went down, I saw this Great Expectations Dating site and felt encouraged. They’re for the serious singles who care enough to know dating isn’t a game.

Because in all honesty I’d never enjoyed or even tolerated whatever it is that a lot of singles have named “Dating.” I heard it all the time. Each night people pester, “Are you seeing somebody?” and “Just get out there and date him!”

“Ugh, and double ugh.” I reply, smiling ear to ear. “Take a look around, I’m not missing much.”

“Don’t be silly,” they say. “You haven’t dated in a year, you wouldn’t know!”

Thankfully, that’s my friend (she’s the best) hah! Stacey McCarthy. She offers common sense to my mind to set me straight. People are always there for fresh advice. Can’t argue with that, and I joined.

Back to the theme of this post. As I selected from hundreds of quality singles for my first Great Expectations date, a revelation hit me deep. Over the last year, I hadn’t held the greatest of figurative great expectations for dating in the serendipitous path of being alive. Single life has its perks, only when you get out there and have fun. Having great expectations does wonders on a cynics social life.

–Monica Rodriguez

There was a little girl, born into a world of alcohol and
violence. There was neglect, poverty, gossip and betrayal. The
negative emotions all ran rampant. She saw her father beat her
mother in the head with a hammer. She saw her father cut her
mother. She was dragged from one beer joint to the other,
sleeping in the car while her mother drank and partied. She
witnessed many traumatizing fights between her father and her
mother. The people she called to for help would tell her to
“just let them fight.” When she became a teenager, a neighbor
she pleaded to for help grabbed at her breasts as they were
heading to her house so he could “help.” One time, even a
policeman grabbed her sister’s breasts as she begged him to come
and stop their parents from fighting.

She remembers distinctly at about the age of three or so lying
under her sister’s crib listening to her baby-chatter. She
wondered at how she could be happy. Their first baby doll was an
old-time, glass Pepsi bottle with a doll’s head on it. They
played with it in an empty room of their poorly-furnished house
where the early-morning sun streaked through the window.

She’s racked her brain and can remember only one meal at that
house: birds her father had caught in a trap and cooked in rice.
She remembers the table and the chairs in that big kitchen, but
other than the birds, there’s no memory of meal times at all.
What she remembers most is being hungry. Once, she drank ketchup
to satisfy her hunger pangs. Another time, there was only a
brown liquidy steak sauce — very hard to stomach by itself.

Somehow they got a set of Childcraft books. It was her first
venture into how good the world could be. She spent many hours
looking at the pictures and loving the colors, the art, and the
creativeness. She always raised her hand when it was art time at
school. She’d put on her little smock and paint. She sensed that
her teacher knew of her love of painting because she let her
paint at the lone easel more often than not. She flushed her
dollar for the week’s lunch down the commode in the school
bathroom just because the teacher didn’t call her name to come
up and pay. People terrified her. She stayed away from them.
What they might do was extremely frightening to her. All the
people she had known so far were out of control. Her escape was
in reading. She fostered a love of reading and learning.

By her seventeenth year, she had an angry and sullen
personality. Ask her, and she’ll tell you that she believes
depression had set in before she was one. There was no teaching
of how to live, to be, to act. There was no nurturing, no chats
by the fireside, and very few family meals together. She had
ambition, but no skills in discipline, no skills in life. She
was lost. At 20, married, and with no idea of what to do, she
desperately started to read books on self-help. A lot of it was
confusing, and made her feel worse. But she continued with her
struggle to find the secret to life and the way to happiness and
joy.

It’s been a long struggle. Now, I’m 48. With proper parenting, I
would be where I am now much, much sooner. But, there’s no more
confusion from the hurt little girl. The majority of the puzzle
pieces have come together. The book that most profoundly changed
my life is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I have
it on audiocassette. Napoleon Hill’s voice has an endearingly
old-fashioned quality without a hint of ego. No, it’s not a book
about greed or of succeeding at the expense of others. It’s a
book about being the best you that you can be. I highly
recommend it. But, beware: the time must be right for you to
receive its teachings. You must be ready to be the person you
want to be. You must be ready to believe.

A side note: I now feel nothing but love and compassion for my
parents. They were lost as well. How do parents show you the way
when they don’t know the way themselves? My father has passed
on, but not before I realized that he was a scared little boy
who had never gotten over his own childhood of even worse abuse.
Also, through it all, there still was love. In looking back, I
feel immense gratitude that the love was there. For some
children, there is no love — only horror. But, that’s another
story.

I was watching an episode of the Home and Garden show “NEAT”,
which is a show where a crew comes in to help clutterbugs
reorganize and systematize their homes. There is major change
going on for the homeowners, including a lot of tossing out,
giving away and rearranging of their home and life.

I turned to Rob, my life partner and even though I am an Amiable
personality type which means I am into teamwork and everyone
getting along, I said “If I was honest with myself, I think I
would turn into Linda Blair’s possessed character from the
Exorcist if people started trying to force me into so much
change.”

Amiables, by tradition, do not adapt as well to change, but all
personalities if they are not consciously aware of it or do not
have positive, accepting ways of handling it, will go into
resistance when someone imposes change on them. Even if the
other person is including the first person in the
decision-making process for the change, the simple fact that the
other person initiated the change is enough to throw the first
person into resistance.

This is a major power struggle is that hidden in most
relationships that result in one person feeling threatened or
encroached upon by the change and the other person feeling
attacked or even abandoned because the first person is resisting
their plans.

In an article prepared by the City of Winnipeg Employee
Assistance Program, 1992. They have the following to say about
change:

“Change is always a new opportunity and a loss of the familiar.

Change is a shift in what is required, anticipated and valued,
so we must move differently and that requires energy… change
requires energy.

Expect a variety of reactions to big changes. If you are not
part of what’s making the change happen, you may feel threatened
and react automatically with anger, blaming, fear or some other
style. What’s your style?

Slow-to-be- realized- changes may be ever more threatening, and
so you put the idea of what’s happening out of your mind as much
as possible. This is like the death of someone close to you,
that you don’t want to face. Expect the three stages of
Resisting the Change, Accepting the Transition, and Opening up
to a New Beginning.

Resisting is about denial, then anger, and then bargaining
urgently to keep the old ways.

Accepting Transition is to first appreciate, and then get upset
over what is being lost (mourning). Then we can accept the task
of getting along without. Naturally, there is a time “in
between” when we feel lost and without motivation or direction.

Finally, after some experimentation, we can become enthusiastic
about some New Beginning.

It all takes time. Be aware of what you are up to, you can take
care of yourself.”

Now instead of trying to change the stages, it is more important
to just be aware of them. You can then gently flow through the
stages without further resistance or without being down on
yourself for reacting a certain way. It is also important for
your partner to understand the stages too so they know not to
take it personally and not be in resistance to you either.

I was unconsciously going through the stages when Rob and I were
doing some major renovations in our house. I was trying not to
resist and feeling bad because I felt like I was being a stick
in the mud, although I was trying not to. Once I realized the
stages though, it really helped by just allowing the stages, and
it became easier and easier to adapt to change.

In addition to accepting the stages, here are few positive
beliefs to keep in mind about changes:

* Change is a chance for new opportunities and to learn new
things.

* There is nothing to feel bad about if there is something that
you need to change about yourself. You are perfect to begin
with, if you find out the reality about yourself and that there
is something you need to change, you are actually rediscovering
your true self that has been lost during your life experiences.

Most people have no idea where their money goes. They earn it and they spend it.

That’s fine if you want to live from week to week and are not concerned about your financial future. However if you want to increase your wealth and have more options, action needs to be taken by you otherwise you could end up like most people further down the track, totally dependant on a pension.

Karen’s Story

Karen is the Marketing Manager for a well-known organisation. She’s 39 yrs old, single and earns over $80k a year. She is paying off a mortgage and that’s all the debt she has.

Karen buys whatever she likes and says she has more than enough money for her lifestyle…or so she thought. And that’s a very important point - Karen ‘thought’ she had plenty of money to splash around yet she had no real idea of where it went.

She was at the stage where she wanted to achieve more in her life including taking charge of her financial future.

One of the exercises I gave her to do was to sort all her financial statements - visa card, bank accounts and any cash receipts and list her income and expenditure under specific headings ie: loans, clothing, utilities, food etc. Karen recorded everything that occurred for the past 6 months . She nearly fainted when she saw how much money she had wasted and how much she was overspending! She was going backwards fast and only realised it by doing this simple exercise.

In the past Karen hadn’t put a high priority on her financial well-being as it was just too hard. Being a marketing manager, her life was busy at work and she had a hectic social life. She didn’t want to bother doing something that wasn’t exciting like working on her financial future. After all, she had a well-paid job, didn’t she?

Karen has now come to her senses and knows her true financial situation. If she lost her job, financially she couldn’t afford to be off work for more than a month. She realises that she is responsible for her future.

The area of wealth creation hadn’t been of great interest to Karen in the past. Now that she was undertaking coaching, she was serious to making a change. Prior to writing down where her money was going, Karen was completely closed to any suggestion to read more about how she can accelerate her wealth (or lack of it), so I didn’t pursue this with her. Her attitude had now changed so she was ready and willing to move to the next step.

The next move…I referred Karen to an organisation who would look at her total financial picture and be able to recommend what she could do. The reason I chose these people is because they take a holistic approach to wealth creation. They look at every aspect and provide an on-going education as well as a hand-holding service.

We met after her first session and Karen said she nearly had a heart attack at the meeting. She realised how much money she had been giving away to the tax office. Being on such a high income she was being taxed 47c for every dollar earned. She now realised that by making some small changes she could keep this money and have investments that over time would accelerate her financial situation dramatically.

She now had enough knowledge to make decisions and take actions that could make her financially independent over the next few years. Karen couldn’t believe how simple it was!

Your Financial Future - Who’s Responsibility?

Unfortunately you cannot leave your financial well-being in the hands of anyone else except yourself.

Of course, you can seek advice from professionals in that field like accountants and financial planners; however, it really is up to you to lead the way …to be proactive!

Having attended many seminars, spoken to wealthy people and to the financial professionals (many of whom aren’t independently wealthy themselves), and read many books on the topic of wealth creation, I have found you cannot rely on any one person to delegate your financial affairs to. You need to be proactive and take control of your own life.

How to Take Control of Your Financial Future

Get your finances in order first: You need to know what you spend, what you earn, how much you owe and how much you own…Not in your head but in writing. What you think your situation is and what is reality, will more than likely be two totally different scenarios.

If you know where you are right now you can then seek out appropriate solutions to your specific financial needs.

How to Get Started

Speak with your accountant on the best way to set up your recording system.

Ask them how you can increase your wealth.

Ask your accountant and/or your financial advisor how they have created their wealth. What do they invest in?

Talk to people who are wealthy. Ask them how they accumulated their wealth.

Question everything.

Read books and attend seminars on wealth creation…the more informed you are the easier it is to make sound decisions.

Don’t believe everything you hear, see and read, particularly if the person advising you reaps financial benefit from you accepting their advice.

Only listen to people who “have rungs on the ladder”.

Once you’ve have done some research (and this can happen in a matter of days or weeks, depending on your efforts) then:

Take action

The Final Word

Looking after your financial well-being should be a top priority. It’s about having choices in your life. Do you really want to work from dawn to dusk to support the lifestyle you and your family have become accustomed to? Wouldn’t it be great to go to work because you want to, not because you have to?

If financial freedom is something you want in the not too distant future (and it doesn’t happen overnight), you have to take action sometime… like right now!

About The Author

Lorraine specialises in working with businesspeople showing them how to dramatically boost their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess in their lives and have more time for enjoying their life. www.office-organiser.com.au, lorraine@office-organiser.com.au