Vickie's Viewpoint

As a business and life coach, a topic that comes up in coaching sessions is “when is it the right time to purchase an item.” Do we buy before we need it?

Buying Before we Need it

If we buy before we need it, there is a good chance we have a lack or fear mentality. An example of this would be a business buying a piece of equipment before offering the service to any of their clients. Or running to the grocery store and buying extra groceries for your visitors before finding out what they like to eat.

Ask yourself these questions first…

• Am I afraid I won’t be able to find it when I really do need it?
• Am I afraid I won’t be able to get it on sale?
• Am I afraid I won’t find the brand, style, color, etc. I like?
• Am I afraid I will run out?
• Am I afraid what others will think if I don’t?

Whenever we buy in a lack or fear mentality, there is an extremely good chance we wasted the money. We will rarely use the item, eventually give it away, sell it or throw it out.

Other related quizzes and articles by Vickie Champion you might be interested in are:

Quiz-Do You Need to Change Your Relationship with Money?

Five Eye-Opening Facts You Need to Know About Impulse Buying

Nickel and Diming Your Money Away

or check out the entire About Money section.

You can also contact Vickie Champion for a complimentary coaching and consulting session.

Maybe you have become really clear of the life you want for yourself and you are ready to take steps to make it happen. Or maybe you see how the life you have is eroding with each overdrawn account, lack of savings and by living paycheck to paycheck. Are you ready to get serious about ending your money problems?

Signs we’re ready to get answers and end our problems with money are when we are willing to…

1  Listen and learn from others how to get out of debt, save more, invest wisely, and earn more money.

2  Treat our relationship with money with the same respect as any other relationship and stop saying “it’s not that important.”

3  Redefine the word “budget” from a form of discipline to a “spending plan,” a tool that gives us more choices and control over how to use our money.

4 Stop complaining about our money problems and start talking about our dreams.

5 Start taking action!

Other related quizzes and articles by Vickie Champion you might be interested in are:

Quiz-Do You Need to Change Your Relationship with Money?

The Miracle Cure for Money Issues

or check out the entire About Money section.

You can also contact Vickie Champion for a complimentary coaching and consulting session.

Everywhere I go I run in to people rolling their eyes, unable to look me in the eye, and shrugging their shoulders, as if they know exactly what I’m talking about when I discuss our relationship with money.

A few years ago, The Arizona Republic (the biggest newspaper in the Phoenix metro area) did a page and a half article on me and my work. It was called “Help for the Financially Spent.” The article had illustrations, photos, testimonials, sidebars, and a quiz.

When you got publicity like that back then, they said flood gates would open and people would fly in. Well, I got only about 25 calls from it. And even though everyone confessed they had a problem and promised to come to one of my many money classes, only two ever showed up.

I admit I avoided my own issues with money in the past, and for the last ten years, I have coached countless clients through some sort of problem with money. In all this time, I have come to the surprising realization that most people just don’t want the answers to their money issues – they would rather keep dealing with the problem.

Signs You Want to Keep Your Problem with Money are When You…

1  Avoid thinking about it, justifying to yourself  “ Tomorrow will be better.”

2  Think sleepless nights, the dread of opening bills, or being afraid of asking for a raise are normal.

3  Use your money problems as a topic of conversation year after year.

4  Tell yourself and everyone else you’re going to change things, but never seem to get around to it.

5  Catch yourself constantly putting out fires around money issues.

6  Are jealous of other people’s financial situations.

So why are people so reluctant to get the answers? Why would they rather continue to cope with financial stress? Well, have you ever heard the saying “When you do the same thing over and over, why would you expect different results?” As long as we keep the same thoughts and behaviors, we’ll keep having money issues. It’s that simple. When we decide to change our thoughts and behaviors, we’ll get the answers to all our financial problems.

It’s that simple. When we decide to change our thoughts and behaviors, we’ll get the answers to all our financial problems.

Other related quizzes and articles by Vickie Champion you might be interested in are:

Quiz-Do You Need to Change Your Relationship with Money?

The Miracle Cure for Money Issues

or check out the entire About Money section.

You can also contact Vickie Champion for a complimentary coaching and consulting session.

I was thinking the other day how easy it is to put money on a pedestal and treat it as the cure for any problem. If we had money, we think, we could achieve our dreams, mend our relationships, improve our appearance, and essentially get everything we always wanted.

Here’s Some Signs We Worship Money…

When we…

• Make decisions based on how much money something costs or how much money it will make us.

• Put most, if not all, our attention on ways to get more of it.

• Set money goals — how much we want and by what date.

• Sacrifice something of value to get more money, like working overtime instead of being with loved ones.

• Let it upset us when we don’t have it.

• Use money to relieve boredom.

• Try to buy love with money.

• Use money to relieve guilt, like giving our kids things because we feel guilty for working.

• Base our self-worth on how much money we have.

Money is valuable and it may need to be respected, but it should not be revered. Money is a means to an end. It is the train into the station, but it’s not the destination. Don’t worship money and let it lead you into a lonely, unsatisfying dead end.

If you want more information from Vickie Champion about money, click here
www.VickieChampion.com/about_money.htm

Debt can be a vicious cycle. We start the debt cycle by finding a way to JUSTIFY adding on new debt. (See the previous blog to find out more details about What is a Debt Cycle?)

Here are 11 Signs You’re Stuck in a Debt Cycle…

When we…

1. Have little or no savings, investments, or assets.
2. Add new debt right after one debt is paid off.
3. Have several credit cards.
4. Borrow money to pay off credit cards.
5. Put very little money down and set up a longer repayment period to reduce the monthly amount.
6. Have charge accounts that rise steadily and rarely get paid off.
7. Use overdraft privileges on our checking account.
8. Are proud that we’ve been approved for credit.
9. Are ignorant of the terms and interest rates of our loans and credit card accounts.
10. Keep payments around the minimums.
11. Use promotions to pay off items such as furniture and dental work over time.

If most of these signs fit you, you are in the vicious debt cycle.

How to End the Debt Cycle

A good way to stop the debt cycle is to take it one day at a time. You might say to yourself, “Just for today, I will pay in cash.” Or, “Just for today, I will not use my credit or charge cards.”

Even if you can slow the debt cycle down, you’re getting somewhere. If you stay committed, it will eventually end the cycle.

To learn more about improving your relationship with money Click here for a FREE MP3 download of a live recording of Vickie Champion’s Avoid the Money Madness! Workshop.