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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Ways we JUSTIFY Adding on New Debt-

1 To rectify our past mistakes.

(Example: You got in a fender bender by not paying attention and you need to fix your bumper.)

2  To reward ourselves.

(Example: You’ve lost weight so you deserve to buy a new outfit.)

3  To get rid of the old debt.

(Example: Taking out a second mortgage to pay off credit cards.)

As soon as we JUSTIFY it, we take on new debt. This causes more stress and more financial consequences. For relief, we JUSTIFY adding on more debt. The more we do it, the more problems result and the more we seek relief from the problems.

When we catch ourselves explaining, rationalizing, defending, or making excuses why we need to add new debt, we’re caught in the debt cycle.

Click here for a FREE MP3 download of a live recording of Vickie Champion’s Avoid the Money Madness! Workshop.

This hard-working mother of four children felt shame that she couldn’t give her children more. So we poured over her budget and I learned that every night she was buying fast food for dinner.

Clearly she was nickel and diming her money away. And the habit was costly in other ways. She was overweight and two of her children also were getting chubby. Easy fix, right? Tell the mother to stop the nightly drive-thru runs. But she worked long hours and coming home to cook – her least favorite thing to do –wasn’t likely something she would stick with very long.

Instead, we returned to the issue of what she wanted her money to do for her: provide more for her children. I asked if she had millions of dollars what would she do for her kids. With no hesitation she answered, “Take them to Disneyland.”

I suggested she call a family meeting and ask her kids if they had a choice between Disneyland and eating fast food every night which they would choose. They chose Disneyland, which meant that everyone, including the 4-year-old, was responsible for saving for it.

Each family member, including her husband, was responsible for cooking one dinner a week. You realize for the two younger kids, that meant many nights of  cooking peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese.

Whatever was leftover from their food budget that week was put in a piggy bank until they had what they needed.

Eight months later, the family went to Disneyland.

Here’s Some of the Benefits of Going for Their Dream…

Everyone in the family…

• Learned how to budget and save for what they wanted.
• Worked as a team.
• Bonded with each other over a common goal.
• Learned how to accept responsibility.
• Ate healthier and avoided gaining more weight.
• Built their self-esteem.
• Realized dreams can come true.

So often we put ourselves on auto pilot and nickel and dime our money away. Yet, if we would go for our dreams, we would benefit on so many levels.

Learn more about mindful spending, dream budgeting and taking your finances off auto pilot by clicking here for a FREE recording of Vickie Champion’s Avoid the Money Madness! Workshop.

Here’s what I NOW know about weekly allowances:

Why EVERYONE Needs a Weekly Allowance:

1. Let’s us know exactly how much money is going out.
2. Breaks the mindless habit of using ATMs & Debit Cards.
3. Makes us think long term instead of getting a quick fix.
4. Teaches us and our kids how to manage money.
5. For couples, it keeps both equal so that one is not spending more than the other.
6. Makes budgeting so much easier and more accurate by not having to track the little purchases.
7. Saves a lot of money.
8. Helps us achieve our dreams.

Most of us are now in the process of learning how to manage money the hard way like I did. Don’t waste anymore time! Get EVERYONE in your household on a weekly allowance.

For more information on our relationship with money, see Vickie Champion’s articles in the About Money Issues section of her website.

• Having financial troubles
• Avoiding their money problems
• Having a hard time sleeping at night over money issues
• Struggling to figure out what to do next
• Feeling hopeless

Click here for a FREE MP3 download of a live recording of Vickie’s Avoid the Money Madness! 5 Ways to Take the Scare Out of Your Financial Situation Workshop.

Here are a Few of the Many Advantages of NOT Hiring a Life Coach-

• You can AVOID doing something about your problems, thinking day after day, “Tomorrow will be better.” Lately, I think most people who have money issues are doing this.
• You can continue believing sleepless nights, fighting with your spouse, family and friends, feeling guilty and being afraid all the time are NORMAL.
• You can treat your friends to long CONVERSATIONS about your problems.
• You can keep yourself USEFUL by putting out one fire after another.
• You can appear SELF-RELIANT by trying to break your old patterns and solve problems with no one else’s help.
• You can continue to ENVY the lives of others.
• You can SAVE money! And you can take satisfaction in this, even if does mean sacrificing a quality of life and spending several stressful years of hard work.

If these advantages sound appealing, DO NOT hire a life coach. There’s a good chance, they will ruin this for you. A good life coach has a tendency to help you become self-aware, increase your self-respect, end your self-sacrifice, give you self-confidence and build your self-esteem.

If these advantages don’t appeal to you, visit Vickie’s Individual Coaching section on her website.