Take Off the Rose-Colored Glasses and Fire PollyAnna!

© Rhoberta Shaler, PhD
www.TamingTenseTimes.com

The holidays are over. The credit card bills are arriving. The economy has not changed, and gas prices are increasing. Tense? Maybe, just a little?

Magic is elusive. And, the tooth fairy just isn’t making house calls leaving cash surprises. Guess we’ll have to opt for what’s left: reality.

First steps: throw away the rose-colored glasses and give up our friend, PollyAnna. There are a few areas of life that really need some attention when the stuff seems to be hitting the fan: finances, relationships, work, and beliefs and values. And, in the opposite order! T

QUICK IDEAS TO GET STARTED: Believe me, I’ve been doing them, so, I know the hesitation you mioght feel, or the urgent desire to visit your long-lost friend.

FINANCES: Grab the check book, the bank statements and the wallet and sit down with a nice hot cup of something soothing because it’s going to be a bit of a ride. We don’t need to be financially astute to add and subtract. It’s not too difficult to interpret the minus sign in front of a bank balance, is it? We simply have to be honest, really honest with ourselves.

Find out how much money you have in every possible location. Do this first so that you know your starting point.

Bite the bullet and find out exactly what you owe. I keep a spreadsheet on each credit card to keep me aware of the effects of buying and paying. Usually not a comforting thing because it’s SO easy to buy, isn’t it? Just seeing it all in print is both sobering and helpful.

Now, decide how you are going to marry these two: the money and the debt. No matter how small the payment, the balance will go down if you don’t use the card. Strange, but that’s the way it works.

Handle the money situation. Do not avoid it, even though it would be so lovely.

They say…whomever “they” is…that it we teach what we need to learn. So, I’m going to go and work on those spreadsheets and continue with more ideas in the next post.

(How about writing a comment on this blog entry and let us know when you’ve done the finance bit? It would be more fun to walk through this together, wouldn’t it? )

Happy New Year!
Rhoberta