Debt-Free Forever Gail Vaz-Oxlade (best ereader for epub TXT) 📖

$20 and your child plans to save 50¢ a week, it would be a total of 40 weeks.

3.Draw 40 small boxes on the page172ith the picture on it. You can label each box 50¢.

4.Each week, as your child sets aside the 50¢ she’s saving, she gets to check off one of her boxes.

Kids respond well to the chart because it is a visual representation of their progress. As they check off each box, it gets easier and easier to stay focused because they’re building momentum. Once they’re within striking distance of their goal, they may even decide to add an extra dime or two each week to get them to the end even more quickly.

Charity drives use a version of this when they draw what looks like a big thermometer and fill in the amount they’ve raised toward their total goal, raising the mercury each time they get another contribution.

And you can do the same thing with your goals.

Instead of leaving the goals as an abstract concept, something that’s easily pushed aside by the smell of coffee or the anticipation of showing off a new purse, make your goal as concrete as possible. Part of your success in moving from impulse buying to planned spending will depend on your ability to “see” the progress you are making toward that family vacation, the new big-screen TV, or a new computer.

Once you’ve created your Goal Chart, display it prominently so you can watch the progress you’re making each day. Stick the chart on your fridge, on the wall beside your desk, or on your bathroom mirror. Each time you move closer to your goal, give yourself a check mark, colour in a box, or highlight your achievement in some way so that you get the satisfaction of momentum. And if you’re focused on your goal, you won’t feel deprived when you choose to forego an impulse purchase to get closer to your goal. You’ll feel smart.

GAIL’S TIPS

1.Take your net pay and divide it by the number of hours you work a year. I find dividing by 40 (for hours worked in a week) and then by 50 (for weeks worked in a year) works great. This is your Net Hourly Income.

2.Calculate your monthly essential expenses. Multiply that number by 12 and divide it by 40 and then by 50. This is your essential-expenses hourly cost.

3.Subtract your essential-expenses hourly cost from your net hourly income. You’re left with your Hourly Disposable income (HDI).

Whenever you’re trying to decide whether a purchase is really worth it, divide the purchase price by your HDI to see how many hours you’ll have to work to pay for the item. Of course, you’d be a maniac to do this every time you’re considering buying something. C’mon, you don’t want to be obsessive or anything. But if you give even a second’s thought to the question, “Should i?” when it comes to buying something, do the HDI calculation and see just how much of your life’s energy you’ll have to swap for the new Stuff. if it doesn’t seem worth it to you, stick the money you would have spent in your savings account.

Strategy 4: Every Dollar Counts

You’re standing in the bookstore holding a $25 copy of a book you’ve been dying to read when the woman next to you says, “I saw it just down the street for $18.” Would you head off to the store that’s 15 minutes away to save $7 off the price of that book?

I would. The walk would be good for me, and I just can’t pass up a good book.

Okay, let’s say you’ve done your research and you can get exactly the new computer you want for $1,289. Off you head to the store. As you are standing in line to buy your new computer, the man beside you turns to you and says, “That exact computer is on sale down the street for $1,282.” Would you take the 15-minute walk to save $7?

If you said “yes” to my example of the book that was $25, down to $18, but said “no” to the computer alternative, my next question is “why?”

After all, $7 is $7, whether it represents a 28% savings or a less-than-1% savings, it’s still $7 and gets you $7 closer to your goal, whatever that may be. If you’re focusing on the percentage you’re saving, you lose track of the value of the dollars themselves. It’s all very nice to save 50%, but a buck is a buck, whichever way you cut it. And getting $1, $10, $100, $1,000, or $10,000 closer to your dream of owning your own home, being debt-free, or taking that family vacation is the point, so the relative savings isn’t important. Counting every dollar is!

Strategy 5: Swap Bad Habits for Good Ones

One of the challenges I give some of the families I work with is to find a way to swap bad habits for good ones. It’s a great challenge because it makes people both think and act. And since they’re usually fighting Gremlins on the bad-habit front, they’re grateful when I make ‘em stop.

Swapping bad habits for good ones works because if you just take away something, you feel a loss and the loss is all you can think about. But if you substitute something else for what you’re eliminating, then you’ve moved from “loss” to “change.”

If your socializing is costing a ton of money because you meet in bars, over dinner in restaurants, or at expensive outings, you can substitute a less-expensive, equally as satisfying social encounter. Instead of meeting in the pub on Friday night, have a Friday game night with your friends. Each week you decide what your next week’s location, game, and food theme will be, and then you all chip in. If it’s taco night, someone brings the cheese, someone else the veggies, someone else the salsa and shells. That’s no more expensive (except for the gas) than having dinner at