Making Ends Meet

The real trick to getting your money under control is using mind tricks. Having Yoda around would help. Unfortunately we have no way to Dagobah.

It has been common belief among economists for decades that humans, given two financial choices, will always choose the choice that is best for them. If you ever “accidentally” bought a car you will understand just how overwhelmingly stupid that statement is.

Almost every day we make financial decisions that make less than good sense. For instance- you have two choices- spend $2.00 on 20 ounces of Coke or spend $1.00 on 67 ounces? Spend $1 a night for movies for 22 nights a month or pay $17 a month for 30 nights of movies?

The reasons we make silly financial decisions is actually a whole line of study in itself- it’s called Neuroeconomics or behavioral economics. And it boils down to this- choosing a cold 20oz Coke when you are thirsty at the gas station is not the same decision as getting a warm 2 liter from the grocery story later tonight.

In other words there are lots and lots of reasons we make the decisions to spend our money the way we do.

That brings us back to the ways of the Jedi.

Just being aware that your mind and emotions can lead you down financial paths you don’t like can help you make the right decisions.

The biggest mind trick is a key part of what I teach in the Three Piece Plan.

When using the Three Piece Plan you separate out your “Everyday” spending money. This is a mind trick. Actually it’s a reverse mind trick- when your money is all in one place you think you have more to spend than you actually do– that’s the trick. And it’s what gets you into debt.

So you pull a fast one- you pull out your spending money, put it in a separate account and suddenly you don’t spend more than you should. Simple trick. Super effective.

Each of these “Ten Reasons” needs their own blog post. But if I want to get them in here for you site visitors to be able to see.

Ask me questions about them-  then once you read them you should fill out the form below to get started with your own Three Piece Plan.

1. It requires no continuous work- no entering categories, dividing up receipts, etc-   who has time for that?

2. You get paid every week. Or at least that is the way you will feel when you are on the Three Piece Plan.

3. You are doing SOMETHING.  Doing nothing won’t work. So having a simple system helps you keep your mind focused on getting out of debt and not overspending.

4. The Three Piece Plan decreases consumption. Because now you feel like you run out of money more often. So every week you find yourself eating at home, not shopping, etc. And the best part is that you don’t mind it!  You know you have money in the bank and that “pay day” is just a few days away.

5. You build an emergency fund almost automatically. Enough said!

6. You KNOW, instead of guessing and overshooting, exactly how much money you have to spend. This keeps you from bouncing checks, etc.  No more, “Whoops, I thought that check had cleared!”

7. You enjoy your money so it motivates you to spend it right. It is an UPWARD spiral. You spend less, you stress less, you worry less, you take care of things faster, etc.

8.  It is easy to adjust. If you get extra income you are not inclined to spend it so fast. If your income goes down it is easy to look at where you are and adjust accordingly.

9. Communication. It gets much easier on the Three Piece Plan. You look at how much cash you have, or how much you have in your “Today’s Money” account and know exactly what you have to spend. So it is easier to tell your spouse, “Uh, honey, we only have $25 to last two days, can you wait until Wednesday to get your hair cut?”

10. The Three Piece Plan family budget system is sooooo easy to set up. I can literally set up the basis for one in less than five minutes. It also works well for budgeting on a variable income.

Whoops, there goes another one.
And another.
And another.

The seconds just tick by. Gone. You cannot have this second back, nor the last one, and when the next 60 go by they are gone forever.

And oh boy do we ever wish we could have some moments in our life back. Those embarrassing speaking gaffs, or the time you blew your temper, or looked up just in time to rear-end someone.

But here’s a principle  for you– money is like time.

You only have so much of it and once it’s gone it’s gone.

“But you can earn more money, right?”

“You still only have so much of it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well think of the money you will earn in your lifetime in it’s totality.”

At birth you get a two dollar bill from your grandma to put in your piggy bank. Then you find money laying around the house, earn an allowance, baby sit, and mow lawns. Then you get a job waiting tables. Then you get another job, you sell real estate for awhile, and you get an inheritance along the way. Soon you retire and start drawing down your savings and collecting Social Security. The last dime you earn in life is a small stock dividend for $3.42 that you never expected. And, oh, by the way you still have that two dollar bill from birth!

Taken all together you will have earned or received all the money you will ever earn or receive. No more, no less.  It’s what I call the Whole Pie Principle.

You only got one money pie- and if you eat it too fast, spill it, or let it spoil you ain’t gettin’ no more.

So the whole point is to use your money like you use your time. Wisely, because once it’s gone you can’t get it back.

This month it’s a birthday.
Next month a vacation.
After that a car repair.
Then an anniversary.
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, new tires, property taxes, car wrecks, Emergency Room visits.

Every month.

Something.

As in, “We were doin’ fine but sumthin came up.”

And always just when you think you are getting ahead.

It’s at least $200 a month, but can be $1000 or two.

And we always say, “Well if we didn’t have “SOMETHING” this month then we would have been OK.

The “Sumthins”  are a real big root cause of the Chronic Debt Cycle. We spend all our money and have to break out the credit card for sumthin.  One thing turns into two sumthins and pretty soon you have more sumthins than Willy Wonka has Oompa Loompa’s. Little things running around causing big trouble.

There is a little sum’n sum’n that can fix the “sumthins”– it’s called — “Never again will SOMETHING be a suprise.” There are no surprises in personal finance. Only lack of planning.

Wow. Week Three. The Third Week.

I admit, I am a little shocked.  We started our Three Piece Plan the second week of a short month (February). We get paid on the last working day of the month and get another piece of income around the 20th.

For a year now, every month, at the end of the month, we are out of money. Plain and simple. Out. The well has run dry. I mean we make it. But it’s with $18 left in the account or having to hold off on something for a few days.

Every month. Every month for a year. Every month for a year it’s been this way.

This month– it looks like we will have about 15% of our take home pay left over. Wow.  Now, to be clear this may not be a typical month. We did have a birthday party and Valentine’s day. But there is always something.

I know we need brakes on our car. But we are supposed to pay for such stuff out of our Everyday Money. So we will wait until we have enough of our weekly “pay day” money saved up to put the brakes on the car.

A second point- something very important needs to be mentioned here.

Last week we got handed cash $100 more in cash than our weekly “Everyday Money” pay day is supposed to be. We actually had to break into that money a day early. We also put $15 in gas on our debit card because our $100 bill was at home.  So really we are $115 “over”– that means that today, when I go to the bank to get out our cash- I am going to subract $115 fro it. That will keep us even and on track.

The flip side would also be true, as it was last week. If you get to your pay day and have had a slow week, let’s say you have $200 left over. You still need to PAY YOURSELF EVERY PENNY of your Everyday Money.  Things will come up, things you have not planned for and you need to have money to pay for it.

The CDC.  The Center’s for Disease Control? Nope.

The Chronic Debt Cycle (CDC).

The family caught in a CDC is the type of family that is most capable of breaking out of debt, breaking out of worry, and breaking out of the CDC for-eva.

You can recognize a Chronic Debt Cycle–  look for this…

… and the worst of the CDC breed– when you find yourself in $15,000 (or $60,000) of pure credit card debt, pay it off after a few years, then find yourself right back in it 12 months later.

… you go awhile without any debt, then a situation throws you back into debt.  A situation such as a move to a different house, a temporary layoff or job loss, the sudden loss of other expected income.

… you only go into debt certain times of year- such as a Christmas time or if you are self employed you survive on credit cards through certain slow months of the year.

… your debt load goes up and down up and down up and down– but you never get it paid off.  Something always comes up and it keeps you in Eternal Debt.

…  you may have never had a credit card- but most of your furniture is paid for $20 a month over a period of years.

… car repairs or vacations make you pull out the credit card.

… you have a home equity line of credit that you periodically tap- then pay off.

If you have any of these (or many similar) things happening in your life then you are in your very own Chronic Debt Cycle (CDC).  The good news is that this is the easiest kind of debt to get out of and stay out of.

The primary problem in a CDC is not lack of money- it’s just sheer lack of planning.

The easiest way out of a CDC is to use the Three Piece Plan. There are certain situations that I will address separately later- like for small business owners.

We pay ourselves on Wednesday. Every Wednesday. If you get paid weekly then of course pay day should be your “pay day.”  But we get paid monthly so we picked Wednesday for our “pay day.” This is when we go to the bank and take all of “Today’s Money” out in cash.

I think Wednesdays are the perfect day to declare that your “Everyday Money” pay day.  It works because it is two days before the weekend and just two days after it.  If you pay yourself on Friday you are more likely to blow too much money over the weekend and if you pay yourself on Monday you are likely to not have money to enjoy the weekend– then you just blow your budget altogether. Now that would be no good!

Now, what if your weekend is actually say Tuesday and Wednesday?  Then consider a  Friday or Saturday pay day.

We had an interesting second week.

Ella’s 2nd birthday party was that Sunday. It was like we were having a wedding. We were at the store constantly. We spent $1.17 for pipe cleaners to give antenna’s to the lady bug on the cake. Then there was candy to fill the pinata, last minute bottles of pop, an extra roll of wrapping paper, and “Whoops, we are out of wrapping tape.”   Not to mention the cake, a sudden realization that Ella just had to have a Mr. Potato Head (my idea), and an extra package of napkins.

By Saturday we were almost out of money. To the point where I said, “Boy we sure spend a lot of money!”

Keep in mind that when you get started on the Three Piece Plan it will initially cause some friction— but not as much as constantly being in debt!

As with any life change there is nothing better you can do than chronicle your journey.

So week one.

Starting off is always the hardest. For practical purposes it is really better to start right after a large grocery shopping trip. So the day before you set as your payday- go shopping and get all of the random things that you are out of.  This will go a long way to helping you even things out. How hard it is to get started depends a lot on just how tight your finances are and what your exact situation is. If you are like we are- you make enough money to cover your bills but just seem to blow a lot of money. You may find that you have so many bills (Today’s Money) and debts (Yesterday’s Money) that you really don’t have enough to live on every day.

If that is the case please- look at the top of this page and either click START or CONTACT ME. I want to help you out of your financial pickle.

Now, our first week.

We got our money out of the bank. And spent it. All of it. And we don’t know what we spent it on. There were multiple trips to Wal-Mart. We ate out a time or two, we filled up the car with gas.  And the money was gone.

Here is something to remember- let’s say you pay yourself $250 every week- you can only spend $25 ten different times before you are out of money! So you fill up your tank with gas and you have spent 1 and a half of those times.

Next week we have both Valentine’s Day AND Ella’s second birthday party to spend on! So it should be an interesting week.