I don’t know many people who, from first dollar in hand, knew exactly how to control their money. Learning how to control your finances is a learned skill. Some people are fortunate enough to have learned valuable skills from their parents or other role models while others, myself included, fumble their way through their finances until they find a system that works. While I think having a budget of huge importance to everyone (you can learn how to build a budget that works here, here and here) as long as you have system that works for you that’s all that matters. I’ve known very successful people who don’t necessarily follow a true budget but still have full control over their finances.
Amazing Things Happen
When you take control of your finances, amazing things start to happen. It was just a year ago that hubby and I began to really take control of our money. We sat down and made an honest budget and figured out a system that would work for us. It took a few weeks to get everything set up and ”flowing” but once things started to automate all aspects of our life improved. Taking control of your finances improves all aspects of your life from big to seemingly tiny. It’s only after you’ve gained control of your finances that you realize how even the tiniest of things were neglected before.
Time for the Little Things
I started making the bed. This may sound funny to some but when you’re stressed about anything, especially your financial situation, you don’t have time to do things like make your bed. Your time is consumed with thoughts about money and how you can take control of your finances. It’s only after you actually do take control of your finances, that you have the mental clarity to allow your brain to accept doing these smaller tasks. When your brain is in a stressed-out state, it’s all about survival. Only giving you processing power to compute life-sustaining things. When I was stressed to the max about our finances I didn’t have time to think about, let alone care about, things like making the bed. My entire ”free time” thought process went towards thinking about money and what we could do to gain control of it.
Improved Relationships
My relationship with my husband improved. Every relationship is going to be different, and how a couple’s relationship is effected by their financial situation will vary. Our relationship, in terms of how we were with financial accountability wasn’t terrible. Some couples would be at the end of their rope and nearing divorce under the same stress we were. That’s not to say we didn’t have issues though. When you finally take control of your finances amazing things happen to you and your relationships. For the first time in our relationship we were facing something really difficult together. We’d always had combined finances, paid all the bills out of the one account, and combined debt payoff together (rather than he pay his, I pay mine) but we had never sat down to take overall look at our situation. I think we were both scared, stressed and scared some more. I’m so glad we did though, I just wish it had been sooner.
When you make the decision to take control of your finances, only good things can come of it. Maybe you’re in debt and need help. Maybe you don’t have debt but are spending money and have no idea where it’s going. Taking control of your finances is something everyone, from the very rich to the very poor need to do. The reasoning behind the control will vary person-to-person but it needs to be done.
What life improvement did you first notice when you took control of your finances?
