In my last article "Infallible Money Rules for the Free
Agent", I discussed three money rules that are essential to
master if anyone is to "make it" in the world of free
agency.
Rule number 3 was "You must spend consciously". I
explained what conscious spending is but I left out
strategies for conscious spending.
Spending consciously is essential for successful free
agency. A free agent who does not spend consciously will
never be free.
Conscious spending is spending money in accordance with
your values and principles. It is in essence choosing to
spend rather than finding yourself saying with some degree
of regularity "I just don't know where the money went." It
is the word "choice" that brings consciousness to your
spending.
Most people tell me that they have no choice but to pay
their bills...I always ask, "are you choosing your bills?"
What I mean is most people choose the bills they have.
Here is an example...When I was dating the person who
became my spouse I got a calling card, I got a cell phone,
I had a regular credit card and my usual land line. My
phone bill was over 500 dollars per month. Treating these
services as necessities, here I was drowning in bills I
chose to have. Just as I chose to have them I could choose
not to have them. With all those ways to make calls
throughout the day what was I really trying to communicate?
I was simply trying to communicate to the person I was in
love with that I was in love with them. Yes the phone was
convenient but what other ways could I communicate that
love? Cards, letters...phone calls at night when the rates
were lowest. The moment I made that realization, I moved
into consciousness around one area of my spending.
I then began looking at all of my bills and asked myself if
I needed a particular service. If I could not answer "yes"
right away I canceled that service. I then asked myself
...do I have to pay the same amount for the same service
from the same vendor or can I negotiate? I found that I
could negotiate. I found that I could get a cheaper plan
from my cell provider without a compromise in service. I
cut my cable bill in half from the same provider without a
change in my plan.
By looking at my bills and negotiating with vendors I found
that I could free up capital that I didn't even know I had
to apply toward my higher purpose.
I then asked myself another question every time money was
about to leave my hand: Do I have to have this now? If my
honest answer was no, I did not buy the item. Instead I
put the item on a list. If I still wanted it after a
month, I bought it. This strategy virtually eliminated my
impulse buying. If I determine that I have to have the
item now, then I bless the money as it leaves my hand
saying: "All money that leaves my hand returns to me
multiplied."
So we have 3 strategies so far:
1) Choose your bills
2) Negotiate with your vendors
3) Determine your immediate need for everything that you buy
Strategy number 4 is the one that few people ever do. It
is the one my sister used when she and her family started
out and it is the one that I laughed at as she did it.
Here it is: record every penny that leaves your hand.
Every penny. I have a note book. I categorize the
expenditures at the end of 30 days.
Do it for 30 days and your life will never be the same. Do
it and you will never spend unconsciously again. Do it and
you won't need the first three strategies.
Do this and you will always know what your values are. Do
this and you will be in absolute integrity with yourself
around money, always. This will happen because you will
ask yourself as you spend an record your expenditures what
is this expenditure really supporting? Is it supporting my
business, my family, my freedom?
Do this one step and you will always know why you spend.
Do it and the life of the successful free agent will be
yours.
----------------------------------------------------
Like most people I went to school to get an education and
learn a profession. When I graduated and began working, I
realized something was very wrong. The path that I thought
would lead me to freedom was instead leading me into
quicksand. I got out of the quicksand when I joined the
Free Agent Nation. You can find out more about the Free
Agent Nation at http://www.freeagentnationonline.com
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