Last night I played hooky from putting kids to bed (Thank you, spouse!) to participate in a fun event with just “the girls.” I was asked by Laura Nickerson, BroadTopicsRadio host, to join her and three of her buddies to chat about money. Their show was called, “Let’s Get Fiscal” and as their intro music died down they were all singing it to the tune of Olivia Newton Johns hit! LOL! Anyhow, they asked me some really fun questions like:
How do women save money in this economy? Do women have the wrong perception about money? Do I have to give up my favorite brands? Is “The Bean” a good purchase? LOL! Okay, we really did have too much fun. I took some notes while on the show and here is the executive summary and at the bottom of this page I have the link so you can listen to the full two hours at your convenience.
What are some practical ways for women to save money?
The beauty of personal finance management is that there are thousands of ways to save money in little baby steps on a daily basis. These baby steps add up to $1,000s in the course of a year. Here are a few examples with some numbers about how these little tiny steps can save you money and cost you very little in the way of time.
- Invest in a Rubber Spatula. Sounds silly but this little kitchen aid can save you money. Now I realize not everyone cooks pancakes for their family, but I have this breakfast about twice a week. I use a spatula to scrape out the bowl and that gives me one additional full sized pancake each time I make them. If you do the math this equates to 104 pancakes a year! It costs me $2.24 to make a double batch of pancakes which works out to about 20 pancakes. This makes each pancake worth 11 cents. Thus the amount of money I save each year by scraping a batter bowl equals (ta da, drum roll please!) $11.44 a year! That’s JUST on pancakes, what about all the peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, honey, mustard and other sticky items that are used in a home? All for an initial investment of 99 cents!
- Examine Your Use of Disposable Products. I know I’ve blogged on this point before. (Please refer to my other blog posts of Step 6 to Abundance parts 1 and 2 for additional help here!) If you look just a paper towel use you’ll see a huge change in your expenses by using cloth products. Again let’s do some quick, simple arithmetic for this: Let’s say you use 4 rolls of paper towels a week. They cost you $2.50 a roll. This comes out to around $10 a week or $520 a year that you are paying just for paper towels. I had a lady who switched to using linen towels (it cost her $12.64 for 20) and she bought herself a dishwasher! Now look at how much you go through in terms of paper napkins, plates, cups and plastic ware. It is very sobering how much money you may be, literally, throwing away.
How should women change their perception of money?
I really want women to lose their fear of money. There is a lot of fear about their inadequacy in taking charge of investing and saving money. They are usually okay with handling the checkbook or working the ATM machine (LOL!) but when you start discussing long term savings, investing and 529 plans (college savings plans) you will see their eyes glaze over and they start to hyperventilate!
Also, I want them to learn to allow themselves to become rich. And I DON’T mean comfortably well off, I want them to be able to say to themselves, “I want to be rolling-in-the-dough RICH!” The challenge is they have emotional barriers to this statement. Here are some of the excuses I have heard from my clients in regards to how they view “rich” people:
- Rich people hurt others to get the money they had
- You can’t be nice and be rich
- I’ll become corrupt if I’m rich
- People will come after me for my money
- People will no longer see me, they’ll just see me as a bank
These statements will keep you from becoming the wealth magnet you truly are. Work through these emotions and realize that these fears are unfounded. It is very easy to be extremely wealthy and not show it. Just read The Millionaire Next Door, to find out how! LOL.
Lose your fear of money by:
- Make a conscious decision today to become “Rich!” Now, look in the mirror and say to yourself, “I am going to be Rich!” This may take a bit to say it with true passion.
- Define exactly the lifestyle you want to have when you’re wealthy. What will you do? What service will you render society? Will you start a non-profit that does good works or will you donate to causes you are passionate about?
- Visualize and write down exactly the type of Millionaire you will be. How you will look. How you will act. How you will serve humanity…break the box and show the world a kind, feminine, strong, courageous Millionaire that loves life and is making the world a better place one person at a time.
Thanks to Laura, Stacy, Joan, and Megan for a wonderful show. It was a pleasure speaking with you and your listeners.
If you wish to hear BroadTopicsRadio follow the link.
I wish you abundance!
