A Great Way to Cut Expenses

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about cut expenses. When you start sharing the fascinating cut expenses facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.

One of the biggest challenges creative dreamers face when it’s time to make their dream their livelihood is regulating cash flow. Typically we have lots of new business expenses, without enough income to meet them. One easy solution is to spend less something many of us in the US, at least, find hard to do. And yet, it must be done. If that’s you, read on; I think I’ve stumbled upon a great solution.

Recently, I decided to tighten my belt and start spending carefully for a change. Which for a relaxed, what the heck spender like myself was the equivalent to going into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. In the past, such measures always dissolved in a puddle of good intentions. Even though I knew this was important and good to do… I just couldn’t stick with the program. But this time, I’ve found a trick that works.

The first month, I simply tracked my expenses on two file cards in my wallet (one for business, one for personal.) Then last month, I paid my regular bills by check as usual. I also determined just how much cash I needed to live on each week, based on my previous tracking, and withdrew such from the bank on an appointed, regular day: Wednesday. I also parked my credit card and my debit card in my desk drawer, so they’d be out of circulation. Then I carefully monitored as I spent.

As the month wore on, the cash ebbed and flowed. Some weeks I spent less than my weekly sum; some weeks I spent more. And now, at month’s end, I found I actually kept to my budget quite well – and can donate the rest towards savings and my business. The reason this works, I think, is because parking the plastic and paying cash is radical. Initially, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t work. (“What about emergencies? What about last minute things for the kids? What about … impulse buys??”) But I was so sick of financial ambiguity and sloppy spending that I did it anyway. And I was amazed.

I trust that what you've read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

The physical act of paying cash really does govern what you spend. When you have to pay $120 for groceries, you start thinking about whether you really need that extra large bag of premium potato chips, or the case of designer water. When you have to pay cash for the dentist (two fillings: $220) it occurs to you that you can actually shop for a dentist. Paying cash has a wonderful way of keeping you honest. And it makes you super conscious of details which previously might have left you cold. Last month I found myself not buying things which in the past had been bought without a second thought. This was power saving!

Paying cash is a great way to save money, which helps you meet financial goals like paying down a big credit card balance, or establishing a six month emergency savings fund to help you leave your non-dream day job. (Both steps I recommend taking in my new book, Living Your Joy.) At month’s end I feel empowered, and gung-ho for another month of cash only adventures. One final note: my 9 and 13 year old children who’ve traditionally hit me for snacks, toys, and endless pairs of skin tight jeans (yes, I am the ‘soft’ parent) have stopped expecting handouts. And I’m proud to say, they’ve started working on their own ways to earn and save money. So there is a marvelous trickle down effect.

All this financial freedom takes is some commitment on your part, and the willingness to try doing things differently as an experiment, or even a game. Try it, and you may find your dream gets funded a lot more quickly and easily.

PS. Don’t forget: unless you finance your dream adequately, you can’t reach the people you’re here to reach. That’s the power of your financial decisions.
Is there really any information about cut expenses that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.