As promised, here is the detailed outline from my appearance today on “Talk of the Town” for getting Frugally Fit in 2010. I’m a big believer in having a big-picture plan with specific action steps to keep you self-motivated. I can help get you started, but what’s going to keep you going when I’m not around to challenge you? Here are just a couple tips to help you develop your own action plan:
Getting “Frugally Fit in 2010” takes 4 steps:
- Dream
- Review
- Plan
- Do
DREAM
What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money? Take a vacation? Pay off debt? Live more generously?
I’m a big believer in challenging people to “Pursue their Passions”. You need to have some sort of a goal in mind before embarking anything new, whether it comes to food, finances or relationships. What do you love to do? What do you wish you had more time to do? Take time to dream and think about what makes you who you are (this can even means asking others what they think of when they think of you and then see if that lines up with who you want to be.) Solidifying your identity is crucial before moving forward in this process.
REVIEW
I’ve always said it’s hard to know where you’re going until you understand where you’ve been. Review your bank/credit card statements and start collecting your receipts if you haven’t already. Take a look at everything in your closet. Spend ten minutes flipping through your calendar from the past year. It’s often been said that you can quickly tell a person’s priorities by looking at their calendar and their checkbook. Are these things reflecting who you want to be?
If you already have a budget, take time to re-evaluate it. What financial commitments have you made and where do you stand with them? When is the last time you really looked in your closet? Your pantry? Your garage? Ignoring what’s in front of you could be the single biggest drain on your finances and your wallet.
PLAN
Put pen to paper. Take a look at your goals and match them up with what you’ve been doing – only then can you begin to realize what steps you need to take to successfully move forward.
A great way to start this is through the model given in Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family”. Not only does an exercise like this help define who you are as an individual and a family, but it helps you define the non-negotiables of your life as well as specific action steps you need to take to achieve your goals.
Consider where you’ll post your goals, who you need to bring on board to help you carry these out (this can include accountability partners) and a timeline for re-evaluating both your goals and your progress.
*If you would like to win your very own copy of Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family“, leave a comment below sharing one of your goals for your family for 2010. Three winners will be chosen on Friday, January 8th from all comments left before midnight!*
DO
If you don’t already have a budget, it’s time to start one. Begin by collecting receipts in an envelope and dividing them by category. At the end of the month, tally each category and see if that’s what you thought you were spending. There are a lot of great online tools for helping you decide what percentage of your salary should be spent on each of your monthly categories.
You may decide you want to start couponing, eat out only once a week, or take online surveys to save money – then set up a separate account to put that money in that’s dedicated to your goal (vacation, big purchase, paying off debt, etc).
Set aside an afternoon to go through your closet. Try on EVERYTHING and discard anything that doesn’t fit (make piles for trash for things that are in a state of disrepair, sell for things you can sell at a garage sale or consignment store, and Give-Away for things you’re ready to donate or hand down. For things your undecided on, turn backwards on a hanger or put in a separate pile; if you haven’t worn it after 6 months, you’ll know and then get rid of it! This trip will alleviate so much stress by both making your closet more visually appealing as well as helping to get rid of the perennial statement, “I don’t have anything to wear!”
Set aside another hour to go through your pantry. Keep items in order from front to back according to when they’re going to expire. Group items like you would find them in the grocery store so they’re easy to find. Keep a list by your pantry so people can write down when they take the last item and it needs to be restocked. Not only will this help you when it comes to planning your meals, but like your closet, it will help you be aware of what you have so you don’t buy things needlessly.
Throughout the year, pick days to do the same thing in different areas of your home (kids toys, garage, bookshelves, etc). You’ll find you wont miss a lot of what you toss, but it will make a noticeable difference in your daily attitude!
FINAL THOUGHT
Have a list of “Go-To’s”: meals, outfits, dates, gifts
Remember, time is one of our most precious commodities, so you don’t want to spend more time than necessary in any area of your life. If you take a little time at the beginning of the year to determine 7 Meals, Outfits, Gifts and Outings that you can always turn to, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of time and money. Plus, you may find you can do without a lot more than you thought you could simply by rotating these items in the different categories on a continual basis!
Don’t forget to leave a comment below to be automatically entered to win a copy of “The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family“!
You can also earn extra entries by linking to this post on your Facebook page or by Tweeting about the contest (leave separate comments letting me know you did each one). Winners will be chosen by Random.org and notified by 1/10/10. Good luck!
What better way to decide how to send the ultimate Disney fan to the ultimate Disney show than with a Trivia Contest?! (If you need help, just ask your kids…I’m sure they know the answers!). Leave a comment below with your answers in numerical order (I’ll give you some slack on the spelling). You can receive additional entries by linking to this post on Facebook & Twitter (use this phrase): Win a family 4 pack of tickets to Playhouse Disney Live! in Nashville @eCONEmicLiving http://bit.ly/9vgKes
The incredibly talented students at 
