blingmatters

[blingmatters]

Do Your Values Save or Spend Your Money?

Do Your Values Save or Spend Your Money?

Understanding your values can help you set achievable goals.

What are values? Your values are the people, things, and places that are important to you and guide you on how you make decisions.

Evaluate for yourself, who are the people, things, and places that matter to you. For example, if you are a parent, you may immediately think of your kids. In respect to your things, the first thing…

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Bling-Not!

I am changing the name of this blog. I happened to look up in the Urban Dictionary the meaning of the word “Bling” and… DONE! decision made. I would never want anyone to be offended by my choice in the title. I just thought that “bling” was another word for money🤣So now what?

When I read the Urban Dictionary definition of “Bling” I am actually upset I picked that name. It could be…

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Wipe-Out!

Riding a wave is the best! I have only body surfed, but I know how amazing it is to wait for the wave, catch it just right and then go! It’s so fast, exhilarating and fun! I know I’m going to either glide right to the beach, or tumble all around, swallow water, get water in my nose and hit my chin…wipe out! But, soon enough I was going for the next wave!

I like the wave analogy for a…

[blingmatters]

Hungry at the Bottom

Hungry at the Bottom

Teaching in the jails has taught me to see a true hunger for change. It is impressive to watch some of the inmates take vigorous notes, ask questions and approach us at each break to ask more questions.

Not all of them… some. Not all of us… some of us. I notice this hunger in different situations. I have attended business networking events, and noticed how some people are so attentive to the…

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I Feel Good! - Repeat!

I Feel Good! – Repeat!

We all love to repeat those experiences that make us feel good! It’s a brain-thing! Our brain will release endorphins and dopamine when we experience something new, exciting or challenging. In recovery, we have learned all about dopamine.

Shopping can create those same feelings, and shopping comes in many forms, not just at the mall or online shopping. If we just finished a great vacation, we…

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Tax Day!

Today April 15th is the deadline for our individual tax returns to be filed. However, you can still file an extension today. What a relief! I am a retired CPA who was in public practice, so I know, how anxious my clients would get 😉. They would call my office trying to push through on the final details of their return, just to get it done, TODAY. Since I am retired and enjoying today, which does…

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Self-Talk

I recently read a book called: Mind Hacking by Sir John Hargrave: How to change your mind in 21 days. You can download the PDF book for free. It was recommended to me, and although hesitant, as we all can be… I read it. Why do I mention this in a money-matters blog? Our thinking is so important in order to take some of our money and put it away for day to day expenses, emergencies and our…

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Tax Refund? Don’t Make A Run For It!

Tax Refund? Don’t Make A Run For It!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I remember my first tax refund. I was 15 and working at Baskin & Robbins. My boss handed me the this envelope and said this is for your taxes. I panicked! What? I used to get a hand written check, taxes got taken out, but I thought that was all there was to it. My dad was the paper and numbers type, and he took me to our local library to get the forms and…

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Everyone

Lately I have been teaching Financial Literacy in the local jail of my area. It has opened my eyes to the recovering community and has humbled me in ways that are hard to explain. The goal with my blog has been to reach out to those in recovery.

I am not a therapist or a certified counselor. I am a Mom, wife and CPA. I have a life-long of experiences with money and all kinds of people. I have…

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Slipping Through My Fingers

Slipping Through My Fingers

Photo by Bhupendra Singh on Pexels.com

If we were to think about how we spent our money, last week, last month or last year, we would probably write down the top 3 that repeat every month. Rent/mortgage, car payment, day care… but surprisingly the smaller amounts that hit our debit card, we don’t really think about them much, they add up, and our money just slips away.

It’s a new year challenge,…

[blingmatters]

Heart of the Money Matter

Heart of the Money Matter

  One Day At A Time is a fantastic slogan for all of us to remember and apply to our lives. In early recovery it is a life-line. Staying clean, each and every day is the only goal that mattersthe most.  So, at what point in recovery would be a healthy time to talk about money matters? Paying bills is one thing, and another would be to come to a place of readiness to really dig in and go over…

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Budget blues

Beating the Blues is not always easy.  Progress Not Perfection.

The hardest part about a budget is not the work involved in creating it, but in acceptingthat change has to happen.  Knowing that you must make a change in your money-matters and then putting it off is normal… but the consequences of not managing money comes right back to you when money is short for something like rent, credit…

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Can’t See The Forest for the Trees

Can’t See The Forest for the Trees

“It means that if you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that a branch of separate “trees” go together to make a forest.��� (Urban Dictionary)

  The trees… what are the trees in your life?  Life is so busy, our day-to-day activities can be overwhelming.  When it comes to money-matters, we can have a ton of reasons for the trees in our lives, that don’t allow us to see the big…

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The “B” word...Beating Around the Bush about...

The “B” word…Beating Around the Bush about…

BUDGETS!

“I have set some realistic goals for todays needs, a bit later in life and retirement…”

Now that you have made some notes in your money journal about your spending habits, this next step is to roll up your sleeves and dig in! Are you ready? Get your bank statements and start to break them down! Go back 1 year if you can.  We look back to go forward! We can set some goals if we truly see

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I Will...Later

I Will…Later

I have come to believe that I need to change my money matters. 

If this is you, and you can say that you are ready to get started, then that is truly the most important step. Awareness, without guilt or looking at our past. We are moving forward! It doesn’t matter how old we are or what we “could -of- should of done”. Our past may include debts to people or places. The change may be so…

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I Will...

I Will…

I have come to believe that I need to change my money matters 😩

I have set some realistic goals for todays needs, a bit later in life and retirement🤓

I have looked at my expenses and made a decision to save ___amount per week🤑

I have found the easiest place to save that money so I can’t touch it so easily🤝

I have reviewed the whys and why-nots of reaching my goals🤔

I will try not get…

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HALT!

I know in my own choices, I have definitely spent money that I may have regretted later… or even if I realized after I spent the money, that it was not within my budget, I have found a way to rationalize it.

If you have a budget or some type of system to help you with putting your money aside for specific expenses, and you spend it somewhere, other than where you intended it to go, than that is…