Better Financial Planning Means Setting Goals And Good Time Management

When you have made up your mind to make that change in your finances it is important to remember that even if you go with some kind of credit management service your success or failure is going to depend on the goals you set and the time management you keep. In the coming week we are going to talk about budgeting but first we need you to start setting some goals with a general time frame to accomplish what you set out to do. However, for this week we want you to list and set reasonable goals of where you want to be financially and in life in the next five years. If you are going to have all your debt paid back in five years that’s fine but, be realistic. If you want to have your debt three quarters of the way paid, and maintain a seven hundred plus credit rating that is reasonable too. Just do not go wrong by thinking the Fairy Godmother of finances is going to save the day you will not find it in this blog or if you are real lucky you win the lottery but, chances are that will not happen either. There is no miracle software or miracle cure for repaying your debts. Just careful planning and if you need it some professional help.

Do yourself a favor and look at your total situation and list your debts and expenses. Just do that this week. Set that list aside and we will talk about how to set up a budget, and if you need it where to go to get help with budgeting next week. In the meantime here is a little guide I wrote about setting goals and time management.

“When I grow up I want to be like my wife!!!”

Multitasking is not one of my strongest assets. With the Easter Holiday so late in the year, a location change for the weekly business meeting I attend, and Memorial Day Holiday I have not been keeping up with everything I want to accomplish. During the winter months I have a little more time on my hands because a most of my regular work is seasonal. The business opportunity I have been working on is not at the point where I can leave my job and work on it fulltime. That is the plus side of this business I am working on is the ability to start part-time. The tough side is always finding enough time to work on my business without it interfering with family and my regular job. Here is where I need those lessons from my wife.

The first thing I need to do is get better about using my calendar. What I need to do first is duplicate the needs and events off the family calendar my wife posts for us. This way I can plan what I want to attend and what I can skip so I do not interfere with important family tasks and events.

I am good about using my calendar but for some reason or another I step away from keeping up with it when time seems more manageable. When the time seems manageable is when I should plan more and strive to get ahead. Sometimes it seems easier said than done.
I know I need to spend more time setting and managing my weekly goals. We all know we all have to start with the ultimate “Goal” or “Why” with anything we want to achieve. As we define the larger goals we need to break them down into smaller tasks. This means if I am not going to lose track of my ultimate goal I need to break it down into monthly, weekly, and then daily tasks. This way the ultimate goal will not seem so overwhelming. Here is where the business plan or the game plan comes in. You have the master list of those goals you want to achieve with the approximate deadline you want to achieve that goal. Keep them separate from your monthly tasks. After you have made your monthly list of tasks you bring it out to your weekly list of tasks. This is where you make your weekly list of tasks. Those tasks should be categorized by their importance and then scheduled in your calendar.

One thing you have to remember that you need to keep your master list of goals where you can see it frequently to keep you excited and ambitious about achieving those goals. During the week you want rely on your calendar to keep you directed. Once a week you want to pull out your weekly and monthly goal list and mark off what you have accomplished and re post on your list and calendar what is important to you. If you find a step or a task was not that important to you anymore or as you originally thought, forget about it and if it comes up later then accomplish it.

Take time monthly to develop your monthly list. Put a date and a time on your calendar to add your monthly tasks to that list. Make this appointment to yourself each month without exception. This is where you schedule your time weekly to work on your weekly list. The key to all of your lists are keeping a small notebook handy for your tasks and your thoughts. I need to get better with listing the tasks. I always seem to put down my thoughts when possible. The reason I said this is. No matter how strong or weak my time management can be at times, taking notes and getting things off your mind is essential to helping you relieve the pressure of not having enough time. With the demands of our daily lives if we take the time to write something down there is less of a chance you will forget something important, help your productive time go further in life, and keep the anxiety level down.

This Week’s Rant

We are not going to have a rant this week instead we are going to offer another suggestion about last week’s rant. People complain about their e-mail boxes becoming full of junk and spam e-mail. There is a cure for this. Open a second e-mail account. Designate one account for whenever you fill something out on line. That way you just manage the junk mail with the junk mail and the mail that is more important to you get managed in your regular e-mail box.
Let’s call one mailbox your commercial mailbox and the other your personal mailbox. When you fill form or direct an offer to your commercial mailbox you have control over whether that individual or company is going to sell your information to another list. I say this because when you have too much junk in your commercial mailbox you can just delete the entire contents without fear of losing something important. On the other hand if something interests you or is safe to you, you can forward it to your personal mailbox box and you will not have to worry about all that junk and spam. Eventually if you discover that you want that mail going straight to your personal e-mailbox go to where it says to remove your e-mail from this list (opt out option), you can reassign that particular auto responder directly to your personal e-mail in most cases there.

Filling out some auto responders can save you money. Last week we added Groupon to our sight. This week we added discounts from Kellogg’s. Guys this is like free money. You do not have to spend money to save money with these auto responders. They send the savings to you directly to your e-mail box. There is no hunting down bargains. You will not have to pay taxes on that money you save, and it is like additional income. If you are going to spend money on that product anyway get it at the biggest discount possible. The key is if you are not shopping for it or planning for it don’t spend it. A coupon or a sale is not a sale if you do not want or need it! Think of it as stretching the money you have instead of saving it at the register. When you have stretched your money so far as you have some extra put it in a savings account. Now that is saving. You just need to be able to invest some time into saving (stretching) money. It really can enhance your income if it is done right.

With a commercial e-mailbox you can also work on surveys. Surveys again as I said last week, people actually make a part-time income from surveys tax free. With a separate e-mailbox is where you can separate the products and services that mean the most to you from the ones that do not. Your commercial e-mail box where you can delete unwanted e-mail cancel the auto responders when you get time. You will find this extremely true with surveys. But, you can acquire some pretty nice stuff by taking surveys and there are some good ones to follow.


Take Some Time And Look Through Our Video Below.

Let’s Talk About Jobs

Yesterday’s joke seems to be today’s nightmare. As we all gathered together and when someone was not working up to performance we would say Get a Job! That statement / Joke or not is no joke today. Yes, the job market is getting better but it is changing and requiring new skills. As for the skills of the past those jobs continue to be hard to find. We are sensitive to the direction you may want to take because you may feel you have run out of options. You can’t become financially free if you have little or nothing to work with. If we accomplish anything out of this blog you will understand everyone has the right to be financially free and we intend to give you ideas to head you in that direction. We are going to suggest to you how to be frugal without being cheap or putrid about your spending habits. We are also going to show you to be frugal without putting your entire life on hold to be financially free.

In the coming days we should be coming up with a few more job websites for those of you serious about getting your life back in order. We currently have Job Access Center which is a management to professional’s website. I am not imagining too many professionals reading this blog but, if there are some professionals reading this blogwe are glad we can help. Job Access Center also helps those individuals looking for upper management positions. If you have five or more years of experience in middle management this site may help you spring a better job. You may have to be willing to relocate for these positions.

The next site is jobs.com. Jobs.com is basically for anyone who is looking for a job. Jobs from a to z let’s say. I know some people would like to upgrade their job to a better one and there are many of us that need a job. This may be the easiest format you have. There will be sites entered in the coming week that will help you with résumés and there are sites that will be about self-employment which we are going to get to. But, first we want to concentrate on jobs and adding resources for jobs. The rest can come later.

My suggestion to you is to copy this web address in case we lose you, for you to come back to us, or bookmark this page which may be easier. As we said we will be adding more sites to the sidebar. So check out the two sights we have for jobs and let’s see if we can get something good going for you soon.

We will also soon be adding an e-mail sign up banner where you can sign up for an updates e-mail letter!

The Power of Free

Groupon


This is a great place to come for you entertainment needs. Whether you are a person that frequents restaurants, or you occasionally go out you cannot miss the bargains with Groupon. You do not have to pay retail to have a nice time. Groupon is good for dating, (Not advised for the first date), married couples, and family events. Maybe even to get together with friends. Don’t feel funny presenting one of these coupons because businesses are doing anything to get you in the door and they get tax breaks by compensating you or coupons. It is all the same when it comes out in the wash. So take a night out on the town and save 50% to 90%. The best part is the Groupon service is free. Just click on the Powered by Goupon Banner near the top of the page.



Or, Click Here for Groupon!



Groupon also has coupons to spas, amusement parks, movies, outings and more. If you are going on a vacation you can change the search and you can get coupons for your destination.


Other Ways To Save


After going through some E-zine articles this week I found this little gem. I have not tested this yet but I figure I would let my readers give this a little test. This site is called Free Groceries Central. In this website you can go state by state in which grocery stores offer free groceries. What you do is take a survey and you are rewarded with up $250.00. What the small print says you have to accept two offers. Just make sure of one thing, if you do the survey check the terms and conditions and the cancellation policy before you accept any offers. I do know the thrifty know how to use surveys to save them a lot of money; one other hint is not to ever put in your cell phone number to receive a text. This will save you unwanted charges to your cell phone bill. If they want you to send them back a code do not enter it to precede, just close the page and move on. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This it is free money and not taxable because it comes in the form of a gift card, you will not be asked for a Social Security Number or given a 1099 form to fill out. These are promotions and fall under the same category as coupons.


If you have any questions about using surveys please e-mail me @ bws4findingfinancialfreedom@gmail.com.


Try Free Grocery Central Click Here!


Have A Great and Safe Memorial Day!
Please remember those who paid the highest price for our freedom!!!

Getting It All Back Together Again

I really have to admit I miss doing this blog. When I go back and look at the stats we had something good going here. During the time I have taken off from this blog I have been working on a pet project. In that project I have discovered I like blogging but most of all I like helping people. To me there is no better way than to help someone out of distress. I have had my share of financial problems but I have always worked my way out of them by careful spending but not necessarily sacrificing in every way by paying my debts back. On the side bar you will find solutions and opportunities to help you make your own way to financial freedom. These tools and services are places you can go to discover in your own way financial freedom. I know I like to research my way through crisis more than take other peoples advice. But when I need help I would like to know I can find it. I hope with this blog you can find the same.

Let’s Start Over By Defining Financial Freedom!
Financial Freedom does not always mean you are wealthy. Financial freedom means that you are able to pay all your expenses every day of every month of every year without being in debt and in financial worry.

Does that sound like where you want to be?

Financial Freedom should mean to you your own financial comfort and what it takes to be comfortable to you and only you and your family. How wealthy or not wealthy you are should not matter to anyone else. Keeping up with the “Jones” does not mean you are wealthy if you are severely in dept. Material possessions does not mean financial freedom. What you have in “Assets” is financial freedom!

We will be discussing the difference between the two in future posts.
We all can be there someday with some smart financial decisions, some diligent spending and saving.


Does this sound difficult?
It really isn’t so now that I / we commit to focus we can change some of the habits we have had slowly to find a path to financial freedom together. Yes I have had a head start. I have been doing the research and all you have to do is follow some of the options that will be coming up as topics in this blog.

Bookmark This Page and Come Back For More Finding Financial Freedom!




We Have Added Some New Informative Video Below All These Entries!!!