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The Everies Reminder Blog

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EVERIES REMINDER 27, looking at money (Part 3)

26/10/2015

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Now that  you have a full month of Counting done in categories, let’s look at money afresh & see if we can move it around so you live within your means and nurture your priorities.
  1. Collect your Counting book, a pencil and calculator, and sit where you’ll be able to concentrate & groan. (I know, you’re sitting at the computer, but do the best you can so that Part 3 of this mini-series is not too much of a strain.)
  2. Add all the In column entries to get the Net (after tax) Total Income, even if it’s from several streams with or without up-front tax deductions.
  • It would be nice to work with gross figures, but if the tax office has already taken its share, there’s really not much point, for our purposes.
  • Estimate Net where necessary, erring on the side of caution.
   3.   Add all the Out column entries to get Total Outgo for the month.

Which is higher? Income or Outgo?
(I don’t need to tell you which it should be, but whichever it is, defer judgement or assumptions for now, and read on.)

   4.  
Add up each individual category to get its sub-total, and write these in your Counting Book where you can see them all at once, in one column or row.
  • If you have too many categories with fiddly amounts in them, combine so you have 10 or fewer.
Bear in mind what I wrote in Everies Reminder 26 about categorising.

   5.  Look at these categories & their totals.
Do the figures seem proportionate to your priorities?
That is, higher for high priorities, minimal for the rest? The funny part about this step is that you won’t even need a calculator to tell you. This is one of those times when gut feeling works fine, up to a point. You’ll resent some expenses just looking at them! Others can make you feel wistful, smug or even chirpy!
However, these feelings may change after you do the next bit, so don’t take them too seriously. Humble pie is free, but it tastes like ... well, here’s the next bit:

​   6.  Draw these on a bar graph, like this:
Picture
I've put a useable copy of this Counting Graph on the DIY page for you to play with. Make up your own if you’re handy with spreadsheets, or just draw it in your Counting Book.

Then all you have to do is this:

   A.  To live within your means, simply squish the tall orange bar down so it’s lower than the green bar.
  • Really, it’s that simple. The discipline for how to do that, and the actual maths involved might be hard, but all you have to do is find a way to spend less in different categories so that Total Outgo becomes less than Total Income.
That’s why I’ve called it Outgo instead of Expenses – to remind you that these are mostly not fixed ‘things’ one is stuck with. Outgo is an action that you can bring under control, little by little.
By the same token, I should probably have called Income something more proactive – Earnings might do, but the focus here is on watching the money flow in and out & seeing where it’s imbalanced (if so).


   B.  The other way to live within your means, of course, is to whoosh the green bar up above the orange one! Even then, you’ll benefit from reducing unhelpful outgo first, so you’ll have even more money to play with once you find a new or better source of income.
 
  • To nurture your priorities, you’ll have to get a bit more creative with the short orange bars. Look them over.
  • Do any show obvious conflicts? Say, too much going out on Entertainment and too little on Health?
Depending on your priorities, you can either divert money from one to the other, or change the nature of activity within a category – it’s up to you how, but shift the money around so it’s doing you more good.
  • Maybe you can’t reduce the cost of your dwelling – whether rent or mortgage, but perhaps you could bring in a boarder, or consider downsizing, moving out of town...
  • When you’ve balanced these out better, can you ethically hold back a small amount from some area and spend it in a new, neglected category, like a forgotten hobby? (There’s that 50c again: Regularly spend directed savings on something that makes you feel increasingly fantastic!)
There’s a great deal written on this subject. Look for material that helps you see your idea of reward for your labours – this is the best financial incentive. I’ve been a bookkeeper, but I’m no financial advisor. I’m just helping you look, declutter & organise.

Well done on getting through these long posts.
Hope you find it easier to look at money now!
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EVERIES REMINDER 26, looking at money (Part 2)

18/10/2015

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​If you’ve been Counting since Looking at Money (Part 1), you will have now recorded a month of spending – and earning – to look at. During this month you will have engaged in most categories of everyday spending. You’ll be able to see where your money goes and turn the exercise into a planning tool (Part 3) instead of purely recording.
Do the following steps to prepare you for Part 3 (then continue Counting for a few days to make sure it all looks right).
  1. Read down your category list, looking for any expenses that don’t quite fit. Let’s say you put ‘Dining out’ for both a takeaway meal and a date.
    1. Strictly speaking, neither of these are ‘dining out’ in intent. One reflects ‘not preparing my own food’, while the other is about ‘looking for a partner’. Going out with friends to try a new restaurant would be a more proper example of ‘dining out’ when we’re talking about why you spent the money on it.
  2. Therefore, adjust any of the categories you’ve assigned so that what you were trying to do or achieve at the time is more accurately listed.
  3. Next, cover any annual or quarterly allocations for bills.
    1. List them in the back of your Counting book in pencil (so you can always add to or change items in this ‘Annuals’ list and recalculate).
    2. Write the annual amounts in the column next to your listed items.
      If you’re not sure of the cost this year, base it on past years and round it up generously. For example, if an annual upgrade or membership was $75 last year, put $100. This will help cover unforeseen expenses, too.
    3. Add all those together to get the total annual sum.
      ​(Horrifying, isn't it?)
    4. Write it at the bottom of the column.
    5. Then divide the total amount by 12 to get the monthly amount you would ideally set aside to cover each of these big bills when they come in.
      Say $2400 ÷ 12 = $200.
    6. Put that figure in this month’s Counting, categorised as “Big-Bills”.
Likewise, if you had one of those big bills this month, divide that up appropriately so that the amount in the $ column of your Counting book only reflects what the monthly allocation would have been.
Make sure you are including all this month’s income: tips, commissions, side-business drawings, the lot.

Picture

​If you had an unexpected windfall, I’ll have to let you work out how to apply that to one month, depending on the amount and cause of the windfall.

If in doubt: Underestimate Income, Overestimate Outgo.
If there are any surprises later, you'll want them to be pleasant!
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EVERIES REMINDER 25, body maintenance

16/10/2015

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Your body should last you a long time if you maintain it properly. Exercising it in various ways is one action you can do towards that. Today, diarise a schedule of your choosing to prompt you to physically exercise.
(I’ll talk about mental exercise in another post, but will mention now that walking is my favourite way to do both at once. I can’t recommend it highly enough.)
 
Physical Exercise
If you have an exercise routine, do something on it today, & diarise the next sessions for this month.
  • If you don’t usually exercise, seek out good exercise safety guidelines to help you start. 

Women readers, pay special attention to the above guideline's warning on ​‘Double leg raises’.
The alternative looks interesting.
A note about links:
Links merely suggest information that appears reliable.
​Think for yourself when following anyone’s advice.
E-safety Tip:
​You can right-click a link and copy the address to paste it into a browser address bar, as a safer alternative to direct clicking.
This is also useful if the link no longer works – you can trace back through the pasted address to the site’s home page.
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EVERIES REMINDER 24, gizmo maintenance

8/10/2015

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I'm just staggering in to do this post. Rather shaken after a near-computer-crash. And the danger’s not over yet. Ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud, goes my little heart – in all the wrong ways.

Thankfully, all my backups are up to date, so this seems a good time to mention gizmo maintenance. You’ll see that some steps can be done while you’re getting on with your Weekly Wrap-up or Cleaning. Set a time frame to do the others, or they will really burn up hours:
  • Physically clean any electronic equipment per its instructions.
  • Recharge all battery-run gizmos – phones, cameras, etc.
  • Run any overdue scans.
  • Install any outstanding updates that you trust. (My near-crash was associated with auto-updates, so seek expert advice on this one!)
  • Clean up electronic files –
    • Declutter email folders.
    • Declutter e-folders; start by deleting disused or duplicate files within them, and moving important older material to archive folders. E.g., ‘YYYY Name’ as in, 2013 Tax Records.
    • Review your folder- and file-naming system to ensure it'll make sense when you’re searching around for records.
  • Make backups of everything!
    ​(This should be ongoing, but double-check now.)

Again, call in an expert if you're unsure of how to do steps safely.
Run through them every month to keep e-clutter from building up.
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EVERIES REMINDER 23, Quarterly Planning

6/10/2015

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If you’re looking for something to do to close the weekend off, why not plan out the next 3 months? The busy social season is coming up! Even if Christmas and New Year are not a big feature in your life, it’s hard to avoid the changes this quarter brings – in workplaces, social & business circles, & in shopping patterns.

Navigate these without losing pace on your own plans, by diarising appointments with yourself to attend to projects and ongoing tasks. Then keep those appointments as though the person waiting for you is the most important, most demanding person in your circle! You don't want to kiss them off ;-)

My Everies Learning Curve Bookmarks are a handy way to incorporate such planning into your regular diary entries.
(The product link above has been updated on 31.7.17 to replace the Financial Year Diary mentioned in the original post.)


Especially, keep up the Counting!
I’m keen to give you Part 2 about that, but there’s a little way to go yet.
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everies reminder 22, diarise your plans

3/10/2015

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Just a quick one -- my 2nd-quarter Everies Perpetual Reminder Diary is now available in the store. Here's a sample page:
Picture
Hope you like it!

Whether you use this one or a different type, ensure you diarise your plans ahead of those imposed on you by others or life in general. If you don't put your plans first, and give yourself the orders to carry them out, who will??

Make next quarter work on your side :-)
​
Cheers,
​Heidi
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