Broke Ass Financial Coaching: Spending Revolution
While being young, broke and beautiful is all well and good, some people’s finances are more jacked than others. That’s why we’ve invited Betsy Crouch (aka Coach $izzle) to come onboard and dole out some much needed advice. She is a professional financial coach after all. If you’ve got a question you’d like answered please email her at coachsizzle@brokeassstuart.com. Maybe your question will be the next one answered.
'œWhat makes life interesting is not the things you own.' '“ Stuart
'œWhere could I cut my monthly expenses outside of home and transportation expenses?' '“ T.
Some of you have a need to cut monthly expenses due to a decrease or elimination of income. Others would like to save more, put more money towards debt, or have money to spend on other things. Let’s look at where you are spending your money right now. Remember, if you are paid for your time working, then you are exchanging your energy for income. Money is energy. Exchanging money is an exchange of energy.
If you are not in a dire situation, I would challenge you to think about where your money is going first, before you look to decrease your expenses. When you think about supporting organizations and companies who you feel are contributing positively to your community, may you want to spend more money supporting them and their products or services, right? We are in this together. When money is tight do you spend time socializing less or do you cut out buying 'œstuff,' you don’t need? Do you cut down your cable plan or do you cut out taking a cab/haircut/acupuncture/restaurants. I would argue that it is better to cut out the television completely and still spend money on services that individuals in your community provide you. What if they make the same choice? What if you both make the opposite choice?
Make a list of the last 15 companies you patronized.
Which companies do you buy from? Which bars and restaurants do you patronize? Who do these companies support? Do you know? Do you care? Do these companies support you? You’re smart, would you buy something from someone who was rude or mean to you, or hurtful to someone or something you care about?
If we all think that we need to stop spending money then we are cutting off the flow of energy. I am not saying, 'œgo buy stuff you don’t need to stimulate the economy!' Spend your money intentionally. 'œThe need to ensure that every dollar spent counts has never been more important,' says hrc.org. You will spend money on 'œthings' sometimes, and there is no way that we can know everything that happens behind the factory doors of every company we support. However there are some pretty sweet guides, here are some which are aligned with my values:
'¢ Good Guide for healthy, green, and safe products.
'¢ Buying for (LGBT) Equality, See which companies support LGBT rights.
'¢ Eat Well Guide, Guide for local, sustainable, and organic food.
'¢ Ethical Consumerism, and Sweatshop free shopping guide.
Search for other guides online that may be aligned with your values and priorities to help you make decisions.
Wanna do some good things with your money and spend time with people?
Carrotmob is a network of consumers who buy products in order to reward businesses who are making the most socially responsible decisions.
Now, I know you have been wondering, this is a lot of talk about spending money and spending time with people for a question that is about cutting expenses! Ok here are two. Taking action on two tips is better than reading 10 tips.
* Save money, drink water out of a reusable water bottle.
* Call every company you receive a monthly bill from, ask them for a lower rate. A client of mine just did this and negotiated with six different companies and ended up saving $277 per month as a result = $3324 savings over 12 months. Email me with your results and I will pick one person to win a year long subscription to Ode Magazine.
'œI am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.' '“ MLK Jr., 'œBeyond Vietnam,' April 4th, 1967.
Questions, comments? Coachsizzle@brokeassstuart.com
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