Financial Wellness Journal: How to Create a Budget, Save Money & Get Out of Debt

Reflection #1: Money and Me 

Money History 

My earliest memory about money dates back to the time when I was around seven years old. My mother was a cleaner in the city of Lockhart, Texas, the United States of America while my dad worked as an accountant in the city of Austin, Texas. My parents used to talk about money openly as they planned for the monthly budget for the house as well as my siblings and I. with time; I learned that people with money generally afford more luxuries than the people without money do. Besides, people with money tend to have a say in the way of running their lives and investing in many different ventures (Apergis & Cooray, 2017). 

Money Mindset 

When people are talking about money, I become comfortable with the conversation and try to be updated as much as possible particularly when the people talking about it target the new ways of earning money. When the word "money" is mentioned, the first word that comes to my mind is freedom. The freedom comes from the wealth that money offers individuals and the choice to ascribe to particular beliefs and standards. The last time I felt guilty about expenditure was when I paid $ 1000 for internet service in a month. My mother did not like that kind of expenditure and termed it as “reckless”. I felt guilty since I did not have a solid plan for the house, I purchased from an investment perspective. 

Money Present 

I make careful decisions when I plan on spending money. When I make payments such as utilities and bills, I feel like a part of my earnings have been wiped out and the desire to economize on the same expenditures coms up forcing me to think of the ways that I can reduce the amount I spend each month. I always strive to spend my money in ways that matter to me and make me comfortable without wasting the available money. 

Spending Tracking 

Reflection #2: Spending Tracking 

Whenever I thought of tracking money before, it came off as an easy process that involves just the tracking of the money, I make in a specific period against the expenses I incur in the same period. I have never tracked my two weeks spending before. I tracked my spending by analyzing the particular expenditure items that contributed to the utilities and bills I have to pay once or twice per month. Then I found out the daily cost of each of the expenditures by dividing the total cost of the expenses per month. Then I multiplied the daily cost of expenditures by 14 to get the two weeks amount spent. I realized that I spend $ 750 on the mortgage each month, which translates to $ 375 in two weeks, and I spend an average of $ 750 in two weeks eating out. My two weeks tracked expenditure suggests that I use $ 0 in two weeks for the grooming of pets. I need to use more on the same since I enjoy having more pets around the house to reduce the sense of loneliness and boredom that is there sometimes. 

March Money Goals 

For March, the following are the three money goals I have. Firstly, I want to save at least $ 1000 for the purchase of a laptop. The goal will ensure I focus more on my financial stability as well as having more to Invest in online jobs that I will do from the comfort of my apartment using my new laptop and the internet service (Law et al., 2018). To accomplish the goal, I will need to reduce my expenses within March. The other money goal that I have is the increase in the amount of money that I use for the care of pets. I have realized that the amount of money that I set aside for the pets is not enough and as a person who loves pets, I would like them to be more maintained than they are. My other goal for the month is to reduce the amount of mortgage I pay per month (Law et al., 2018). I will strive to make extra money, which will enable me to pay off my mortgage and increase my monthly savings. 

Reflection #3: Money Media 

I like to associate myself with the dollar millionaires from the United States of America and the rest of the world as I aspire to be a millionaire some day. For that reason, I chose a YouTube video that talks about the five steps of becoming a millionaire. The link to the video is as follows: 

https://youtu.be/Iq4qASI1Fok 

I chose the money media above since it provides a step by step analysis to the path that people desiring to be millionaires can follow and be updated on the recent trends in the world that provide business opportunities and ideas for the millionaires. I looked for the topic "money management" on YouTube to get the results that directed me to the selected media. The best quote in the video was "If you don't get the money right, you don't get the sales…" according to the quote provided, it is evident that millionaires have a particular way of making money work for them by first understanding how money works and then implementing the functionality of money in the system (Rosa et al., 2018). I would gladly share the media with any of my friends who aspire to manage their money better. 

Reflection #4: March Money Goals 

The creation of the budget followed careful scrutiny of the expenses that I have per month including the utilities and the bills, and the income that I earn per month as upkeep from my parents. It was challenging to stick to the budget especially when it comes to the management of the utilities. With the money goals in mind, it was easier for me to stick to the budget that I had assigned for the month since each time I was almost going astray, I reminded myself that I had goals to fulfill. I made sure that I thought more than twice in setting my money goals to ensure that they were specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and time-bound. I followed the money goals strictly without deviation, which proved difficult at first, but with time, I was able to stick to the money management goals that I had set for the month. I want to continue the money goals into the future months. 

Reflection #5: My Money Future 

Currently, I have an income of $ 8150 per month from my parents. Each month, I have to ensure that I save at least a quarter of the money except March where I had to save more than $ 1000 to buy a laptop I have been eyeing for the past few months. I feel optimistic about money and my money spending and saving habits. For instance, I feel that once I understand how money works, it is easy for me to have the money working for me such as in my online jobs and I will only have to think about multiplying the money to have more streams of income. I have been saving money to develop a platform where my fellow students at the college can access moderately-paying online jobs (Ksendzova, Donnelly & Howell, 2017). In a year's time, I plan to have my net worth increase to $ 50,000. To get there, I will have to begin by reducing my expenses, increasing my streams of income, associating myself with millionaires, and focusing on positive self-talk. 

References  

Apergis, N., & Cooray, A. (2017). Economic Freedom and Income Inequality: Evidence from a Panel of Global Economies—A Linear and a Non‐Linear Long‐Run Analysis. The Manchester School , 85 (1), 88-105. 

Ksendzova, M., Donnelly, G. E., & Howell, R. T. (2017). A Brief Money Management Scale and Its Associations with Personality, Financial Health, And Hypothetical Debt Repayment. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning , 28 (1), 62-75. 

Law, M., Thirani, M., Rollins, S., Joshi, A., & Banerjee, N. (2018, April). Understanding Home Energy Saving Recommendations. In International Conference on Persuasive Technology (pp. 297-309). Springer, Cham. 

Rosa, C. M., Marks, L. D., LeBaron, A. B., & Hill, E. J. (2018). Multigenerational Modeling of Money Management. Journal of Financial Therapy , 9 (2), 5.