"I get my fitness inside" from Break.com

Life in the 21st Century. Full of the blessings of modern conveniences. Cars, dishwashers, remote controls, SMS, microwave meals. Live life with more time, more energy. Get things done with less effort. Or at least that’s the promise. And yet all these conveniences represent the paradox of modern times.

Modern conveniences are meant to save time. Yet we have less leisure time than ever before.

Modern conveniences are meant to save us energy, yet result in us consuming more energy from the environment. And we are more tired than ever.

The standard of living in the western world has never been higher. Yet we have never been less happy that we are today.

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Of course, if I’d planned ahead and had been more organised, I wouldn’t have been standing in my underwear, grating soap at six o’clock in the morning. And if I had read my menu plan stuck right there on the fridge I would have remembered to defrost the mince this morning and we wouldn’t be eating Dominos.

So many aspects of being frugal require planning ahead and being organised.

Take shopping for example. Finding the best bargains means knowing what you need in advance before it runs out and waiting / shopping around for the best price.

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It’s 6 am.

And I’m grating soap.

I’ve been up since 2. The little fella: fed, bed and then gurgling, grunting, snorting and farting his way to 5 am. Fed, bed.

Now I’m standing in front of the washing machine, shivering in my undies, grating soap so that I can wash another load of nappies.

With sleep-squinted eyes and grated, bloody knuckles, I have a moment of existential angst.

Why?

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If you haven’t already, check out Part One – Taking Stock and Part Two – Goals Setting.

Setting goals is the easy part. The fun part. Now it’s time to take action and achieve those goals. The work part. The most important part. Below are a few tips for ensuring that those New Year’s Resolutions don’t get forgotten, and some ideas on making your goals easier to achieve. Writing all of this out sounds like a lot of work, but as with everything, a bit of work in the beginning makes for smooth sailing for the rest of the year.

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This article follows on from Part One – Taking Stock. 

In this article I’ll go through some tips for setting goals.

Dream Big

Don’t censor yourself at this point, no matter how outrageous your goals are, write them down. This is so much fun. For the moment anything and everything is possible. Dare to write down on paper everything that you want to achieve in the coming year.

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I love new beginnings. Monday, the first day of the month and New Year’s Day. It may seem irrational, but I feel a sense of renewal at these times and have a much more positive outlook. Yesterday is behind me. Looking forward, anything seems possible.

So making New Year’s Resolution (or setting goals for the year) is a process that I look forward to every year.

Setting goals and having a system to work towards them gives purpose to life. Also having and working towards goals is one of the keys to happiness. Many New Year’s resolutions get forgotten by the end of January because there is no easy system in place to ensure we follow through on our resolutions.

This is the process I use to set goals for the coming year. I’ve written about this before, but I thought it would be timely to write about it again now.

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Budgeting is all about recording what you spent your money on.

It can be pretty depressing when you get to the end of the month and think, “If only I didn’t buy all that KFC!”

So for a bit of motivation, try writing down for a month all the things that you didn’t buy and add it up. If you were tempted and had the resolve to say no, then jot it down.

The money you didn’t spend is where your savings come from. It is where the extra debt repayments come from.

So far this month I’ve not bought:

Coffee: $7.40

Magazine: $7.50

Magnum ice creams: $8.00

Pizza: $6.00

Chips: 2.80 (I’ve had a few cravings lately)

Total: $31.70 saved

I also like to note down on our budget the date we buy takeaway. Then it’s a competition to see how many days we can go without buying more. (Takeaway is definitely our downfall! 5 weeks without has been our record.)

Sometimes when I really want something (like Magnum ice creams), I just don’t think about the cost or how much it will affect our budget. I kind of just black that information out for a while. Writing it down is a reminder.

Keeping a record of savings is a great motivator. If the tempting item is something that I think I really want (like new jeans) then I keep a record of it on my wish list and save for it or ask for it for Christmas.

This is just one of the little tricks we use to save money. Do you have any little tricks to save money?