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A Life of Honest Connection

Thursday, April 26, 2012

21 Days of Financial Freedom --- Shattering how to Shift Your Thinking. . .

I've lost count on what day I'm supposed to be on . . . oops. No worries, I am just going to keep going.



One thing that has always suffered due to my financial rollercoaster is my commitment to working out and eating right. When I feel secure in my finances and have enough money, I am pretty consistently working out. I love Cardio Barre classes. They are an amped up ballet class that is a total body workout, low impact, core strengthening, great cardio workout! They never get easy, you get stronger, but because your body is the main weight you're working out with, you continue to find the workout challenging. I'm never bored and it makes me feel like a dancer again. I LOVE dancing. (Something else I don't do enough of because I don't have the money to take classes)

The other day I had an AHA moment. There is one thing I typically don't even think twice about spending money on; eating out and drinking alcohol. Which in all honesty usually isn't something that's all that good for me. I don't make great choices when I eat out. Throw a few glasses of wine down my gullet (I just used the word gullet and wine in one sentence) and my choices in food selection get even worse. The next day I feel terrible about my choices, beat myself up and want to go workout. But, I don't. I can't afford it remember?

 Here's the aha moment. . . what if I took that money I used on eating poorly and drinking wine to pay for exercise classes? I can easily spend upwards of $50 a week eating out and drinking, so why not shift that money to Cardio Barre classes? At $16 a pop that easily covers 3 classes at Cardio Barre.  3 times a week at CB would be ideal and it would be hard, but I would be able to regain the muscle I lost being injured pretty quickly.  I would feel better about myself, my skin would glow, I'd have more energy and I'd be in a great mood which would ultimately all magnetize more money, better opportunities and acting gigs into my world. . . a brilliant little circle that seemed like a vicious cycle before!

Can we talk for a moment about the cost of eating healthy? It's an argument we hear over and over that the reason some people are overweight is because they simply can't afford to buy healthy things. My number one argument to this has become Quinoa. Have you ever MADE quinoa? It's super simple, easy and delicious, not to mention has a ton of protein and great nutrients in it. . . but number one. . . a CUP of quinoa makes a ridiculous amount.  You can usually get 2-3 cups out of a package that costs $3.99.  Though once its made it provides almost double that. If I had a large family that I was struggling to feed you can guarantee that I would be making that frequently. There are a few other things I can think of that would be easy to supplement into your life that are easy to make as well as provide lots of nutrition. Lentils. Black Beans.

One of my favorite easy to make and delicious to eat meals can be made in under 10 minutes. I take a medium sized saucepan, toss in a can of Black Beans, Broccoli Florets, tomatoes, chopped asparagus, chopped onion, and any other vegetables I have and want to use. Stir it up. Put a lid on it and cook at a medium heat for 5-8 minutes. The lid provides a little bit of steam which softens the vegetables and mixes the flavors together! Done. High in protein and nutrients from veggies.

There really are no reasons to not eat healthy and work out, just excuses.

I read "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" by Kris Carr recently and in it she said, "Think of yourself at a young age, as an impressionable child. How would you treat that child if you were its parent? Of course you would want to feed that child the best food, make sure they got a lot of sunshine, slept enough at night and drank enough water." I'm paraphrasing, but when I read that it just made so much sense. I will definitely be taking better care of my inner child as well as my exterior adult self. It just makes life so much easier!

Anyone want to do a 21 day adventure cleanse with me? Starting soon! Pick up your copy of Kris Carr's "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" and get ready!! It's an ADVENTURE cleanse! Just sounds fun!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

21 Days of Financial Freedom ~ Shattering Resistance to Change

Day 5, 6 annnnnnnnnnddddd 7.

So, it's been 3 days. 3 days since I was going to write everyday. . . and Its been three days since my last blog. Sure, I've been busy, picking up extra shifts, catching up on money and working on being better with my money.

I am in resistance.
I am in resistance to this process and there's a part of me that's in resistance to moving forward in my life. Why?

This is not a new thing for me, I've felt myself do this before. I can recognize this. It's manifested in me losing 40 lbs and becoming a size 8, close to hitting my goal of a size 6, and then I get off track and find myself lingering around a 12 again. I was going to say that was probably because I broke my ankle and couldn't work out, but that just feels like an excuse now. And not a good one.

So, here I am in resistance to looking at my accounts every day and jotting down how this journey is going. The string of hits continue to come and I can't imagine how much more can happen. I can't seem to stop the snowball of bad luck. Just this morning I had to replace a tire on my 1 year old car because there was a massive bolt in it just off the side of the treads, a place they can't repair the tire. . . This is the second tire I've had to replace in the last two months. . . adding itself to the list of expenses that I can't really seem to get on top of lately.

I've been focusing on my lack of abundance and money a LOT lately and as someone who believes that my thoughts create my life, I better get a hold of the runaway negativity before it gets worse. How do you change your perspective when you're feeling stressed about money? Do you have any tips, hints or ideas? Forcing yourself to focus on the good in your life?

Maybe for the remainder of this experiment I will try the "Gratitude and Grateful List" at night? You know, the one where before you go to bed you make a list of ten things you're grateful for and three things that went right in your day?

That sounds like a plan. Starting now.

10 Things I'm grateful for.
1. My supportive family.
2. My rad, sexy 2011 Black Honda Civic.
3. The cute, quaint, adorable 2 bedroom house I rent in Los Feliz, a kick ass, creative, walkable neighborhood.
4. My ability to walk.
5. A job that provides me with health insurance.
6. A new job with Wine and Canvas that is bringing joy to people's lives and meeting new friends.
7. A loving boyfriend.
8. Great friends who can provide tough love and unending support.
9. The success of my short film.
10. My creative ability to write.

3 Things that have gone well today so far:
1. I got my hair done in order to look good for the Indie Spirit Film Festival.
2. I took my little dog Audrey for a 40 minute walk.
3. I wrote this blog.

That actually does make me feel better. Finished up with an affirmation from Jack Plotnick:

I release and destroy my need to feel unworthy. I know that I am worthy of all the good in life and now lovingly allow myself to accept it. As I repeat this affirmation my outer effect of procrastination fades away and I no longer feel the need to delay my own good.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

21 Days of Financial Honesty -- Shattering Integrity and Your Money

Day 3 and Day 4.



So easy to slide back into old patterns, that's why I'm doing this for 21 days, because they say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I did not look at my account yesterday. Doh. Nothing catastrophic happened, but its something I want to put into practice everyday. Not only does it give me more control over my money, but it also allows me to make sure that no one has committed fraud with my Debit card #. Apparently Visa just had a bunch of credit card numbers stolen because just a few days ago I got a new debit card in the mail just in case my # was one of the stolen cards. Looking at my account everyday enables me to make sure that there are no transactions on my account that I did not make. I was actually a victim of fraud earlier this year and luckily the Credit Union was on top of it and called me, right away, on a Sunday to double check and see if I've made three purchases at the KMart in Valencia. To which I would like to say to the people who committed the fraud and copied my debit card, Don't be an IDIOT. . . three purchases in one place, one right after the other is a RED FLAG. . .  sheesh. At least they're morons.

I have recently made the realization that I can not generate abundance in my life if its not on the up and up. That's where the integrity part of this blog comes in today. In 2007 and 2008 I went to a shady tax man. Everyone at my work had utilized him and some had been audited, but it didn't seem like a big deal. I chose to use him for those tax years because I work at a high end restaurant and we used to get paid in cash. While we reported all of the money we made, there was never enough to take out of our paychecks, which consisted only of the hourly $8.25 rate we made for the 25- 30 hours a week we worked. In order to avoid having to pay taxes I went to a shady tax man. BAD CALL. I now know that if my brain knows its not in integrity I will create problems for myself.

I was audited and am currently paying back over $4000 that I owe to the IRS and the State of California for those years. Here's the thing, it just wasn't worth it. I only got back maybe $600 one of the years and not much more the others. To be honest if I had ended up paying the taxes that i owed it probably would have been a fraction of the money I'm now paying back, but a scorned IRS does not like to play nice. I tried to argue with them for a few years and after sending endless amounts of paperwork back and forth I finally caved and said, forget it, its worth more of my peace of mind to simply straighten it out.

The tax man was not without fault because besides taking some crazy deductions, that I just didn't pay attention to . . . once again, checked out, disconnected and just HOPING that things would pan out. . . I also think he made a mistake on one of the years and somehow counted my income as $88,000 instead of $44,000. No matter how many times I asked about it he never really understood what I was saying.

Perhaps I could have gone a different route and hired a tax attorney to help me work it out, but like I said after the two year battle and then constant self-punishment for using a shady tax man I just resolved myself to owning up to it and paying it back.

A lesson learned that I won't soon forget. If its not in integrity, even if it seems lucrative in the moment and I could desperately use the money, I probably shouldn't do it, because inevitably its going to come back and bite me in the arse.


Sunday, April 8, 2012

21 Days of Financial Honesty - Shattering the Overdraft Fees

Day 2. Financial Honesty.

Overdraft fees.

They make no sense to me. Overdraft fees were something I got when I first moved to Los Angeles and I was struggling to make ends meet and Wells Fargo were complete asses that charged an arm and a leg for each one. I quickly got my act together, left Wells Fargo, joined a credit union and vowed never again.

To my alarm, as I was gathering my deductions for my taxes I noticed an alarming number at the bottom of my Statement. There at the bottom was a "Year to Date- Overdraft Fee" box. I thought hmmm, I don't remember getting too many. . . shouldn't be that bad. . . $1000. I had over $1000 in Overdraft Fees last year. Do you KNOW how much I could USE $1000 right now?!

To my chagrin this year has begun much in the same way. I vowed to stop getting overdraft fees in 2012 but my year has not started off that great. I don't know what I was thinking, but in a weird, roundabout way, I thought it was better to pay my bills on time, and just accrue the fees if I didn't have quite enough in my account to cover them. WHAT THE HELL? Most of the late fees on my bills are $15. Here I was getting things paid in a responsible manner but paying a $25 Overdraft Fee at the same time instead of just getting a $5-$15 late fee on the bill. Most of the time if I call the people I owe money to, they just make a note of it, charge the late fee and they wait for the money to show up.

Also, I hate Overdraft FEES and I think they are mean and do NOTHING to help people who are perhaps struggling to get by. I get it, from a business point of view, but I think they've gotten a little out of hand. I think they are strictly a way for Credit Union's and Banks to make money off of people for NOW GOOD REASON. Most of the time they create a greater problem. This last month, I had to pay my $300 car bill three weeks late because I didn't have the money, but over the last month I was charged about $250 in Overdraft fees! That's almost enough to pay the car bill!!! AHHHHH!! In money I will NEVER GET BACK!!!

Don't even get me started on the vicious circle of debt that they can create. Watch my video blurb to hear more.




Now that we've ranted. . . What can I do in my new found Financial honesty to stop getting late fees. STOP spending money that I don't have. Wait until I have the money to pay the bill or get a money order when I have the money and that way, it gets deducted from my account without having to wait for checks to clear or the dust to settle on all pending transactions. I mentioned in my blog yesterday that a lot of this had to do with not keeping track of the money I had spent in my checking account. BIG no, no that I will never do again. I downloaded a simple app on my iPhone called, iCash Tracker to act as an electronic cash register and tell me how much money I ACTUALLY have to spend. I hope this solves my problem because I HATE giving credit unions and banks my money for NOTHING> NOTHING> NOTHING. There are so many amazing places I could go and things I could buy if I just saved that money and never got another Overdraft Fee in my life.

I'm done getting fees. What about you? Have you sworn fees out of your life? Join me won't you, though the execs at your bank might not be too happy, the money you have left over for a massage will definitely be worth it.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

21 Days of Financial Honesty - Will the SECRET be my downfall?

My financial life is in shambles. It is falling apart. I am fully and completely to blame.

I am a 32 year old woman who prides herself on her ability to work a "support while I make it" job as I chase my dream of being a working actress in film and television. I fully, 100% believe that I create my own reality. . . so how did I end up here?

Here begins Day ONE of 21 Days of Financial Honesty.
First the facts . . .
I am 32 years old.
I work a pretty good job at a swanky restaurant in West Hollywood that has health insurance.
I lease a sweet 2011 Honda Civic.
I have $50 in my savings account.
I live pay check to pay check.
I rent a 2 bedroom, 1 bath Craftsman house in a really great neighborhood of Los Angeles that I rent with a roommate.
I have $8,000 in credit card debt.
I owe the IRS $3000 because I was audited a few years back.
I had to ask my parents for money.
I am 32 years old. 

I have never been in a financial situation that I was seriously worried about. I'm a little bit worried now. So, what happened? How did I get here? I have lived for 10 years in Los Angeles supporting myself and my dream. I've been blessed in the job department, though the two restaurants that I've worked at are restaurants and not acting gigs as I would like, they are pretty easy gigs, which provided me with a stable (ish) income, great friends and health insurance. The last few years I've been able to work 25-30 hours a week, taking vacation whenever I want to and leaving my days open for auditions.

Why now? Why does this all feel like the world is crashing around me now? Let's be honest, I haven't had the greatest year, struck down by a broken ankle, I was on disability for 6 months, which, while it provided a pretty good income, it did not cover all of my bills. Turns out I have a pretty high overhead.

I am going to blog about this for 21 days as I examine WHAT HAPPENED? How did I get here? What can I do? and How can I fix it?

NUMBER ONE ---- IGNORE IT and it WILL GO AWAY. . . .
This does not actually work in the financial world. As I mentioned previously I believe in the power of the mind to create your own reality, however, the risk of the SECRET is that its almost impossible to believe you have unending streams of abundance if you can't afford to go out to dinner, buy a new dress when you want to, put gas in your car, you get the idea. There is no one in the world who has such control over their thoughts so much so that you can attract abundance as you pray that your car makes it home on the remaining gas fumes you have. ESPECIALLY since they say your feelings are the number one attractor to creating your world.

I have a horrible habit on NOT looking at the reality of my finances. LITERALLY, looking at my bank account. So, for the next 21 days. I vow to ACTUALLY look at my bank account, everyday, online, so I KNOW what's in there, what I can spend and to make sure that no one else has stolen my debit card and went on a free for all at the KMARTS up in Valencia, which happened to me earlier this year. It really has been one hell of a year.

I also vow to keep track of all of the purchases I have made on my debit card. Remember the good old days when you wanted to access your bank account you had to actually write a check and then while you were standing in line at the grocery store you could fill out the Check register and write down how much money you spent? Each week you could sit down and subtract all of those transactions and know exactly how much you spent? Do you know how long it took me to remember that that thing was called a "Check Register"? Because we don't use them anymore. . . well, maybe some people do. I downloaded a free app on my iPhone called iCASH TRACKER. ALL it does is track the money in my bank account, I input a starting amount, track when I use my debit card and deposit money and it keeps a running tally for me. So I know that if my landlord hasn't cashed the rent check yet, I ONLY have $50 left to spend, not the $1000 that I THINK I have. . .

Which leads me to rack up an embarrassing amount of OVERDRAFT FEES . . . which I will blog about tomorrow.

What about you? How's your financial health these days? We spend so much time focusing on our physical health and the health of the nation, but how's your FINANCIAL health? Are you able to actually attract abundance into your world because you have control of your finances? I'm so jealous of you if you are and aspire to be just like you.

The other day I got an email from Danielle LaPorte the author of Fire Starter Sessions and someone who KNOWS how to create abundance. According to her website she used to book personal one on one coaching sessions with people for $1000 an hour. This is a woman who knows her value and has her finances worked out! Her Burning Question of the day was, What's the best piece of advice you've been given. . . it boiled down to this.

"When you 'think' it's a crisis, you've got to ask yourself: is any of this going to matter in three years?" Then you do what you got to do.
When I think about this financial crisis I'm pretty sure it won't even register in three years.  But you can be damn sure that I'm going to do what I got to do.



Check out more of her brilliance at www.daniellelaporte.com

Have you looked at your account online today? I have.