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.
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