One thing I’ve learned with my education and background in finance is that a lot of women have a lack of knowledge about financial issues. I was that person. I didn’t understand what a budget was. All I knew was I’d go to work, I had my rent, I had my car note, I had my light bill, but I never understood my income vs. my expenses. When I was younger, of course, I was trying to figure out, “Why is my car being repossessed?” The answer was because I was not bringing in enough money to cover payments. If we were never educated on those things, it will continue to be a cycle.
As I went through life, being a mother, being a wife, I started learning. When you have life experiences, they change you. When I started going to college and studying accounting, I started learning about finances and income vs. expenses. I am to the point now where I can share with other women to help them get these things in order. It’s never too late. Sometimes women feel that because they may have reached a certain age bracket, they think, “Oh, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m not going to focus on my retirement because I’m at this age. It doesn’t matter.” It does matter.
I’ve also learned there is one thing we can never retrieve: time. We can never go back, four months ago, five months ago. Regardless of where you are, you may have made errors in the past, but start today. We all say, “I’ll do this two weeks from now” or “I’m going to start when 2020 comes.” We all make those new year resolutions. No, you can start today!
My children think I am crazy because I love crockpots. I use crockpots because that helps keep me from stopping at McDonalds or going to Applebees four or five times a week. So now I’ll get up at 5:00 am, and I’ll put the chicken in the crockpot, a vegetable and some rice. That’s a full meal and that works for me. Those of us who work in corporate America, you can have McDonald’s for breakfast, then for lunch you and your co-workers go to Applebee’s or Ruby Tuesdays and then you get off work in the evening, and you’re tired, the kids may have football practice, and you don’t want to go home and cook, so now you’re eating out again, right?
Everyone at some point needs to have a refresher on budgeting.
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