Who's Kid is This?!?!

Your walking up the cereal isle at your the grocery store of your choice, minding your own business looking for the Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Quietly you are being a good shopper and seeing just how many pennies an ounce you save on the big box verses the small. It never fails that then, while you are deep in thought, someone stops beside you with the their four year old strapped to the seat of the buggy. It is never just a normal four year old is it? NO, it is always the four year old of terror, with the loudest lungs ever given to a child and he or she is using them in all their glory! "I WANT THE ONE WITH A TOY!!!!!," screams the little ankle biter. You turn and expect to see the mom or dad being the parent they should be and smack the little one and teach them to be respectful, however that's not how it happens is it? Instead mom or dad just does not have the energy in them to give the child what he or she deserves, instead they give them EXACTLY what they do not deserve...the cereal of choice.

They next day you are walking in the Supercenter and you pass the toy isle. In the middle of the floor is little Johnny, lying in the floor, acting like a kid that is well on his way to becoming one of life's greatest screw ups. "I WANT THE GAME!!!," he screams. Dad being the dad he should be (sarcasm) does not want to cause a scene (or doesn't care) and simply gives Johnny the game.

Now as you read this everyone is thinking, "what's this guy's problem" however, everyone also had a memory pop in your mind very clearly of an instance like this. Maybe even your own kid.

This post is not to bash parents or their children. It is to simply make a point. How many of us have found ourselves standing in the DVD section, the new clothes section, the hunting or fishing store, or looking at that beautiful new purse, and all of a sudden the kid we described shows up. No not in person, but inside of us. WE start screaming and pitching a fit in the floor of our mind. We work hard, we watch every penny, and then the nail in the coffin statement, "I deserve this."

Honestly, many of us do work hard, watch every penny and do deserve the item, however we do not deserve the struggle that comes with impulse buys. Impulse purchases are the reason so many of us are so deep in the debt pit. Americans have thousands of dollars in credit card debt and most of us have no idea where from where it came. As we continue this fight to solve the problem of having Too Much Month, this is the single most important area we must over come. We must concur. We must defeat and kill.

I actually get to write this tonight with a touch of pride. Tonight my wife was so excited about getting to get the Black Friday ads and map our where we need to go to purchase gifts. Before we would have just went around blindly spending money on every "good deal." I challenge each of you and myself to gain this discipline. Fight the urge to impulse. Keep the fight to win and never again have Too Much Month!!!

WHERE TO START?

My story is simple from the outside looking inward. Kid grows up in a great family, family teaches kid all core values which include living on less than you make, kid grows up and ignores these teachings. That part of my story may be different than yours. The inward looking out part of my story is most likely very similar to most of yours; so let's give it a try. Kid grows up in a family that has a good home, good car, gets to go out and enjoy life. Kid then grows up and is on their own and wants to maintain the same life. Kid acts like a kid and gets the same life... at a price. To get these things the kid has to sell his or her soul. You may be thinking that is a little drastic. I don't. Seeing first hand through myself and my former job I have seen "kids" come into the bank in horrible financial shape asking for even more. They were willing to sell their souls for just a small loan to buy some new stupid toy. Then the banks, maybe because they have such a soft heart for kids wanting toys, would look at their "I love debt score" (thanks for the quote Dave Ramsey), ask for proof of income... sometimes (keep in mind many times people would go to the local office supply store and create a fake pay stub), then give them a check to do as they stinking please. I'll let you decide who to blame here. I personally decided for a long time to blame the bank.

Zig Ziglar is one of my all time favorite people and authors. I listened to a lot of Zig's lessons on CD as I tried to motivate myself to make more and more money to make the payments on all my junk. I remember hearing Zig as he talked about writing his first book. In that book he wrote he had lost a lot of weight. The only problem was that he hadn't. Zig had a living room full of books to sell that told the world how much weight he lost. Zig used this as self motivation to lose weight and sell the books.

Upon listening to what Zig was saying I had something click that really woke me up. Zig realized the only person responsible for his situation was Zig. The only person responsible for my situation was Trey. The only person responsible for your situation is you. Now before you jump down my throat and tell me all the things that have gone wrong (and I do know that many of you have had things happen that truly weren't your fault) let me explain. The only person that truly can make a life changing difference to your life is you. People can help, people can instruct, people can walk with you every step of the way. However, the only person that can make it happen is yourself.

When it comes to finances, there isn't an "undo" button in life. Sure we can sell our toys, our house, and other things but odds are we can not get everything back. What we can do is realize that only you can make a difference. To make a difference we must start with ourselves. Start with our actions, our beliefs, and our knowledge.

Many times you have heard me talk about knowledge. That is were it starts. It starts with us wanting to change and searching for the resources to gain the knowledge to do this. If we truly are tired of the loose ends, the stress, the sickening feeling of having too much month at the end of our money, we must teach ourselves to change. Teach ourselves how things really need to be and how they work. We must teach ourselves to win.

Thanks

What would you do?

I am a member of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover website. On one of the forums the question, "what would you do with x amount of money?" is ask often. This question has gone through all of our minds many times, even when we do not realize.
I believe money is one thing people are around the most that they have the least amount of knowledge about. Think about it this way...The average income in the US today is between 45-50k. After 5 years the average family has over $200,000 come through their hands. Even with that amount of dough coming through our tightly bound checking accounts we still have a LARGE level of ignorance when it comes to money.
I do not say these things to irritate you however to bring awareness of what is truly happening. I understand not everyone makes $50k a year but the point remains the same. So here is my question. If someone came up and gave you $200,000 what would you do with the money?
I write this claiming to have a good idea of finances (I better!) However, I must admit this is a question that puzzles me often. Think it over. Think of the things that can be done with that much $. You could buy a home, buy a car, invest, give it away, anything you want. What would you do?

Thanks,