How to Be Successful with Your New Year's Resolutions

New Years is soon upon us!  Parties and countdowns and resolutions abound!

While the parties and countdowns are fun, we all know how long the feel-good emotions behind the resolutions last:  into February.  And that's if we're lucky.  While I'm of the opinion that failure isn't such a bad thing, there are some things we can do to avert it.

1. Don't Wait Until New Year's to Set Your Resolutions

While the magic of the calendar getting a fresh new start entices us to set new goals, setting them arbitrarily for the sake of it isn't going to do much for us.  Instead, set your goals and resolutions whenever the motivation or inspiration strikes.  You'll come at them with so much more energy than if you're just concocting a resolution because it's suddenly 2015.

But, hey, if inspiration strikes on December 31st, go for it.  Go for it with everything you've got.  But do it realistically.

2.  Set Manageable Benchmarks

Right now we have a goal to buy a house.  The amount of money we have to save is incredibly intimidating, but we're not deterred.

That's usually what happens, right?  We get so overwhelmed with how big our goals are that we just give up on them.  We fail because the end is out of sight.  What we've done to combat this is set manageable benchmarks.  We have a savings goal for every month.  If we meet these benchmarks, we should reach our big goal within our larger time frame.  But we don't worry abut the big goal.  We just worry about saving for this month.  It feels a whole lot more manageable, and we're not as prone to give up this way.

3.  Embrace Failure

Our brains are amazing things.  Failure is an amazing thing.  When we fail, our brain actually builds new synapses, allowing us to learn new things.  But without failure, these synapses are never created. 

So if you've broken your goals down into manageable, realistic monthly chunks, whether they be pounds on a scale or dollars in a bank account, and you still can't reach them, don't give up.  You've "failed."  But failure is an opportunity to learn.  To get creative.  To grow.  Look at the situation, and find the lesson within it.  As a last resort, go to, "Well, maybe I set my goals too high."  But before that, explore areas where you may have snuck in some extra calories, or splurged on spending on a bunch of little things that added up to mess up your savings budget.  Maybe you need to explore creative ways to save, earn more, get the right food into your body, or fit in that aerobic time. 

Recognize "failure" for what it is:  an incredible opportunity to expand your brain.

4.  Don't Quit.

Okay, so it's February and you haven't saved a cent.  Haven't burned a calorie.  That doesn't mean it's over.

Whether you set your goal in January or August, one fact remains the same:  doing something is going to get you a lot further than doing nothing.  Don't try to make up the money or weight or whatever it is that you've missed or lagged behind on.  Renew yourself to your goal today.

If you start saving $50 by the end of every month starting at the end of March, you'll have $450 by the end of the year.  If you don't, you'll have saved nothing.

If you start losing 2 kg a month starting in March, you'll have lost 18kg by the end of the year. If you don't, you'll have lost nothing.


Start on your goals when inspiration or motivation hits you.  After you've broken them down into manageable chunks, embrace whatever failure you happen upon, and let it drive you to do the best you can this year as opposed to the best you "should have" done.

Make a Game of Saving Money

Saving money can feel like a drag sometimes.  It's boring, requires time, and also requires the ever-dreaded budget.  But what if you could turn saving money into something fun?  What if you could turn it into a game?

Try these three methods and see if your savings rate doesn't go up dramatically.

1. The Competition

Have a major savings goal for your family?  Turn it into a competition.  Divide your savings goal into an appropriate target number for each person's income.  If you have children, set the number appropriate to their allowance or whatever income they have.  If you are competing only with your spouse, you can either divide the goal in half or set it according to the percentage of income that each partner brings in.

If your family is anything like mine, the glory of being able to say, "First!" will be all the motivation you need.

Another twist to The Competition is to compete with a friend.  If you're single, and don't have anyone you're contributing to common goals with, find a friend that also has something they're saving for.  Set your goals, and then race to see who can get to 25% first, 50% first, and so forth.  This will work best if the amount of money you're both individually saving is relatively similar.

2.  Treasure Hunt

Another game you can use to save money is to watch the cash that flows through your hands.  Save bills and coins that meet certain, common criteria.  For example, you could save all coins that were minted in the 1990's, or save paper money that has a specific letter or number within the serial code.  Just don't make your criteria too obscure.  If you're only saving coins from the 1930s, odds are you won't ever reach your savings goal. This method turns savings into a treasure hunt, and if done right, can add up quickly!

3.  The Thermometer

We've all seen fundraisers and organizations  use thermometers to measure their progress towards a certain goal.  Use this method in your own house!  You could even incentivize it by having a family reward once you've reached your goal.  The reward could be something smaller like dinner at your favorite restaurant, or something big like a vacation.  If you do decide to incentivize, make sure that you add the cost of the reward to the total savings goal. That way, there's no worries about the money being there.

Saving can be fun and motivating.  Often the hardest part is getting started.  By turning it into something fun like a game, we can take that first step with a lot more enthusiasm.

Have you ever turned your savings efforts into a game?  I'd love to hear the methods you've used in the comments!

The Next Generation Latte Factor

Source

The other day I was at the mall.  We weren't even buying anything.  They have a great, free indoor playground that I sometimes take the kids to on cold, winter days.

On our way in, we were walking in front of some teenage girls in the food court.  I generally try to tune out the conversations of teenage girls, but this one was interesting.

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"I want to go to Starbucks so bad."

"Then go to Starbucks!"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Don't  you know?  If you buy lattes, you'll go broke."

At this, her friend stopped to think.

"Well, I'll just buy us a Starbucks.  That way you can have lattes whenever you want.  And we'll make money."

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At this point we parted ways.  Putting aside the fact that Girl 1's understanding of the latte factor was remedial at best, Girl 2's solution intrigued me.  There were so many factors that went into those two sentences, even if they weren't meant pragmatically. 

I'll just buy us a Starbucks.

This thought would have never come into my own head.  Because "just buying" a franchised storefront sounds crazy intimidating to me.  Maybe her parents "just buy" her anything.  Maybe major purchases and partnerships like this seem like a simple process from her vantage point, void of risk or initial hurdles because she sees the adults in her life that have money, and can therefore use it to make more money.

Or maybe, just maybe, she was a teenage girl trying to cheer her friend up with a "dream" hypothetical.

Then you can have lattes whenever you want.

Owning a business does have some perks.  Like free coffee if you're running a Starbucks.  But dip into your inventory too much, and you'll start to see a dip in your profit margins.  Because inventory isn't free, and every cup of coffee you're drinking is a cup of coffee you could have earned profit on.

I'm assuming she was planning on getting her friend hopped up on so much caffeine that she'd be bouncing off the walls day and night.  Which I'm sure was not the point.

But dipping into inventory for a latte daily is essentially the same thing as buying a latte everyday.  It's the "small," repeated luxuries we grant ourselves that add up to destroy our budgets and potential savings accounts, whether we're running our family's finances or a business's accounting spreadsheets.

And we'll make money.

While repeatedly dipping into your inventory will slow your profit margin, odds are you will still have profits.  And that's why I'm impressed with Girl 2.

She saw two problems:  no coffee, and no money.  And then she found a creative solution that solved both at the same time.  Not only that, but she did it with a (pseudo) entrepreneurial spirit.  

It turns out Starbucks isn't franchised.  I'm sure owners of the branch receive some portion of the profits, but unless Girl 2 had some very specific real estate opportunities lying around, odds are she wasn't just going to buy a store.

But her attitude makes me hopeful for the generation that immediately follows me.  There are problem solving skills.  There's an entrepreneurial spirit.  And her interests ensure that there will be a free place for me to work and access Wi-Fi in the future.  Maybe I'll ask for a free latte when I stop in.

Avoiding the Santa Bill

When you're a child, the magic of Christmas is all-encompassing.  Sugar plum fairies, lights, cookies, kindness, and, of course, the grand anticipation of all those presents under the tree.

As parents, there's a lot of pressure to make sure this is the best Christmas ever.  And that pressure's on every year.  While you want to create memories for you child, sometimes doing so can put your financial stability  in peril.

The Santa Bill

When my husband was a child, his Christmases were just as magical as anyone else's.  Toys overflowed under the tree, and Santa was always generous.

And then January would roll around.  Anytime he or his siblings asked to do anything during the months following the holidays, his parents would always say no, however minute the request.  "We're still paying the Santa bill.  Do you think he delivers all those presents for free?"

Of course, as a child, you do.  And you can say whatever you want about ruining the magic after the fact, but my in-laws aren't the only ones who ever financed Christmas and then struggled in the post-holiday months.

Santa Doesn't Want You to Go Into Debt

The desire to create that Christmas magic isn't unique, but there are ways to create it without going into debt to put all those presents under the tree.

1.  Give Your Kids Options

Starting young, let your child know that Santa can do one of two things:  he can bring one big thing or he can bring many small presents.  This allows your child to weigh their options, and empowers them with the decision.  Whether they know it or not, they're learning something about responsible financial choices in the process:  there are only so many resources (presents,) and you can use those resources for one huge thing or a bunch of smaller items.  In this case, neither choice is wrong, but it lets your child know what to expect on the big day while still building that anticipation.  Starting this practice young prevents the disappointment of any established precedent.

2.  Create Traditions

While a lot of the magic of Christmas as a small child is the anticipation of a magical man leaving presents under the tree, there's still a lot more magic created by family and community traditions.  Going to see light displays, watching Carols by Candlelight, sharing some carols of your own with the neighborhood, going to holiday parties, or even just sitting down for a big holiday family meal are all ways to create these memories.  Your family may even have some of your own, unique traditions.  Play these up, and the anticipation every December won't just be about the gifts, but about the time you spend together.

3.  Help Your Child Become Santa

With older children, try to encourage them to become a Santa in their own right.  Many organizations have lists of children or families that are in need, along with their wishlist for Christmas.  Encourage your child to participate in these opportunities by donating the money that would be spent on one of their gifts to someone else, or encourage them to use their own money to do so.  Really go through the process with them, explaining how lucky they are to be able to have any presents under the tree at all, and that what they're doing is going to be so deeply appreciated by those they are giving to.

On Christmas morning, rather than being disappointed that there aren't tens of boxes under the tree with their name one them, they're more likely to be grateful for what they do receive, having a better perspective on this consumerism-driven holiday.  Perhaps they'll even think about the family opening their present that same morning, and be able to experience the joy that comes along with giving through "sacrifice."

  Have you ever had a Santa bill?  What are you doing this year to prevent it?