Many people find themselves in the position of having to ask themselves to be more honest about the purpose to their spending habits.  For a shift in awareness to take place documentation must take place.  I’ve heard some complaints from others about needing to fill out a monthly expense sheet.  One where weekly expenses are filled out so the evidence of what unconscious self has been spending is apparent.  This is a great eye opener of an experience however usually when asked to do this, people become reluctant to comply. 

Usually when a person starts to monthly fill out the weekly expenses incurred, the first thing that happens is anger comes up.  After moving through a myriad of emotions with lots of discoveries feelings of sadness comes up.  And once sadness is completely released then acceptance of the needed changes takes place.

I think our economy will take some time to recover.  If you decide to resolve the money situation you find yourself in, know you will be able to make good decisions on what expenses you can eliminate.  Know you can release the need for those spending habits along with the emotions you feel through out the upcoming changes. 

I was talking to a colleague on the financial situation the people of America find themselves in and he mentioned he has bewildered when he heard people claiming they were cutting back on how they spend their money and in the same breath say they are getting ready for a long deserved vacation.  This left me wondering what is meant by a person if they say they are cutting back on expenses?  I realized “cutting back on expenses” could mean something different for me then it means to another.  For me eating out, going to movies, going shopping for clothes, cell phone usage, taking vacations, hair salon treatments, buying large ticket items would be the first area I would look at to see the total for my luxury or non-essential expenses.  That would be where I could cut back and then take a look at my fixed expenses to see how I could make adjustments there too.  In fact as I am writing this article the banks have lowered their interest rates and refinancing is now possible as another way to lower the expenses.

So I decided this could be an opportunity for me to learn more ways of cutting back by asking people how they cut back on their expenses.  From now on when someone says to me they are cutting back on their expenses I will ask them what areas they are cutting back on.  Because who knows maybe I can find more areas to cut back on so I can save more money for that long over due vacation!!!