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Tag: budget

What is Perspective Confessions?

Perspective Confessions

Hi! I’m Carlynn creator of Perspective Confessions. Welcome! I’m so glad you are here! The idea of Perspective Confessions was born in 2015. Writing has been a practice in my life starting in grade school and it made sense to create Perspective Confessions to be able to share articles, journal entries, musings, etc. about topics such as career, financial health, and overall wellbeing with all of you. When I write, I am able to connect with myself, unearth hidden truths much more easily than when I’m talking to a friend. Did you know that truth telling = confession? To confess is to tell the truth. Most, if not all of us, don’t stay connected to ourselves all the time. Our lives are filled with distractions and it takes work to get connected back up with yourself to understand how you might feel about something, know what decision to make, or to get connected to what’s true. Writing helps me do all those things. At some point, the writings in my journal shifted from writing just for myself to writing so that others could read it too. The truths that I’ve unearthed for myself I want to share it more broadly because my words might be the words that someone else needs, can relate to, and/or help them think about a situation from a different perspective. By the way, the quote below is from an amazing book, Living Fearless by Jamie Winship. Highly recommend!

“Truth always sets you free. Hiding truth always makes you a slave. If you will not tell the truth, you’re in bondage to the lie, the deception, and the rationalization.” – Living Fearless by Jamie Winship

Coach

As my professional life has advanced, I received my Financial Coaching certification and in my full-time Corporate America job, I am a Leadership Coach. You can learn more about financial health here, and you can read more about my experience with coaching in this post. Whether it be with writing or working one on one with others, the commonality is that I enjoy helping and connecting with people.

Career Confessions

Before I was able to climb the corporate ladder, I struggled mightily. A lot with anxiety. In my mid to late twenties, I went through some big life changes that included moving from a small town to a big city, combating severe anxiety, losing my mom, and divorce. I wrote a full series on my Career Confessions that you can read about here. I share tips about how I found new ways of working with anxiety, shifted my mindset, and slowly climbed the career ladder.

Wellbeing

Yes, writing about all those struggles makes me vulnerable. I hold the belief that we can learn from one another. Sharing helps us not feel alone or like we are the “only ones”. I listened to a podcast a long time ago that said we would not need therapists or counselors if we lived in good, healthy community because that good, healthy community would give us supportive and constructive feedback, come alongside the hard parts of life, share tools to help with life, etc. I believe that is true. The vast majority of us, though, live in isolation especially with today’s technology. And because of that, the need to be mindful and intentional with our wellbeing is paramount.

I’d love it if you’d join me as we learn about career, financial health, and overall wellbeing. Curiosity is key  in exploring differing perspectives…zooming out to see the big picture and zooming in to look at things more closely. It’s the push and pull of these vantage points that we can learn the most. Perspective Confessions is the source for inspiration for those who want to learn and grow. I am continually growing and learning; unearthing discoveries, and sharing truth or confessions I’ve learned along with the way from varying perspectives.. Perspective Confessions is about getting to the root of challenges as it relates to career, financial, and overall wellbeing and creating a toolbox of resources from what’s learned to equip you for the next step. If you want tools to manage your career and finances, value slowing down for a better quality of life, and aren’t afraid of being challenged; then you are in the right place.

If you know of someone that:

  • is struggling with their career,
  • struggles with anxiety or with big life changes,
  • wants to get their finances back on track,
  • wants to find a better balance in their life from the fast track, fast paced life they’re living, please share perspectiveconfessions.com with them!

And by all means, don’t miss any Perspective Confessions posts. Make sure you subscribe!

Financial Health, Career, and Wellbeing

Pocket Money: What It Is and Why It Matters

In a recent post, I wrote about using “pocket money” for a special treat during the week. What is pocket money and why is it important? Pocket money is an amount of fun money set aside each month to use for special treats throughout the month. Pocket money can be in the form of cash you literally keep in your pocket or wallet to use for the month. Or it can be a line item in your money plan that you track to insure you spend the appropriate amount.

Do you enjoy a Starbucks coffee treat? Or maybe lunch with a friend? What about that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing? Maybe there’s a gadget you’ve been thinking about that you’d like to try. Pocket money included in your monthly budget gives you permission to treat yourself to some fun during the month. Why is this important?

Utilizing intentional discipline with a money plan is hard. It’s intentionally flexing money muscles that may not be super strong yet. When you are working hard to save or pay off debt, it’s important to build in rewards along the way. Setting aside pocket money is a great reward system.

My husband and I set aside $100 for each of us every month. We get to spend $100 each on anything we want, no questions asked. Most of the time my $100 usually goes toward a Chick-fil-a run for an unsweetened tea with lemon. The Chick-fil-a run started during the pandemic as a way to intentionally get out of the house and see other humans. And it just kind of stuck. Here’s an example of what our pocket money looks like in our budget. We track ours electronically, however, there was a time where we used cash only for our fun money. The nice thing about cash, once it’s gone, it’s gone. You don’t have to question if you spent too much.

Pocket money has no strings attached with no guilt associated with however you choose to spend it. There are some guidelines to consider when figuring out how much pocket money you can afford.

1.     Do you have a money plan in place for the month? If you do, then you will know how much income you have minus all your expenses, bills, etc. When you know how much you are spending each month, you can determine what you can afford for pocket money.

2.     Pocket money is not a free for all spend category. It’s an intentional amount of fun money set aside determined by your money plan.

3.     Maybe you can only afford $10 of fun money for the month. That’s ok. Get creative with how you will make that money stretch! Be intentional. Hello, thrift store!

If you have money goals to pay off debt or to save; your fun money amount might be small for a time until you pay off that debt or meet your savings goal. The key is to keep going! And rewarding yourself is absolutely necessary to help you continue moving forward. Savor the fun that you can afford for now and keep your dream in mind of what your fun, pocket money will be once you meet your money goals. Be intentional!

How to Protect Your Money

This week, I witnessed an intentional act to save money. On Monday around lunchtime, I was waiting in the Chick-fil-a (CFA) drive thru for an unsweetened iced tea and noticed a CenterPoint Energy truck. Side note: My husband and I set aside pocket money each month. Pocket money is intentional money set aside to spend on whatever we would like. Mine is usually spent on unsweetened tea with lemon from CFA as a treat. I make unsweetened tea at home but sometimes it’s nice to have someone else make it! Back to the story. As I was waiting in line, I noticed a young man get out of the passenger side of the work truck and walk around to the opposite side. These work trucks have so many different compartments that house all kinds of tools. I watched him as he opened one of the compartments, removed a large bag, place it on top of the truck, and then proceed to pull out a microwave! A microwave? Yes, a microwave. This certainly piqued my curiosity! What was he doing with a microwave in a work truck? I watched him as he carried it to the tailgate of the truck and place it there. Next, he brought out a portable power station bank that he used to plug in the microwave.

It’s not everyday you see a plugged-in microwave on the back of a truck. But It wasn’t just the sight of it. It was an intentional act to save money. Did I mention I was in a Chick-fil-a drive thru line? The driver of the CenterPoint Energy truck walked inside the Chick-fil-a to get his lunch while his workmate dragged out a microwave and portable power station to heat up his lunch.

I might also mention that the street the work truck was parked on was positioned by not only the CFA, but also a Burger King, a Chipotle, and a Taco Bell. He could have walked to so many options, but instead he chose to make the extra effort with his microwaved lunch.

These are EXACTLY the actions it takes to win with your money.

1.        Have a strategy, such as your budget or money plan for the month.

2.        Know where your gaps are, such as spending too much on eating out

3.        Enable your defenders, such as bringing your lunch to work.

This young man was intentional with his time, energy, and effort. It will all pay off for the young man, especially if he continues these actions each day.

Eating out can be one of our biggest money gaps. Let’s compare a prepared meal at home to take for lunch versus eating out.

Let’s use an example of a pot of chili made at home. I’ve used this recipe many times and it is so good! It makes 6 servings. Plus, I’m adding in Jiffy Cornbread. Each ingredient I’ve included in my breakdown are all organic. Please note that this meal could be more cost effective if you source non-organic ingredients.

4 strips bacon, sliced ½-inch thick – Aldi – $2.20

1 ½ pounds ground beef – Aldi – grass fed beef – $9.86

1 medium yellow onion, diced – $0.37

1 green bell pepper, diced – $1.81

3 garlic cloves, minced – $0.18

2 tablespoon chili powder – $1.00

1 tablespoon cumin powder – $0.85

2 teaspoon paprika – $0.25

1 teaspoon dried oregano – $0.10

1 teaspoon salt – $0.02

2 tablespoon tomato paste – $0.73

1 (28-ounce can) fire roasted diced tomatoes – $3.10

1 (15-ounce can) black beans – $1.55

1 (15-ounce can) red kidney beans – $1.55

2 cups chicken bone broth – $2.59

1 bay leaf – $0.40

Jiffy Cornbread mix – $0.64

1 Egg – $0.57

½ cup milk – $0.30

Grand total: $28.07

Divided by 6 servings = $28.07/6 =$4.67 per serving of chili and cornbread

Given the quality ingredients used in the above recipe, let’s cost compare to a Chicken Burrito Bowl from Chipotle with a drink. See screenshot order below. $15.20 total for one meal

$15.20 – $4.67 = $10.53 in savings by making your food at home

If you change your behavior to making your lunch at home versus buying, you could save $10.53 per day or more. Weekly, that would be a savings of $52.65. Monthly, that would be a savings of $210.60. Yearly, that’s a savings of $2,527.20.

What would $2,527.20 extra this year do for your household? What would it pay off? What goal would that help you save toward?

How are you being intentional today with your money?

How to Win with Your Money

Do you have a financial or money goal for 2025? Pay off a credit card? Save for a vacation? Save for a car? Save for a medical procedure? Something else? Do you wonder why your money disappears so quickly? Do you have more month than money? It’s disheartening to work so hard for our paychecks and feel like there’s never enough money. Did you know in the 1970’s people were exposed to 500-1,600 marketing ads per day? Today, the average is estimated between 6,000-10,000 marketing ads per day. We see more than 12x more ads each day than we did 50 years ago. 🤯 That’s one indicator of why we can’t keep our money for very long and why we lose track of it. The reality is every ad you see is vying for your hard-earned dollar. Marketers are smart and they want to separate you from your money. They know how to play into your emotions and how to make you think and feel like you can’t live without a product or service. Not to mention all the data our phones collect about what we click on, how many seconds we watch or stop scrolling to see an ad. With this data, marketers can put even more pinpointed products and services in front of you in the form of ads. What do we do about it?

    1. Game Plan and Defensive Strategy

        When you play a game, the goal is to win. Think of this as money goals = winning. Next, to win, you need a solid defense strategy. In its basic meaning, defense means having a defender for every gap. Where are your money gaps? How do you know what they are? Once you know, you can enable your defenders.

        2. Money Plan vs Actual Spending

        The best tool to identify where your money gaps are is going to be…wait for it…a budget. Yes, I know! The horrible “B” word. 😉 If it feels better for you, refer to it as your money plan instead! You’re going to take a little time, set out a money plan for the month and then track what you actually spend. Then compare what your plan was versus your actual spending. This exercise will identify your gaps. Where are you overspending? Do you have enough income to cover your basics expenses?

        3. Mind your Gaps

        Once you know where you are overspending, then you can enable your defenders. Are you shopping too much? Defense: consider deleting your shopping apps or unsubscribing to email lists. Take away the temptation. Are you spending a lot of money on fast food? Defense: consider making sandwiches at home to take for lunch. Are you finding that you aren’t able to cover your basic expenses: housing, food, clothes, transportation? Defense: What are ways you could make more money either by side hustle or finding a job that will pay more?

        It’s great to have money goals. That’s step one, establish your goal because that’s how you’ll know if you are winning. Money goal = winning. How are you going to move forward toward accomplishing your money goal? Define your game plan, identify your gaps and enable your defenders to fill in the gaps. You’ve worked hard for your money and you should keep it or at least tell it where to go instead of wondering where it went.

        Coach Carlynn

        Coaching started for me when I became a fitness 💪 instructor in my late 20’s. I fell in love with fitness classes, and one of the fitness instructors I fangirled over encouraged me to get certified to teach 👩🏻‍🏫.

        So, I did.

        I LOVED ♥️ every minute of teaching, coaching, encouraging others to push past their limits, and achieve their goals 🎯. There’s something addicting about watching someone have a “light bulb💡 moment”. A moment they completed an exercise, lifted heavier weights, completed an entire class, lost the weight, got stronger, etc. All things they had told themselves they could not do.

        And then…they did. I got to witness this over and over and it never got old!

        Fast forward to the year 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣, the start of the pandemic. I wasn’t instructing fitness classes anymore. Instead, I found myself working from home full time. As with many industries and corporations, 2020 was a challenging year. The oil and gas industry was no different and my corporation went through a major headcount reduction starting with executive level all the way down to hourly employees. So much was out of my control with the uncertainty of my job and with the virus. To help pass the time ⏰ and focus on something that was in my control, I completed Financial Coach Master Training, earned my certificate 📜, and became a Financial Coach.

        Many may not know that I’m a nerd 🤓 when it comes to money 💵 . My undergrad degree from Mississippi State University is in Finance so you’d think that’s when the nerd came out, but it wasn’t. I’ve always been into saving money, even from my youth. It wasn’t odd for me to put on a jacket and find money in it. Money that someone gave me and I put in a pocket to save for later.

        In my Junior year of college I read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. After reading his book 📕, I would occasionally listen to his radio 📻 talk show. It made sense. I loved that there were baby steps and I could understand it. Now, mind you, I did not follow the baby steps to a “T”. When I graduated college, I had student loans, a credit card, and a car 🚘 note.

        Fast forward through a lot of life and getting remarried in my mid 30’s. We found ourselves in debt. Between tax debt, car 🚘 loan, and student loans; we owed just shy of $30,000. We followed the baby steps and got out of debt within a year’s time. Now we continue to work to pay off our house early and are aggressively saving for retirement. With the 1️⃣1️⃣ year age difference between my husband and me, I hope to retire when he does. That cuts off about 10 years of retirement contributions and savings for me, so it’s hustle time! 👊🏼 #goals

        In 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣, I became a Leadership Coach in my corporate oil and gas job. I work one-on-one with leaders with direct reports and influential leaders. Influential leaders are ones that may not have a team reporting to them, but they have many people that they must influence to deliver results and progress projects. In reality, we are all influential leaders in our jobs. During coaching sessions I help clients develop goals that we will work on together. During sessions, we talk through challenges, progress, tools 🛠️ , and potentially even new or refreshed goals. My role as a leadership coach is not to solve the problem for my clients, rather to ask ❓ the right questions , give feedback, reframe, and offer perspective that helps the client find their solution.

        Anyone starting to see 👀 a theme here?

        Coaching.

        Regardless if it’s fitness 💪 coaching, leadership coaching, or financial 💵coaching similar skills apply. I’ve always had in inner coach within me. Especially if you’ve read my writings very much, you’ll see 👀 or read 📖 it. I’m frequently asking questions, encouraging improvement and progress, etc. What goals do you have? What are you willing to do differently to achieve them? Who is holding you accountable? What’s holding you back? What is your plan to achieve your goals?

        Coaching is all about finding the answers to those questions, creating a plan to execute, and having accountability along the way.

        Stay tuned, I’ll have an opening for financial coaching soon! Details to come!