The new year brings with it thoughts, worries and hopes about our life. Especially at a time when we are all dealing with the coronavirus and its consequences. A difficult time, but at the same time a time to sit down and take stock of life in general and our financial conduct as a family.
It’s quite sad that we’re closed at home without being able to hang out, have fun. But when we talk about the circle of influence. We need to examine everything that happens around us with the basic and central question of whether we can change the situation. We cannot change the economic situation in the economy but we can change and deal with the challenges we face these days as a family.
Let’s start the journey – we will stop, observe and collect data at several stations:
What is our economic strength?
We will ask ourselves as a couple – has our income from employment increased, not changed, or decreased due to the coronavirus crisis? What is the income we can expect from all possible sources? Who are the sources that can help us if we reach a problematic economic situation? Do we know our rights if we stop working?
How much do we spend per month?
Before we take out the calculator, reference statements, bank statements or Excel tables, we will write down the numbers stated in the retrieval. Some of us really don’t know how much he spends and for what. Some know in general and a minority do daily control over the family’s expenses and income. At Paamonim, we call this process “mirroring” – that is, we begin to create our own unique economic map as a family. We will put the number that we think reflects the monthly family expenditure and begin to examine more closely what we spend on, how much money we have and usually do not have…..
What is the magic number?
After checking we found the real monthly expense. In most cases, there is a very large gap between the expenditure we said at the beginning and the real expenditure. The real expense is much higher than we think. We must match our standard of living with our income. We must take into account the obligations we have today and the commitments we will have in the future – for example, dental care for a child. Therefore, the magic number is the monthly amount that we can spend according to our income while maintaining some savings in times of trouble.
So wait… What can we do?
- Taking responsibility for our financial conduct. Only we can change our economic situation. Most importantly, we work as a winning team with full transparency.
- Living with what is.
- After learning what our expenses are, we build a family budget.
- Need or want – reduce or stop consuming non-essential things.
- Learning to be smart consumers.
- Do not buy products in quantities because they are “on sale”. We spend the money we don’t have, for products we won’t consume now and we’ll also have to allocate space at home to store them.
- Write down everything we spend during the week and at the end of each week check together what we spent on. Was it essential? Have we exceeded the budget? You learn to correct and embark on a new, better path.
- And as with any successful diet, there is “allowed”. So with proper financial management, dreams are allowed to come true. Condition… That we decide together on one dream at a time. We ask ourselves what is the dream? When will we fulfill it? How much will it cost us? And accordingly, they begin to insert it into the dream section of the budget while maintaining the required amount.
That’s it, friends! A new year, new hopes and challenges are waiting for us around the corner.
Lets’ get going!
Written by Ilana Weinstein, personal trainer and workshop facilitator at Paamonim.
Editing and proofreading: Dan Benovitch, R.Z. and accompanying families at Paamonim.
