How much time do you spend balancing the check book? If you are like me, it's never. I was taught to balance a check book down to the penny. I was taught to track EVERYTHING. This countered what my gut was saying. Why?
It takes a lot of time to track every penny. If you weigh the amount of time you spend counting pennies vs the price of your time by the hour, you are wasting your time and money. You could be doing something more productive - like relaxing.
I've adopted a routine to counting money by the hundreds. If I have $99 in my pocket, it's like change. It's amazing how this habit alone can change your perception of money. If you treat $100 like it's $1 and $1,000 like it's $100, all the sudden, $1 million doesn't feel like a lot of money. It's a neat phsychological trick.
This habit may seem like it contradicts my post about being frugal so I will clarify. Being frugal is different than penny counting. You should do your best to limit your expenses (everyone's perception of what frugal is may be different) but don't waste your time counting pennies. Besides, pennies may not even exist anymore in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment