High tech: Genius Scan from Grizzly Labs for both
iOS and
AndroidThis handy scanner will allow you to grab an image of your receipts and turn them into a PDF to save or print if you later need a hard copy. The coolest thing about Genius Scan is that it automatically isolates the receipt for you, and enhances the final scanned image so that it is easy to read.
The Afford Anything Podcast is the brainchild of finance expert Paula Pant, who interviews scores of experts from entrepreneurs to psychologists, investors to artists, to talk to them about building an extraordinary life.
This particular episode hosted author, speaker and financial coach Mary Beth Storjohann, CFP®, who wrote Work Your Wealth: 9 Steps to Making Smarter Choices With Your Money. In this particular podcast, Pant and Storjohann talk about the book in-depth, and in particular, 6 types of “frenemies” that can sabotage your financial health:
Frenemy 1 – the “I’ll Get You Next Time”
Frenemy 2 – the “You Can Totally Afford This!”
Frenemy 3 – the “One Uppers”
Frenemy 4 – the “Pryers”
Frenemy 5 – the “Green Eyed Monster”
Frenemy 6 – the “FOMO”
They even do a little role-playing to model for you how to handle these budget-busting frenemies. It’s worth a listen to at least this one episode, but I’m willing to bet you get sucked into some of Pant’s other episodes as well.
Negative Visioning
We all know the idea behind the power of positive thinking and envisioning the things you want for your life. Negative visioning is the opposite – envisioning the outcomes you don’t want for your life. This may seem counter-productive, but as author Trent Hamm of this article about negative visioning for The Simple Dollar points out:
- It can bring relief by seeing that realistic outcomes, even if undesired, are usually not that bad.
- It can help bring to light any flaws in your current plan that may need to be re-assessed if you notice where they could get derailed.
Personally, I love the philosophy of including negative visioning alongside positive visioning because I am a natural self-saboteur when it comes to my own goals and I find I’m much more motivated by avoiding pain that I am by trying to achieve a goal.
For example, when I started saving for my very first emergency fund, I was much more motivated by the thought of what would happen if there was a medical emergency with one of my dogs or cats than I was by the sheer pride of having my savings goal in the bank. If I was tempted to blow any of my savings on something I didn’t need, it was much easier to talk myself out of it by thinking of that horrible feeling of not being able to pay an emergency vet bill.
When I say “painfully easy,” I mean this book lays out a day-by-day plan for you to follow, over the course of 36 days. The steps are simple and won’t take too much of your time, and within a few days, you’ll already be feeling like a financial rockstar.
Maybe you grew up with no money, or grew up with a lot of money but was taught it was a taboo subject – however you grew up with money, it has shaped the story you’ve created about money and affects your relationship with money. As financial planner and author Michael F. Kay wrote for Forbes.com, how your exposure to money growing up can profoundly impact what your relationship with money is now. If it’s not a good one, it’s crucial to identify why to help you overcome it.
I love this article because Michael walks through 7 vital questions to ask yourself to get to the bottom of your money story.
What are you some of your favorite tips for overcoming financial saboteurs? Leave me a comment below!
