8 Things to Stop Doing to Make 2019 Your Best Year

We ALL have them.  You know “them,” those nasty habits that seem to curtail our progress.  It’s like you love to hate them or you hate to love them, but they are always there nagging at you and me.  It’s often easier to add new things than it is to stop doing old ingrained habit, but sometimes there are habits that hold us back that we need to stop.  Yep, these are the things that we’re going to tackle today.

1.)  Stop debt spending

Hey, I’ve got credit cards too.  It’s SO EASY to whip out that plastic and get that shiny thing that looks so amazing at 80% off, right? Yea.  Me too!  Now, we do pay our credit cards off each month, but how much easier would it be if we used them less.  I wouldn’t be scratching my head at the end of the month about making that payment because I didn’t import my credit card transactions into YNAB.

When we don’t curb (and I’m speaking just as much to myself as I am to you) our current desires in regard to our longer-term desires, we get ourselves in a heap of trouble.  Debt holds us back from actually reaching our goals – preparedness or otherwise.  But the opposite is also true.  If we do curb our short-term desires because what we want tomorrow is much more important than it will help us have a successful year!

2.)  Stop neglecting savings

#1 and #2 are completely related.  While you (and I) may put money into savings and still debt spend, the two are inexplicably intertwined.  If we debt spend, we’re either going to have to rob this month’s savings to pay for it or we’re going to rob next month’s savings to pay off the card.

Now, even if you don’t debt spend, savings is incredibly important!  I’ve mentioned a book called The Richest Man in Babylon quite a few times.  I love the story format and the sound financial principles taught.  The first principle in this book is to pay yourself first.  Now, we tithe first, but then we also take 10% and pay ourselves next.  Life will get easier or harder, but if we set money aside in a fix proportion each month, we will be better prepared for financial hardships.

3.)  Wasting Time

Now #4 will be a specific way of wasting time that really deserves its own number, but I want to address just general wasting time here.  We ALL do it!  I know.  I do it; my husband does it.  My kids do it.  Friends of mine do it.  It’s SO human nature!  We don’t FEEL like doing something we probably ought to be doing, so we distract ourselves with something that’s so much more fun to do.

Or we put something in the microwave and we’re waiting those two minutes and pull out our phones and start playing a game to “pass the time.”  Anyone else out there with me?  This is HUGE for me.  I should have been writing this blog post last night, but instead I found multiple ways to distract myself because I just didn’t want to write it THEN.

So how do we NOT waste time?  There are a couple of ways.  Write out a list of tasks that you do regularly or other activities that you can do.  Break it down into categories – 1 minute or less, 2 minutes or less,  5 minutes or less, 10 minutes or less.  If you have a list of things that you can do that take just a couple of seconds, then you don’t have to think about them,  Just choose one and do it!  Need some inspiration?  You can find a list of 100 short preparedness tasks here.

The next time you’re ready to leave five minutes early, instead of sitting down and playing a game on your phone, go for your list and get some productive things done.

Now I wanted to present a caveat here.  There is a difference between wasting time and down time.  We all need a little brain space in our day.  You can actually set aside 15-60 minutes just to play a game on your phone or watch one episode of a show.  Our minds and bodies need down time.  That isn’t the same as wasting time, but you know when you’re doing one and not the other.

4.)  Stop binge-watching Netflix

Okay, confession time.  This one is HUGE for me!  I’ve actually considered pausing my Netflix account recently and not because I don’t watch it, but because I watch it too much! I get sucked in and the next thing I know I’ve wasted an hour and a half watching two episodes of season five of Once Upon A Time.  OH, it just sucks me in!

So other than deleting or pausing my Netflix account, what are other options?  I’ve recently discovered listening to audiobooks.  There are all kinds of audiobooks around from fun fiction to informative works (I’m currently listening to Lights Out by Ted Koppel) to preparedness books like Minifarming:  Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 acre.  These will help you and I stay productive and stop wasting as much  time.

5.)  Stop only being a consumer

It’s so tempting and easy.  Ketchup costs less than $1.50 a bottle, and mustard costs even less!  Mayo is a bit more expensive.   Pop-can biscuits are about a buck.  Bread ranges from $1-$2 a loaf.  Now ask me how I know?  Because I’ve been buying each of these recently.  I can also MAKE each of these.  When we get into a consumer mindset verses a producer mindset, we change the way that we do more than just spend money, but it does change the way that we spend money and look at money.

This month spend some time looking at really simple things that you can either learn to make for yourselves or that you can decide that you’re no longer going to buy because you can make them.  Need some suggestions?  I have a whole series on my website called Gourmet Food Storage.  Nothing there is incredibly difficult to make, and it will help you see yourself as more of a producer than you have been in times past.

6.)  Stop only living for today

When we live for today only we lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish.  Why are we here?  Each of us has a purpose.  Do you have things that you want to accomplish this year?  If we only live for today and what will make us happy today, we are being incredibly short-sighted.

So how do we break out of this rut – cause it’s an easy rut to fall into.  I know from much personal experience.  Set yourself some goals.  I break my goals down into 5 different categories: faith, family, health, business, and preparedness.  I set out goals in each of these areas.  Once I set out specific goals, then I break those goals down into smaller chunks that are easily accomplished in 30 minutes to 2 hours.  I try to work on each of these chunks instead of wasting time (#3) .  But when I set my goals and work toward them, then I’m no longer just living for today.

7.)  Stop procrastinating

Oh, if I had a quarter for every time that I procrastinated, I would be a rich woman.  When I was in elementary school and high school, I was much worse about this than I am now.  I still tend to put off things that I don’t want to do or things that I look on as too hard.  It’s funny because those things that I think will be ‘too hard’ and take forever, usually end up taking an hour or less, but they still intimidate me, so I want to put them off!

Anyone else out there like that?  I’m going to guess that I’m not the only one.  So what steps can we take to stop procrastinating?  We’re going to steal some ideas from #6.  Let’s take those big tasks and break it down into smaller bite-sized chunks that we can swallow.

Other ways to stop procrastinating could be to call a friend and ask them to work on the project with you.  You could even just ask a friend or spouse to kindly hold you accountable.  Do you need to pay someone a ‘fine’ if you don’t get your done by a certain time?  Yes, I’ve done each of these, and I bet you all have some awesome ideas too.  Make sure that you leave them in the comments below.

8.)  Stop spending over your/my budget categories

So in YNAB, I have some fixed expenses.  These are like my mortgage, electric/gas bills, sewer, trash, water, etc.  But then I have more fluid expenses like groceries, eating out, preparedness, ‘fun money’, household needs etc.  Some months are worse than others.  Last month being Christmas…..oh my!  “Bad” doesn’t even begin to describe how much I overspent what I had actually budgeted – especially on groceries.  I really like to treat my family and if they want it (especially around the holidays) I really WANT to give it to them.

So how can you and I stop overspending when it comes to our budget and its categories?  Skip the first week of grocery shopping and eat from your pantry.  What store (that isn’t strictly a necessity) do you tend to overspend at?  Go on a “fast” from that store for a month.  In November, I didn’t spend any money at Amazon.  Amazon is my downfall!  The prices are generally good.  Whatever I order tends to get here quickly.  I can buy almost anything off of Amazon, so it’s SO easy to spend money there.  Going a whole month without spending any money there was hard, but really good for me.

What are some other tips to stop spending as much?

• Don’t buy it until you’ve spent 24 hours making sure that it’s the best use of your money (especially with big purchases).
• Use cash for ‘fun money’ and stop spending when the money is gone.
• Remember what longer-term goal you’ll be robbing from if you chose to overspend that budget category.
• Apply the “One in / One Out” rule.  If you buy something, you have to get rid of one like thing.  For example, if you want to buy a pair of shoes, you have to get rid of a pair of shoes when you get home.
• Add up your groceries as you put them in your cart.  If you see you’re getting close to your budget for that trips groceries, you’re less tempted to purchase things that you don’t need.

What About You?

Do you have tips and tricks to help me or anyone else stop doing these eight things this year?  I’d love to hear.  I can always use the help.  Share them in the comments below.

Together lets Love, Learn, Practice, Overcome

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