National Bank of MomHave you ever heard a friend or relative say, “I’m bad with money.” (Or maybe you’ve said it yourself.)
Maybe you think that one can either be “good with money” or “bad with money.”
If you’re “bad with money,” that’s just the way it is. You can’t change it, so you might as well live it up!
Beyond the scope of money, you may also think you’re “not creative” or “bad at math” or that you “always forget people’s names.”
This is crap.
Let me repeat.
This is crap.
You CAN CHANGE.
Yes, even you.
At the end of every school year, the teacher sends home a few summer learning packets. There is normally a packet for math and one for reading/language skills.
You’ve probably heard the statistics on summer learning loss — that kids lose at least one month of learning over the summer. I’m in favor of the idea of these packets, but in practice they’ve never worked for us.
We just don’t get around to it. Summer is busy and fun, we’re outdoors trying to soak up every last bit of warm weather and daylight that we can. We’re doing all of the things that we don’t get to do the rest of the year — swim, camp, picnic and hit the local amusement parks.
So this summer, I had a brilliant idea (or so I thought). I had the solution that would motivate J to want to do those worksheets.
Being a blogger who writes about teaching my son personal finance — maybe you think I’ve always been good with money. That’s what gives me the creds, right?
Eh… not exactly.
I’ve never been in a really bad place, but I’ve never felt really good — like I was in control and going in the right direction.
It’s not for lack of trying. I tried for YEARS to get it together and feel good about my state of affairs. I’ve always balanced my checkbook and attempted budgeting at various points in my life (even enlisting my cousin’s help as she learned about it herself). There were homegrown worksheets and an elaborate configuration involving a shoebox and manilla folders with the days of the month for organizing receipts.
But I didn’t have a system that worked. I didn’t have a direction, or goals, or practical steps to take to meet those goals.
Until three years ago.
