Sometimes people ask me if I “practice what I preach”. Though they usually say it differently. I hear things like, “Do you actually do this yourself?” or “Is this type of coaching only for people who have tons of money?” or “Is this only for people who have financial problems?”

So I thought I’d share an evening at home when I used my money coaching on myself. Picture this:

It’s Thursday night and the Seahawks exhibition game is on in the background. I’m sitting on my couch with my laptop open, sipping on a cup of tea after dinner. My 14 year old son is half watching the game and half playing with his new I Phone- I think he’s checking his Facebook status every 2 minutes, texting, and watching YouTube. I’m eying the basket of laundry threatening out of the corner of my eye and texting my own friends about a date I went on last night.

I’m feeling a little stressed about money. So I know I need to look at where I am and see if there is anything I need to do differently this month.

I open my wallet and pull out some receipts and then I log on to my MoneyMinderOnline subscription. (This is the financial tracking and spending plan tool I co-developed that people use to create a healthy relationship to money.) I enter what I spent over the last few days, taking note of a touchdown on the TV. I check my bank online to make sure I haven’t missed anything and I see an automatic payment that went through for a dating site I forgot to cancel (crap!), so I enter that too. And I make a quick note on my MoneyMinder action plan sheet to track down my log in and cancel that site.

Then I click to my august spending plan and look at what I planned to spend for the month, relative to what I actually did spend. Hmmm. I came back from a trip to Whistler last week, but it looks like I did a decent job of planning that. No real damage. Fabulous trip, too. I grab my phone and text a friend some Whistler pics.

Ah, but the issue is actually my dang eyesight. I spent two hours at the eye doctor unexpectedly today when I broke my eye glasses and emerged with….. progressive lenses…. I have been in denial about my changing eyesight. I’m in my fabulous forties and for some reason the print keeps getting smaller!

So I just dropped $600. Um, didn’t plan for that. Sigh.

Now my spending plan has my full attention. So I adjust my August plan for the glasses, and for some other things, like that dating site… I also see that I under-planned my son joining the high school football team. Cleats, sign up fees, equipment fees etc. Then I check to see what bills I have left to pay.

With a bigger sigh, I hit the summary button. The button says, “Does this plan work?” Well, gosh, no it doesn’t. If I don’t make any changes, it calmly informs me I will be negative in my account at the end of the month.

Another touchdown. It’s going to be a very good season.

I sip my tea and debate my life. I decide the way to handle the month is to wait on buying this new chair I’d been planning on buying for my living room. I can arrange this gorgeous throw I bought recently over the back of my current chair to give it a little life. And I’m also going to transfer in some money from my “periodic savings”. So I go online and quickly transfer the money and then I make the chair and savings adjustments on my august plan. Now I would end with enough money. Relief!

And when I thought about it, the glasses were on my annual plan- I just didn’t intend to do it this month. I decide that this weekend I’ll sit down and adjust my annual plan and look at the bigger picture. And I’ll update my needs and wants list. The eye glasses were definitely on the needs list. I will put the new chair on my wants list so I can prioritize for it.

For now, I am doing well. My stress is gone.

My son shows me a YouTube video he found on a rapper he likes. He’s trying to get me to see the light- “Rapping is cool, mom!”

Time to fold the laundry and pay closer attention to my Seahawks.

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