Financial Mindset

From the Motley Fool Budgeting board:

Here's the thing: if you think more about this and hold it up to the light, you'll come to understand that behaving as if you were still poor could lead you closer to actually BEING poor. What would be wise to happen now is to literally try on the mental mindset of someone who did not grow up with a similar sense of deprivation. Someone like that has a gut sense of money as being sufficient, replenishable, worthy of planning its present and future purposes - and does NOT tend towards surges of excitement when spending it. To someone not bereft of money in the past, it is a neutral force in the present and a building block for the future

Savings

1. Have it automatically deducted or pay yourself 1^st ( if not automatically deducted, transfer it 1^st)
2. What we see we tend to want. So avoiding seeing it. Can also waiting to see if want it as much later (without looking at it again) .
3. If must make a decision quickly then work on having a bias toward not buying as scarcity makes an item seem more desirable than it may really be.

Monthly Time Management

In the book "Losing Control" it cites studies which show that when a person micro manages their days they are less likely to accomplish everything, to rebel against the stringent plan and more likely to feel failure.

However if a person manages their month - plans what they what to get done in that time frame without specifying when it will get done, this allows flexibility and still keeps them on track for getting what needs to get done. It also allows them to feel success even if there is a short setback such as getting sick and takes up less of their time with planning.