What’s going on with your money?

With all this talk about the impending national debt
default, it brings up so many financial questions in our own lives.  Our personal finances are reflected in the
way our cities, states, federal and countries operate theirs.  We’re spending too much, saving too little,
giving away money without regard to its return. Our personal finances are in
disarray. We feel like we’re working for nothing, living from paycheck to
paycheck and robbing Peter to pay Paul. 
Our children are coming back home sometimes because they can’t make it.  What are we to do?  We all need to look at the future as well as
the present when we organize our finances.

As a coach, I want to help people get their
personal finances organized and profitable. Having your finances together will
relieve stress, enhance relationships with our spouses, children, and friends
and help create purpose in our careers.  Many
great changes in history have started from ground up! Why can’t our
finances?  Let’s look at some ways we can
start to recapture our sanity in relationship to our money.

There is no shame in not having a lot of money. When you carry the
shame it zaps your energy. Makes you feel like depressed.  Makes you want to spend money like you
perceive others do without consequence.  This then becomes a vicious cycle.  I’m a sucker for a sale. But do I need it or do I just want
it?

Most baby boomers grew up knowing their parents may not have been able to “give” them everything. So what we did was PLAN on taking care of ourselves. We knew there may be no help around.

Part of a plan is to

1. Create a Livable budget.
   Livable is the key. Don’t be so strict you can’t follow it.
2. Distinguish between ‘needs’
   and ‘wants’.  Sprinkle your budget
   with reasonable wants. 
3. Track your spending.  You would be amazed at how much money is
   ‘wasted’.  Those cups of coffee and
   bagels everyday can add up.

There are many other things we can do which I will cover in
future blogs. What makes your budget “Livable?”

Nurses, Stress and Snow?

January 2011 may go down in the history books for New Yorkers as the snowiest January ever.  As nurses, this snowy month has created a lot of stress in our lives.  When the snow storms hit we met the challenge like the other life saving professions out there i.e. our fire fighters, EMS and police. 
Many nurses slept in hospitals and nursing homes for days manning extra shifts until help  arrived.  Homecare nurses walked through snow drifts or drove as close as they could get to a patients’ home and then walked to provide care.   Some worked from home calling patients and their families to make sure they were okay.  Emergency room nurses saw an increase in their census as people who had no support at home or homeless come in from the cold snow. 
How do we relieve the stress from these snowy episodes?  One way is to make sure you give yourself a pat on the back. Toot your own horn!  Let your friends and families know what you did.  Nurses do not do this enough! Some would look at this as bragging.  It is not! Do you wonder why the general public doesn’t think that nurses DO anything! 
As WE learn to really appreciate the the work we do, we receive the blessing from the sacrifice that we unselfishly make on behalf of our patients.  Appreciation is a great stress reliever believe it or not. The fact that we CAN give to others should be appreciated by us FIRST!  Don’t wait for someone else (your boss, friends or family) to do for you what you can do for yourself!  Hold your head high! You are worthy to be APPRECIATED and live a life that’s STRESS FREE!
NURSES ARE THE BEST!!!  Read a short article on Appreciation and stress.  http://5minutestressrelief.net/FMSR%20PDF%20Files/Appreciation%20Reduces%20Stress.pdf