Spending Freeze Reflection Questions (Day 21) #SpendingFreezeDFS

We are pretty much two-thirds of the way through our 31 Day Spending Freeze Challenge, and today will be a day of reflection and catching up on any “homework” you want to complete.  Our hope is that by now you have read through all of the posts and printed out most, if not all, of the Family Binder for your own organizational growth.  We also wanted to give you a night to start viewing some of our 35 Days to an Organized Home posts and videos as well.

The goal of this entire challenge is to encourage you to do more than just not spend money for a month. We want it to be a way for you to hit the reset button on the financial and organizational components of your life.  We just wanted to give you a few questions to ask yourself to make sure that you are getting the most out of the challenge, and to help you grow as much as possible. Take some time to think through today’s questions and see if there are still areas where you need to grow.

Reflection Questions:

1. After reviewing your spending habits over the last month, where are the top areas of your budget that need some work?  Is it eating out? Entertainment? Make a list of the areas where you need to improve and then three strategies to help you stop spending as much in these areas.
2. What areas of your life need to be organized most to help you grow in your finances. List the top three areas that need the most help in organization. Think of a system that would realistically work for you in these areas.  For example, don’t have grandiose plans that don’t truly fit your personality. You probably already know in your heart which ones you will stick to and which ones won’t work.
3. While going through the spending freeze, have you had an encounter with anyone that really challenged your feelings about yourself, your material items, etc.? How did you handle that situation and does that person’s opinion really matter. I’m thinking of people here who might be slightly intimidating or snobby or make you feel less about yourself. Remember that these people will pass away someday too, and will their opinions matter when they are in the grave? I hate to be harsh on that one, but my grandfather was the local coroner for thirty+ years and I’m just being realistic.
4. Start carving out time for budget and organizational maintenance by writing it on your calendar now. Go through your calendar and pencil in at least one day a month to work on these systems.

If you have enough courage to share publicly, comment some of your answers below.