Hitting the Reset Button (Part 1)

We have been talking about hitting the reset button, and one of the things that it dawns on me that we should be talking about money – hitting the reset button.  I don’t mean hitting the reset button for your investment account. Because that is probably not the right thing to do.  Unless you just grossly misjudged where your money should be, hitting the reset button for investments is probably a bad idea.  But hitting the reset button for your cash flow is probably a really good idea for right now.  

So I don’t know how your employer is helping you, but if you are a Federal employee, it seems to me that you are going to be okay.  It seems to me that at least you have annual leave, and I am not really sure what they are communicating to you about annual leave – I am going to find out about that.  I just thought about that.  

So if you think about what you need to be doing with your money, it is a great time to hit the reset button and ask yourself some questions.  Reevaluate, for instance how many times you went out to eat during the week, how much money you spent during the week, and whether being in that habit was so beneficial to you physically, so beneficial to you socially and relationally, that you ought to keep doing it, and you need to make better plans so that you can have the money to do that, then great.  But if you feel like, you know what?  I was probably just in a hurry, I probably wasn’t talking to anybody, I probably wasn’t building any relationships, I probably was grabbing something and eating it fast while I was reading my phone or reading the paper, then you know, you could have done that with a banana and a peanut butter sandwich!

So think about your spending habits and whether you need to hit the reset button.  I think that is going to happen also from the proprietor’s point of view.  People aren’t going to be going to restaurants like they used to.  People aren’t going to the stores and shops like they used to.  And they are going to start thinking “why did I do there?  Why did I go there so often?  Why did I order what I ordered, and pay what I paid?  I wish I had thought about that sooner.”  

A lot of people are going to re-evaluate where they are spending money and so it is going to be up to the proprietor to re-earn their business and to be able to have some creativity in their menu pricing to be able to keep some of those customers.  From your point of view, how can I hold on to more money for times like these, so I am not afraid, so I know I can last whatever time I need to last, in terms of whatever is happening with our economy, whatever is happening with our employers, whatever is happening with our benefits.