Money, in the society in which we live is like our life blood.  Like the flower needs the rain, money needs to circulate and redistribute to keep economies, countries and societies moving.  Most of us would agree that we’re doing our bit – whatever comes in, has a tendency to head straight back out again!  And often we’re not quite sure where it all went!

I’m not going to do any speech on how many days left til Xmas or the New Year… but it is the time most of us have a bit of a think about things we’d like to achieve in the coming year.

New Years are the time for fresh starts, saying goodbye to things behind and getting on with the job.  Even if most of us don’t make formal New Years’ Resolutions, there are usually things we’d like to achieve.

Seeing most of us just have them as an idea somewhere out in the ether and not written down as a concrete plan, many of them just stay that – an idea.

So – maybe New Year’s 2011-2012 is the perfect place to start!

Just think about one thing you’d like to achieve in the coming 12 months…

A weekend with the girls?                                        $1 000

An overseas holiday?                                               $5 000

Those Jimmy Choos you’ve had your eye on!          $1 200

That new Louis Vuitton handbag?                           $4 500

Just a theme park day with the kids?                      $   300

Whatever it is our little heart’s desire – please don’t think – “for everything else, there’s Mastercard.”  Start the plan now!

If you want that Overseas holiday to Thailand in July for $5 000 – break it down now into pay periods.  You’ve got 7 months to go to save the $5 000…

That’s approx. $715 a month you’ll need to stash, or $360 per fortnight or $180 per week.  Breaking it down will let you know if your goal is achievable or not.

Maybe July won’t work – but if 12 months at $416 is do-able – you can go next December!  That’s still a win!

Make sure you’re still able to take care of the day to day expenses – but remember to look after you too.  Paying yourself first and then allocating the rest to the boring bits means you aren’t becoming a drudge.

You work hard and deserve to enjoy yourself.  We need to reaffirm that what we’re doing just doesn’t keep us running like the mouse on the wheel – every day the same, until we do our heads in. Just keeping our heads above water is hardly an existence, tho sometimes it seems all we’re doing!

Have a goal – something you’re really looking forward to – big or small and plan on how to achieve it, enjoy every minute – and then start the process all over again!