Are you a do-it-yourself guru?
I can tell you I am not a good DIY (do it yourself ) person. I feel pretty terrible about my lack of DIY skills since part of living frugally and independent means you should be able to do some basic home maintenance. I have said to myself, “I should be able to fix the leaking faucet by myself. I'm smart, frugal and independent — so why can't I do it?”
This made me think of other statements that people say about their finances:
“I try to, but I can't stick to my savings goals/budget.”
“I can't get out of the overdraft on my bank account.”
Oftentimes these statements derail your ability to succeed and we need to reframe our limitations.
When you find yourself saying: “I should be able to …,” don't allow this to be the end of your thought process. Instead, admit to yourself that you can't do something and then ask yourself how you can fix it. So, in my case, I should be able to handle home repairs, but I can't — so now what? Once I admitted there was a problem, the solution became obvious. I needed to put aside savings for any maintenance and repairs and would therefore have to decide what to cut back on in my budget to make sure I had the funds in the future.
There is no reason why you cannot accept who you are and work on self-improvement as well as self-acceptance. There are so many well-trained and skilled financial planners just waiting to work with you to create a budget, help you work out a plan to lower debt and assist you in creating a savings plan. We need to take stock of our abilities and accept our current capabilities. I am not saying we should not strive to improve ourselves, but sometimes it is OK to get a little help from an expert. You can't possibly be expected to be great at everything.
If you are holding investments, accounts and bank products at multiple financial institutions, consider consolidating them to one bank. This can help you manage your money more efficiently and will give you preferred status with your bank. After all, consolidating your accounts, mortgage and investments makes it a lot easier to have a simplified financial life, and it always ensures you will be provided with more comprehensive advice from your bank adviser.