SPCG @home : toward financial freedom

It was a big day at my home today. The parents are back and truth be told I barely did half the things I planned to do whilst they were away.

BUT, what did happen was that I postponed all the physical cleaning and really just continued to dig deep into family finances. And the best part of the whole process so far was that my mother finally sat down with me and came clean with all the numbers! It was a big deal because I have been watching how mismanagement of bills and finances can really cost a bomb!

Although I've ended the day with a little bit of a shock to exactly how much debt we have (what, with the car, the house and all sorts of other things), I'm also somewhat very relieved. I'm relieved to know that there is nothing in the "unknown" now and am really proud that my mother was willing to just sit with me so that I could help. I'm relieved that there was no shame or judgment in the process, but that it was an important meeting to have out of love and concern. I'm relieved to know that all the figures are clear now and that we can start making plans to solve them together. I'm relieved that I'm doing something that could make a substantial difference to my family's future.

Troubles with finances can really bring a strain on relationships and can cause unnecessary duress on some of the dearest of people in our lives. These strains can cause such cracks (or breaks) in the relationship - which actually usually come out of the root of fear, shame and pride - but the thing is, that there can be solutions when people decide to humble themselves and to pull strength to solve them together. This afternoon (and evening), I saw how powerful it was to springclean the financial aspects of a family. I went through literally hundreds of papers - from bills, to receipts, invoices, information pamphlets - there was SO much paperwork. Then there was the sorting into the different accounts by chronological order, and I have barely gotten into the nitty grits of reconciliation and ensuring that all the bills reflect the correct payments that have been made... but it was such a relief.

It was a relief because the heap of financial burden is no longer continually growing (at the rate of approximately 23.99% - 28% according the the fine print of the credit card bills) under the carpet. Now that all of it has been pulled out, sorted, organized, and prepared for scrutiny, I'm excited to draw up the plan of exactly how my family is going to pull our heads and resources together to solve this little monster...together.

Tomorrow I'm holding a meeting with the siblings (who are all now grown adults) to talk about financial literacy and on how to share the financial responsibilities (not "burdens") of running the household, with the parents. And after that, I'm going to draw up a plan with the mother of how she's going to control her spending habits and clear her lavish debts. I'm going to make a difference to my family's financial aspects, and grow it into something that we, and our future generations, can enjoy.

I've recently been getting forcing myself to get a lot more financially literate, and some of the things I've learned so far - such as items which are tax deductible - have made me wish that I had started reading up about financial management a lot earlier.

I'm excited to share about the things I've been learning in my journey toward greater financial literacy over family dinner tomorrow - it's good for the family to have a practical chat about finances every now and then.

Can't wait.