HOW MUCH HAVE YOU SAVED?

Anyone still doing the 52 week Savings challenge or as we like to call it, The Christmas Savings Club? It's not too late to start saving. You can start at the beginning and still have money by the end of the year.

I have gotten so many of my employees on it! I'm so proud of them all!

Trent has his 7 year old on his own little savings program along with his parents.

Richard asked me the other day to explain it to him because his wife just didn't see how they could do it. He said, "we need to do this."

Javier is 25, married and has 3 kiddoes. Yesterday he came in and said, "How much are we supposed to have saved by now?" We checked the chart and I think it was $551 or so. "Know how much I have saved?" "How much?" $2700!!!!!!! I want to be his kid for Christmas this year!!!

WHOA!!!!! Go Javier!

So here is my question to you to encourage you to start saving: If you or your spouse, partner, significant other, etc. were to be unable to work for a month or more, how long would you be able to continue to pay your bills?

Most people in our country are a month away from being homeless. If you don't have family and friends to buffer you and help you if that happened, you better start making you an emergency fund. If you need help, ask me or send me a message.

So let's get to saving!

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales:  www.caryncann2.com

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2014 - WHAT A BLESSED YEAR

2014 - WHAT A BLESSED YEAR!

What a blessed year 2014 was for me.  My kids, Ashlie and Cody are both doing great!  They are really becoming grown-ups!  I look at them and remember where I was at their age and I'm just amazed by their progress!  They are doing great.

I paid my house off this year.  Yippee!  What a feeling of freedom!  I upgraded my car from a 2006 to a 2011 with very few miles.  And I was able to do it with cash.  Yeah baby! 

I will be completely debt free in 4 weeks.  I have the money to pay off my last two bills but I want to pump up that emergency fund a little more. 

I was able to reduce my work week from 5 days a week to 3 days a week.  And I'm not even 62 yet!  My golden years are financially secure even if I live 25 more years (Ok, The Buddhist monk says I have 29 more!).

I've continued to lose weight this year with Skinny Fiber.  I started jogging and completed my first 5K.  More weight loss and jogging in 2015 with yoga added.

I have good friends who are my family.  I have kids I love and adore.   I love them with all my heart.  Everyone is healthy and doing well.

Here are some things I tell my kids that I have learned:

Pay God first.

Pay yourself next.

Live below your means.

Save money for your future.  In your 20's, 30's, 40's and even your 50's, you just don't believe that 60 is really coming.  It does and in your head you are yelling I'M ONLY 25!  Be prepared.

One of my mother's favorite sayings that i have passed on:  Live like you will die tomorrow.  Plan like you will live forever.  Wise words.

Now, I'm not saying that my life in 2014 was all balloons and flowers.  It wasn't.  There have been days and still are that were hard and filled with tears.  I just choose to focus on my blessings.  And my blessings are overflowing!  Every day.  Every week.  Every month.  Every year.

Decide to make changes in 2015 that will have positive effects on your life in the present and in the future.  A year from now you will be amazed how far you have come and how quickly it has gone by!

To all my Facebook friends, online and off, I am hoping for you that 2015 will be YOUR year! 

Happy New Year!  Make 2015 the ride of your life!  I plan to!

copyrighted 2014

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales:  www.caryncann.com

A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH

A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH

Are you just wishing or do you really want to accomplish something?  If you have a goal, you have to have a plan on how to reach it.  Yes, you may stumble along the way, but then you just go back to the plan.

How many times do we all say things like, "I wish my house was paid off."  "I wish I weighed 100, 50, 25 pounds less."  "I wish I could go to college."  "I wish I had another job."  "I wish I could retire."  We all do it.  Wishing is like so many other things we do in our life.  It's a waste of our time.

Put that time to better use.  When you wish for something, decide if it is important enough to you to actually want to do it.  If it is, then set it as your goal.  Write it out!  And then set smaller goals to get you to that main goal.  It's difficult to set a goal that is in the future when you cannot see progress of smaller goals along the way.

Here is how I started saving over a decade ago.  I had no savings and had never saved a penny.  I wished I could save 10% of what I brought home.  One day I got a raise at work.  It was $6 a week.  My friend Debi said, "what are you gonna do with all that money?  But a dozen donuts?"  lol 

What I decided to do was save it.  And so I did.  Each week I would put that $6 in savings.  It grew slowly but for the first time in my life, I had a savings account.  Then I paid a credit card off.  I was paying the minimum plus the interest each month.  That gave me about $16 more each week.  I added that to the $6 and now I was saving $22 a week.

I now save more than 10% of my income.  It is a great feeling to look in my savings account and see money.  When an emergency comes up I no longer have to decide, "do I fix my car or do I pay my electric bill?" 

This process works for any goal.  I did the same procedure when I wanted to start tithing.  It worked when I started jogging.  All it takes is choosing a goal, writing it down with smaller goals, and then putting your plan in action.

Once you do that, your goal is no longer just a wish.  It's a plan that you can accomplish.

copyrighted 2014

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales:  www.caryncann.com