Day 10 - Save Money on Entertaining Yourself

After turning my personal finances around just by spending 60 minutes every day on small projects I decided to share everything I learned to get my self in a better position when it comes to money. I will be serializing all the 60 minute projects so other people can try them to get their finances in better shape. Most of these tasks will take no more than an hour and it's those tasks that we love to put off. So join me from Day 1 to Day 13 to see if you can get yourself in a more prosperous place financially.

Day 10 - Save Money on Entertaining Yourself

Spending money on entertainment has become a requirement just like paying for gas and electricity. Previous generations considered entertainment as a perk or reward while the generation of today see it as something they must do to keep up with their circles socially. Comments such as "what did you do this weekend" has spurred people to go out of their way to find interesting things to spend their money on just to keep up. If you want to get ahead in life when it comes to your money you need to seriously rethink how you spend your hard earned cash on entertainment. If you want to liberate yourself from the rat race and declare yourself financially independent then you must forego the instant gratification and focus on the bigger picture.

On Day 10 we'll be focusing on our entertainment budget and use the time to rethink our paradigms on how we spend money. The first thing that you need to change is how you think about entertainment, do you see it as a way to forget about the drudgery of the 9 to 5 job? Do you see it as a reward for working 5 days every week? If you're thinking along these lines then you're just treating the symptoms as opposed to the underlying cause. It does not make sense to spend money on entertainment if you hate your job, instead you should be looking for ways to save money and buy assets which pay income which then pay for your lifestyle.

Consider a person who's income is exactly the same as his expenses and entertainment accounts for 20%, the reason this person spends so much on entertainment is to escape from his current job and lifestyle and have something to talk about at work near the water dispenser. This person will have to work his entire life and there's a very high change that he'll end up underachieving when it comes to his finances.

Now consider a person who avoids spending money on entertainment and instead uses the money to buy assets which pay monthly income. As this person accumulates more and more the income will rise from his assets. If he invests wisely and his assets pay him an income which is in line with inflation then he will eventually get to a point where the income from the assets equal his expenses upon which time he can choose whether he wants to work or not and design his own lifestyle as he pleases - he will be financially free.

Now that you think about entertainment as a tax on your freedom you should try to keep it at a bare minimum. Personally, when I changed the way I thought about entertainment I slashed my budget up to a point where I was spending next to nothing. Here are some of the things I did

1. Avoid going to expensive restaurants

2. Cancel all magazine subscriptions

3. Cancel all TV subscriptions

4. Stop going out on Fridays

5. Stop going shopping on Saturdays

6. Stop arranging holidays and trips on credit

The list above was my way of escaping the lifestyle which was thrusted upon me. It was these things that were stopping me from living the life I wanted. Everyone has their own escape list and you should try your utmost to divert your money from this escape list to somewhere more productive. Now I only indulge in entertainment when I've achieved something. I give myself monthly targets when it comes to making money online and if I meet these targets I reward myself. Perks and rewards acts as a way of achieving your long term goals quicker.

Once you've slashed your entertainment budget you'll have more time on your hands. You can choose to use this time in two ways. You could either find free ways to use your time or you could use the time to generate more money which would create more time. Personally I would go for the latter and use the time to plan my way out of the current lifestyle I have, and into the new lifestyle that I want to live. I was so hell bent on leaving my job that I slashed every inch on my entertainment budget and used my free time to generate income on the internet. As soon as my expenses equaled my income I was free to leave.

You could use your free time to learn something new and then implement the idea to make money. You could learn to create MLM companies, sell franchises, offer affiliate programs, sell stock, accept rents and royalties, sell licences or sell IPO's. You should focus on buying assets which pay income that adjusts with inflation or rent items which pay recurring income.

There are two lives that you can live. You can either live the life society intends because they think they know best or you could design your own lifestyle and plan to achieve it. Happiness is within your reach if you really want it.

I incentivize all my entertainment. If I want to watch a movie on TV then I have to do a task that will give me recurring value. This could be as simple as writing an article that generates income or exercising vigorously for 20 minutes. Once you start incentivizing instant gratification your life starts to go in the right direction.