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All It Takes is Doing Little Things

August 24, 2017

Everybody wants big changes in their lives, but All it Takes is Doing Little Things which will make the big changes. Have you ever realized that people don’t get rich overnight. They don’t lose 30 pounds in a week. And you know what, most people don’t buy a Porsche right out of college. I know, there are some exceptions, but for the most part it takes time and lots and lots of effort to get there. When you get done reading here, check out Mr. Money Mustache. He has some great ideas also about saving and investing. As a matter of fact, check out Afford Anything, but NOT Everything.

The effort can be broken down into little efforts. I ask people all the time, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is “One bite at a time”. Doing little things or taking Little bites or efforts over time will take down the giant elephant of building wealth or losing weight or whatever herculean task is before you. All it takes is to start doing little things.

I really first discovered this about 5 years ago. My weight was about 185 pounds and I wanted to lose some weight. Have you ever tried to cut out fried foods? I did for about a week. I went cold turkey on drinking sodas(again for about a week) and I started exercising.

What I realized over the next few months was that I could lose a few pounds when I exercised a bunch over the weekend or ate really healthy for the week. But then I would go back to my usual ways and I would gain the weight back, usually in a couple of days. I knew this because I weighed, and still do weigh myself every morning right after I go pee. I used to weigh myself in the morning, sometimes in the evening and usually right after I worked out. My consistency was not there and I never really knew if it was the slight dehydration or my good eating for the week.

So that was the next thing I realized, I had to measure my weight the same time of day every single day. I know, some people say don’t do that. You will beat yourself up. You will get discouraged, you have bad days, etc. I know all of this, but I am a controlling person and I have to know everything all the time so it works for me. Some days I am a little up, some days a little down. I know what I did yesterday so I am ok with where I am. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is not an excuse. I just know where I am because of my personal actions.

If I had a couple of sodas, chicken fried steak and a drink or two, I know I will be up a few pounds. And that’s OK! These are all my personal choices and I make them on a daily basis. What I learned is that I have start and continue doing little things that I do every day or at least regularly that will keep me doing something right or at least not so wrong.

I usually have some coffee in the mornings. Where I was really bad was that I used to have about 3 or 4 spoons of sugar and some half and half or milk. I liked it sweet. Slowly over time I have reduced my sugar to one teaspoon and no cream or milk. One little Victory for me.

Sodas are my evil, dirty little secret. I would have one or two per day and not think anything of it. NOW, if I worked out that day, I may have a soda. If I did not work out, I don’t have a soda. At night, usually about 9pm I start to feel a little hungry. What I used to do was get some chips, ice cream, something really bad for you at 9pm or maybe even 11pm. Now I have a glass of water by the bed at night. When I am feeling like I want to eat something, I have some water to fill me up.

Some other little things that I do regularly are a 20 or 30 minute walk at about 630am several times a week. Pull-ups in the morning and evening are always great. And when I am waiting in line I go up on my tip toes then down up then down exercising my calves. I try to eat at home which is best. But when we go out, I ask for a takeout container so that I make sure that about half the meal goes home with me. Usually in the mornings I kinda squat down then jump up in the air. I do this until I am out of breath which is about 15 times. Its doing little things all the time that really make a difference.

So am I 90 pounds now after changing my evil ways? NO and I never will be. I am at a good 172 give or take a pound or two. My pants don’t fit much different, but I have noticed that I feel so much more alive. A little exercise, a little bit better eating and over time I have gotten much healthier.

What I really noticed was that in pictures I now have a jaw line. My muscles are not big, but I am not flabby like I used to be. I still have a belly, but even that has lost some of its fluffiness. I have done this by making some little changes that once put into place are not really noticed but will make significant changes over time. The same can be done to your financial life along with your health, relationships or whatever aspect of your life that you are having trouble with.

Speaking of relationships. Randomly I will buy my wife a single rose bouquet in a little glass vase. It is usually about $15 or $20. BUT OMG it has such a significant impact on our relationship. Guys, try it this week and I guarantee good results. Gals, buy your special person a tool of some sort and he will probably want to do the dishes for you or maybe even fix something at the house with the new tool.

The financial aspect that will help with your real estate investments is what I really want to talk about. I hear so many people these days say that they are struggling to make ends meet. They can barely make it to the next paycheck. How are they going to invest in real estate if the rest of their financial life is in chaos? Nobody understands their struggle or what they are going through because the strugglers have kids, single parent, work 20 miles from home, football practice and ballet classes at the same time, bills that can never get paid off and on and on.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Yes that is an AA thing. This is so universal though. Once you realize that there is a problem, you can start to work on getting through the issues. Once you realize that you never have money left over at the end of the month you can start making changes to your spending patterns, if you truly want to change.

I know this is a hard subject for most people, but it is really simple. I can sum up all your problems in the following statement. YOU EITHER DON’T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY OR YOU SPEND TOO MUCH, MAYBE BOTH. Profound statement. Drop the mike. End of post.

There are really only 2 problems with your finances that are keeping you from investing or getting you out of debt or whatever your problem with your finances. Click here for lists of ways to get more income or spend less. In addition to the 1 or 2 problems in your spending/income life there is a whole psychology to what you are doing and understanding why you are doing it. You personally have to know your own mind and realize the things you do on a very conscious level. Once you can understand the why, you can start to better manage your finances and your life.

Now that you have some clarity on things that you can do, start to put a few little things in place. Every person has a slightly different situation, so things will vary somewhat. What is common to everyone are the three biggest spenders in most people’s lives: housing, transportation and food. I am going to break these down a little so that you can understand a little better where you spend over 50% of your income.

Housing – Besides the obvious mortgage payment many things make up housing. Utilities, maintenance, furniture, appliances and yard work. I know that the electric bill, at least here in Texas skyrockets starting in March or April until October. Try keeping the thermostat just 2 degrees higher than you normally keep it. When at home put shorts on, put on a tank top, take off your socks and shoes. Doing Little things like that can make 2 degrees just as comfortable and save you $20 to $50 per month.

Yard work is one of those things that cover spending and health. When you do your own yard you save $50 to $100 per month. You also get the added benefit of getting some exercise in your week.

Now the mortgage. If your interest rate can come down about 2 points AND you plan on staying in your home about 7 years more, you should think about getting refinanced. I would not recommend going back to 30 years Keeping the same years on the mortgage or even a shorter period would make great financial sense. There is even a credit union that will pay up to $5,000 towards your closing costs, Security Service FCU. That is where I bank.

Another side of the mortgage is how big of a mortgage you should have. A simple rule of thumb says that you should not pay more than 1/3 of your income toward your mortgage(piti).

We as Americans always seem to want to outdo each other in size of cars and houses. Silly, silly, silly. Get a home that has features that you NEED and maybe a few that you want. I can not believe that anyone in the world needs more than 2000 or 2500 square feet in a home even if you have 3 or 4 kids. Rich folks, dont worry, I am not talking to you. You guys can afford it, so keep your 5000sf+ mansion. I am talking to the people who feel that they need to show off to others about the size of their house and who cant affort it. Check out what a hoarder house looks like.

The other thing is the length of the mortgage. 15 year vs 30 year. Most people say go with the 30 year because your payments are smaller and you can always make bigger payments if you want. Truth is that almost nobody pays extra to get their home paid off in 25 or even 15 years. Stick with a 15 year mortgage. If you find a smaller house get a 15 year mortgage and if you are way under the 1/3 rule for payments, buy the house. You should build up equity fast just in case you have to sell it in the near future. You never know when you might be at the Top of the Market.

Transportation – This is where there is so much room for better judgement. I have friends who can not keep a car that has over 50k miles. Time to trade it in for something new. You lose so much money when you do that. Keep it for 100k, or even 150k miles. My last car was a 2009 Toyota Camry. I had over 150k miles on it. Still ran great. My car before that was a Mitsubishi Galant. I don’t remember the year, but I had over 250k miles on it. I had to put a quart of oil every month to 6 weeks starting at about 190k miles, but that was way cheaper than having a new car payment. Even when the car has 150k or even 250k miles on it, you can still sell it for $500 or even $1,000.

When it is time for buying a car you should NOT even think about a brand new car. Just like looking for deals on real estate, you should find someone who NEEDS to get out of their car. Ask around at work and find out who is looking for a new car. Your co-workers don’t read my blog, so they don’t know any better. They are going to buy a brand new car and get 30-50% too little for their trade in.

If they have a decent trade-in, let them know that you want to buy it. When they go to buy a new car, ask them to ask the dealer how much they will get for the trade-in. If the dealer is going to give them $8000 for their $15,000 car, tell them you will give them $9000 or $10,000. They get a little more and you get a good deal. It’s a win-win.

When I am in traffic I don’t race to the next red light. Don’t you hate the people who hit the gas hard and then get to the red light and hit the brakes hard? When I can see the red light a quarter of a mile away I take off slow, then coast to the stack of cars already waiting. I end up getting better gas mileage. Also I don’t wear out the brakes so much because I don’t use them much. This saves you gas ($), wear on the brakes and just makes your car last longer, win-win.

Food – OMG people make me shutter when I talk with them about finances regarding food. Of course they tell me they make good money, but everything costs so much and they can’t make ends meet. I always ask how much they go out to eat. They say not much, but when they start totaling last week it ends up being 15 out of 21 meals. It takes time, effort and planning, but you can make meals at home and save hundreds of $$ per month. I have even gotten on some food blogs that have great recipes like Chocolate Covered Katie and Clean Food Crush. I eating smaller meals because I am the one cooking them. Not only that, I am eating with less fat and processed foods. AND it saves money as an added benefit.

I hope you can see that there are so many little things that you can do in your life to be able to save money for that down payment on your rental property. You might want to save up to fix your own house. Maybe you just want to take a better vacation next year. Whatever your reason, doing little things don’t hurt much. Over the long term they can help you with your investing and your financial health. Make sure that you dont over analyze this. Do something, anything. PLEASE just start saving, investing, working overtime, part-time job, something that moves you forward.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. You can always send me an email at Rick@PozosReport.com . If you need some guidance on how to get some of these items started or if you just need to talk to someone else, email me and we can chat. If you think someone you know might need to read some of this please share on twitter or facebook with one of the buttons.