In most cases when I tell my clients about giving themselves a raise every month they initially appear shocked. It is possible to give yourself a raise each month without having to go knocking on your manager\’s door or increasing your working hours.

Having lived in Johannesburg for more than six months now, every month I am learning a new trick I can pull up my sleeve to ensure I have more money in my account. I share some of these tricks with you and hope you too can join me in finding ways to ensure the small savings you make along the way help you to achieve your financial goals.

# 1. Set A Financial Goal

You will not believe it but most people do not have a financial goal. I have heard all sorts of reasons for this from I do not make enough money to I am a stay at home wife who does not earn anything. However, it does not matter what you do or how much you make, we all need to have financial goals if you want to succeed at giving yourself a raise every month.

We all know the benefits of setting goals. Goals are what help us to keep the end in mind and remain focused on what we want to achieve. Financial goals can range from saving for vacations to retirement it all depends on every person\’s financial plan. I have shared how you can create a financial plan and begin the journey to financial freedom.

When you set a financial goal of say saving ZAR100,000 by the 31st of December 2019. It helps you to see the big picture and then create the steps that will lead you to this goal. To achieve this goal means you need to be putting aside at least ZAR 8500 every month. If you think this is a big task let me show you how your actions are sabotaging your goal because you tend to do what I like to call leaving money on the table.

# 2. Make Time to Organise Your Life

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said: \”A minute spent in organizing earns you an extra hour\”. When it comes to money, I will add that a minute spent in organizing puts more money in your wallet. There are several ways one can get their life organised from having routines to creating simple structures like meal plans. I find that when I skip my weekly planning meeting which usually happens on Sunday evening, it disorganizes my entire week.

As I sit down to plan for the week, I usually begin by looking at my calendar to see what activities are coming up for the children or myself. If I know we will be out of the house and this may delay meal preparation, I know I have to resort to my 30-minute meals. I keep a recipe book with all my family favorites. I have even gone ahead and created menus for when we have to host. Having all these things in place ensures I avoid being overwhelmed and turning to Ubereats to deliver our dinner.

Recently in a bid to increase our menu options, I am turning to the Pick and Pay magazine. You know the one they give to people who have their loyalty card which by the way you should get because it gives you actual money every time you use it. When I get this magazine I look out for recipes that may suit my family and tear them out. I then keep them in a folder which I can resort to from time to time.

Keep in mind that our goal is to have R8500 saved each month. This means the more meals I cook at home and order out less instantly gives me a raise each month. However, If I order out say three times in a month and the average take out for our family of four usually costs about ZAR 250 – 300 this will take out almost ZAR900 out of our budget. This money can be saved with a little planning.

I have a free 7 day course on how to orgainse your life. This course helps you to begin by acertaining your personality and why you act the way you do. It makes no sense to copy and paste what another person does because you will not be able to maintain it. Instead, you will get better results if you take the time to create a plan which takes into account your personality as well as the needs of your family.

# 3. Do not Shy Away From D.I.Y\’s

One compliment I will give Jozi girls is they know how to take care of themselves and look good. However, we all know this comes at a cost. I am finding there are short cuts to getting some of these looks. For example, when I go to the spa and do a facial, manicure & pedicure, eyebrows and some waxing here and there, it usually sets me back about ZAR1,500. Doing this twice a month will cost me double that. Again keep in mind our financial goal of ZAR 8,500 per month.

Instead of spending over ZAR 3,000 on beauty treatments each month, what I have decided to do is when I go to do my nails I take my own nail polish. This helps me to maintain my own nails until the next appointment is due the next month. In this video, Jennifer shares how she keeps her nails looking fresh all the time and she does them herself.

Another area where you may be leaving money on the table is when it comes to the services you are paying for. I have a client who told me her telephone bill each month was over ZAR 2,000. I wondered why she does not use WhatsApp. Investing in a smartphone for your parents will definitely be cheaper than you spending that much to call them every month.

In addition, consider how often is your domestic help coming in? I had a client who said her cleaning lady comes five days a week. Depending on how much one pays this is a huge amount of money. When we worked with her and put in place systems and routines for her, she reduced the days to 3. This instantly gave her a raise that month. If you are looking for ways to get more money? consider looking at some of the things you can do yourself and avoid again leaving money on the table?

# 4. Learn to sit with want and be Content

There is no lack of good things in Johannesburg. In addition, the fact that there are always sales of buy 2 get one free this does not help the situation. In order to help me deal with this, I maintain a wish list where I write the things I may want and then create a plan of how to get them. I call this sitting with want.

Let\’s face it ladies we are adults and unlike children who will throw tantrums when they do not get what they want, we are capable of controlling ourselves when we see the latest shoes, bags or whatever else you like to splurge on.

Another way to give yourself a raise every month is to learn how to live a life of contentment. In Philippians 4: 12 -13, we read about how Paul tells that he learnt to be content whether in seasons of plenty or lack. In my personal view, in order to cultivate a spirit of contentment, one has to live a life of gratitude. Learn to count your blessings and name them one by one. What this does is it helps you to remain focused on what you have instead of what you may be lacking. Contented people are the ones who go ahead and achieve their financial goals.

# 5. Practice saying the word NO!

I am learning that South Africa is a country where using credit is very popular. Adverts are very clear with spelling out for you how much you have to pay each month and the item is yours. I have heard that there are benefits of using a credit card. However, in my view, credit cards cost you more in the long run and I do not see how they guarantee you a raise every month. My solution to all those who have tried to sell me one is simply say No. I shared a post about how you can use the word no and not feel bad about it. I find that the best way to stay away from credit cards is putting into effect what we discussed in #4 above.

In my view, the journey to financial freedom starts with you developing a healthy relationship with money. You need to learn how to live within your means and this is best done by having a budget. I reason that budgeting can contribute to you living a fulfilled life. I often say, \”a budget is not just for those who do not have enough money but for those who want to ensure that their money is enough\”. A budget shows you whether or not you can afford the lifestyle you are living. It also allows you to plan for the future so that you often have a margin which enables you to be a giver. Making a budget every month is one thing I can say has helped us be able to achieve our financial goals.

Finally,

You may have noticed that there is a thread that runs through all these tips and that is they require some sort of action on your part in order for you to get a raise every month. In my view, the effort it takes to effect these tips is worth it. This is simply because you deserve to live a life of abundance which you can only attain if you are at peace financially. Go ahead and implement some or all of these tips and let me know if you will not have a raise at the end of next month.