Today I was hearing about a person who wanted to quit smoking but would frequently give in to temptation. For example, the person would just be walking by a store and then would decide that they have money so why not buy a pack? When you think about, virtually in every situation where a person wants to change a part of their life, we would often see them try to take the easy route out without changing their habits/attitude first.

Just like if you want to lose weight you will have to change the things that you do and not just rely on some quick diet. Similarly when it comes to one’s financial situation, if someone has trouble saving money then just giving them say $1000 won’t necessarily get them out of their rut as they will continue to make those impulse purchases or spend more than necessary on goods and services.

For myself, I’ve been very conservative with money ever since I was a child, but there was a time during my early young adult years where I frequently spent more than I really needed to due to the fact that I had the funds available, so it didn’t seem like a big deal. It wasn’t until I sat down and actually looked at the transactions that occurred on my bank account to see just how much I was spending that I realized that change was needed. For example, back then I had just started my Internet site I was pretty open to virtually everything that I read to try and make my site successful. Even with little things such as $20 for site submission services was like pocket change, but it did add up. I have a fairly high standard on how much funds should be in my account and when I saw that number quickly dropping, I decided that it was time for a change.

What most people would do is that they would try to find some get rich quick way which they feel would solve all of their problems. Instead, I used the “The other way to make money is to save money” approach and started by first making myself learn more about the Internet so that I could do most of the tasks by myself. Now instead of taking the time to find products/services to improve my Internet business, I was learning how to do it. Not only did this save me a lot of money, but I came out with so much more knowledge about the industry and this was only possible because I decided to change my habits.

Think of it like a vending machine dilemma. If you just happen to have a dollar in your pocket, you are more inclined to use it to buy that drink whereas if you didn’t have it you would have no choice but to not buy it and therefore you would save yourself money. If you are currently in a position where you are not entirely happy with, you must be willing to change your lifestyle. If you keep doing what you’re doing you’re going to keep getting what you get.

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It’s come and gone. Now that a new year has arrived, it’s time to reflect back on some of my financial success and disappointment that will help me for my future success. 2004 was a great year as I maintained my financial stability while increasing my income in virtually every work and venture that I am currently active in. Most notably, my site activities have been growing as my site has been generating a lot of visitors which also translated into more business and revenue. I’m very happy of the progress of the direct sales section of my site as my customer base has increased by around 343% over previous years. I didn’t take it too seriously before as I simply published that part of the site online and left it to see what happens, but this year I was aggressive in marketing it and it paid off.

2004 was also the second year of my participation in the Google Adsense program and while it remains as worthy source of income, it has been a little disappointing as my site traffic has definitely increased while there was very little growth in revenue. This is partly due to the awkward ads that have been displaying on my pages which don’t really have any relevance to the content on it such as advertisements for auto insurances. Since Google is now a publically traded company, maybe things will change for the better.

The key area in 2004 that I feel has been the most unproductive is my current banking situation. With all of the funds that I currently have, the interest rate is nothing to celebrate about and some of the fees seem like nothing but an extra way to take your money. I’ve just been with this bank for so many years that it’s one of those “Let’s just leave it” situations. It’s almost like people staying with the same Internet service provider or long distance company even though there are others that offer an equal or superior service at a better rate.

My spending habits have remained the same as I only purchased items when I knew that I had adequate funds right there and then. Of course that doesn’t mean that I only bought say dollar store items like a stingy scrooge. On the contrary, I was able to buy a brand new home entertainment system which consisted of a new HDTV and full surround speaker system while I still also spent quite a lot on gifts and presents for others. The main negative to my purchasing habits in 2004 was that I bought items and didn’t end up using them until a later date just to find out it went on sale later on. For example, while I usually buy video games with the intent of playing it, last year I found myself busier than usual and would often have to hold back in playing it. By then, another game would come out and I would then also buy that. Come to think of it, I hear so many people that also do this with items such as housewares and CD music. By the end of the day, you have all these items still in its original packaging and wonder where all of your money had gone. That’s definitely something to look out for this new year.

Overall, my goal this year in terms of finance is to once again maintain my current avenues of income while making them even more profitable. Time is also an area that seems to be less available than before, so I will also explore other options to help increase my personal time. The big one that I will definitely focus more on is my current banking situation as that was my biggest neglected area in 2004 and I will research and explore my options so that I can put that money to work and to hopefully get rid of some of those unnecessary fees.

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