Tomorrow starts tonight. (The punches are coming!)

Can I be honest?

Thanks.

We’ve got a lot of plates spinning right now.

Running two businesses (feels more like we are running forty five!)

Raising a two year old and everything that goes along with that!

Stupid car that tries to overheat at every traffic light.

Special announcement that I can’t spill the beans on just yet. Update: We are expecting!

Add in the daily grind of chores, cooking, cleaning, paying the bills, and all the normal stuff that life is made of and it can be too much sometimes.

Every now and then I get overwhelmed by it all. I’m not complaining. But it’s the truth.

I described it to Carrie a few weeks ago as feeling like life is punching me in the face all day long.

(Don’t grow up! It’s a trap!)

It’s true, I’m a tortured soul on the inside with a fake smile on the outside. Not really, but you know what I mean.

Tomorrow starts tonight

Never have three words been so true and helpful to this whole getting punched in the face all day feeling!

You want tomorrow to be better? You want to finally get a grip on things and even get on top and (dare I suggest) get ahead? Then you better plan ahead to get ahead.

Tomorrow starts tonight.

Wake up in the morning without a plan and it’s already too late.

Bouncing around from one random thing to the next won’t work. That’s how you get behind! That’s how the punches get through!

I’ve found that just planning my morning is almost enough to make the next day a success. (Almost. It’s better than nothing.) If I can just handle the morning punches I’ll be okay.

Of course having a five year plan, one year plan, monthly, weekly, and daily plan is what you really need. But man, anything is better than nothing!

The punches are coming. Having a plan for dealing with them is what you need.

Next month starts this month

So this tomorrow starts tonight idea has a great application to your monthly budget.

Next month starts this month.

If you want next months budget to look a little better, you need to start this month.

You need to plan how you are going to lower your spending next month, now. What you do this month has everything to do with how next month will look. From the obvious like paying this months utilities bills next month to the not so obvious like starting a meal plan.

And if you’re trying to increase your income next month, that starts this month for sure! New job, side-hustle, selling stuff, whatever… It all starts this month.

Like so many things in life, the payoff is in the future. Diet, exercise, planting seeds in the garden, investing.

One thing we did recently was clean up a few things we were paying for that either needed to be canceled or moved over to our business account. We cleaned up about $200 worth! It didn’t help that month, but it helped the month after.

All your financial efforts this month won’t really show up as wins until next month. Money follows actions.

What are you doing this month to set yourself up for next month?

-Derek

P.S. If you are looking to get a head start on your monthly budget, check out this post with five free $$ spreadsheets. Grab the one that will help you the most and start kicking ass today!!!

P.P.S. I had someone tell me that as a result of this post they started budgeting two months in advance! I’d never thought of doing a monthly budget that far ahead. But it’s a GREAT idea. Why not? You aren’t limited to budgeting only for the upcoming month. Hmmm… There might be a post on this idea coming soon.