In the last two weeks a theme has emerged with clients and friends. At various times in my life I've said it. At times you've said it. And we've all heard countless people in our lives say it...

"Money's tight right now, I'm scared, things aren't going the way I thought and I'm not sure how to get back on track."

AKA "Oh SHIT! What now?"

I'm interested PJC (People Jam Community). What fantastic advice do you have for getting back on track with money? What have you done that worked to stop digging, turn the tide and come back blazin?!

Here's my leadoff tip:
Respect your money by paying attention to the story your $$ trail tells. "In life, you attract what you respect...and this is true of money, too! If you don’t respect money, it won’t respect you." Now, I don't know if Paula White said that, but it's the hit Google gave me. I've heard that (or a similar) quote for 10 years now. I believe it.

That said, if you don’t know where you money is going, there’s a 98% chance you don’t respect your dough.

Ideas to decode the story of where your money is going and why--
*Pay with a credit/debit card for everything as it leaves an automatic trail
*Collect every receipt from every transaction
*Cross check your transactions online
*Cross check your monthly statement
*Use Quicken, QuickBooks or Microsoft Money to help you track, categorize and report
*Hire a bookkeeper and/or ask your accountant to walk through your books with you

Choose any one of those options/exercises and do it for 30 days. You’ll see all the charges, including unnecessary, overcharged, forgotten, mistaken, double payment, spontaneous, silly, accidental…etc. It all adds up and once you can see the big picture and understand the story, you can begin to spring clean and make some new decisions.

What else? Please share anything and everything that helped you make the shift and re-line your pockets.