I was joking with girl friend Camy over lunch one day that I bet I could make up some random diet and perhaps make it a huge hit on the Internet. I mean if a banana diet can bring a country to its fruit economic knees, and people scooped up ridiculous diets like the cabbage soup diet, and the cookie diet, than how hard could it be to come up with some diet that sounds like it could be the next big "thing".
I toyed with the Back in Skinny Jeans diet, the Economic Starvation diet: Lose weight by virtue of being broke, and the Amish diet, shed pounds using generations of organic, sustainable, slow food, localvore eating tips. Instead of riding a horse, ride your bike. Plant your own food. I figured it was brilliant as it tapped into so many things that are currently popular on the food scene, and it's catchy enough for people to talk about. "Hey you're looking thinner...Yeah, I'm on that new Amish diet. It's all the rage!"
This year I was going to just mock the whole New Year's resolution diet thing, but then pal Allese, brought up a good idea about tying something together along the lines of money and health because we are in the midst of a major economic downturn, and indeed money and health can be very entwined with each other.
I loved the idea because it's also a way to do something different for New Year's resolution time, and get women to start thinking about a different set of numbers: accounts versus scales. I'm all for us investing in things beyond our physical beauty. As well, I can do something tied into my own personal NY's resolution which is to be paid what I'm worth financially and emotionally.
So, say hello to the Skinny Debt Diet: Boost your financial wellness by:
- Making small changes
- Bootstrap spending
- Reduce stress and over eating
- Gain social support
The Skinny Debt Diet is very simple in that it is a way to start developing a healthier relationship with your money and debt to boost your financial wellness, and help you become healthier physically and fiscally.
The Skinny Debt Diet is a holistic approach that focuses on four main categories: feelings, finances, fitness, and food, and focuses on making tiny changes which you know I love to do on our Better Than Nothin' Tuesdays. I'm also going to make this diet fun and creative. One of my personal beefs
with personal finance things is that it all tends to be rather stiff
and intimidating. I seriously often get the deer in headlights look. Here we're going to speak human instead of bank, and you'll see bright colors and stylish imagery.
Focusing on prosperity versus weight in January
For the month of January, I will focus entirely on the Skinny Debt Diet and the calendar will go like this, Tuesdays will be about food, Wednesdays will be finances, Thursday will be fitness, and Friday will be feelings. You'll be getting tips, ideas, inspiration, and other goodies to help you boost your relationship between health and wallet. On Mondays, over at The Everyday Blogger, I'm going to share ways on how to make money via blogging because another way to boost your prosperity is to create more of it.
At the end of January, the Skinny Debt Diet will become a one post a week kind of thing, and we'll be back to our normal posting subjects. Money though will still be a big theme on BISJ in 2009 because it is par with my NY's resolution, and I think it will be not only good, but very healthy for us to start focusing some of that energy away from our looks and jeans size, and onto growing our bank account size and reducing our debt.
If we're gonna focus on skinny, why not make our debt skinny. Who doesn't want skinny debt? In fact, I'd love to have a size 0 debt, and think that this is one size 0 that is worth working towards. Don't you?
Success is merrier when you have comrades
Now here's another fun part about the Skinny Debt Diet, we're going to make it up as we go along, and help each other in the process. I think one of the biggest issues people have with money is feeling alone and lost. We start to think we're the only ones who have certain money issues or that no one will understand our problems, but oh no. You'd be amazed, and I have no doubt that you'll start to find some relief when you start seeing what others are going through.
When you start talking more and feeling better about your money, you'll probably reach for the potato chips and cookies less as many of us stress eat after a round with the finances. Personally, I'm becoming less hung up about talking about my money challenges because I know I'm not alone, and to get a bit Dr. Evil, there are gazillions of us all in the same boat.
I've come up with a basic foundation for the Skinny Debt Diet with the four categories, but this is a work in progress, and we'll have help along the way. The social community partner I've lined up for us is Wesabe, a friendly and warm place where you can learn to manage your money more wisely and do it with other people just like me and you. On Wednesday Jan. 7, I'll get into more detail about Wesabe, how it works and how BISJ readers will benefit.
My whole attitude about the Skinny Debt Diet is to create something that can be helpful and fun, and at the same time take some fright and stigma off the topic of personal finance.
I'll throw out the disclaimer stuff and point out that I am not a financial expert nor have I any kind of financial wizardry background, so again, any tips you see here is just that tips. Always consult your finance professionals for sound advice and guidance like you would medical pros for your health.
Your money is a beautiful thing
As women, I think it is very important to become financially sound on
our own. I admit I haven't been the best with my own finances and money
making efforts, but I do know some things. I was a millionaire once before, and believe I can do it again, only this time far more wiser and loaded with maturity.
I also think it is awesome for women to imagine more that they have the ability to be self made millionaires. You don't need to rely on husbands or trust funds. We live in a time and place where anything is possible if you put your mind and action into it.
The financial crisis has not affected me much at all because I've already been living like a bootstrapping entrepreneur for the last 3 years so I'll just be sharing what I'm doing, my debt is in the teens, and my credit score is in the 700s. So, I'm doing alright for myself, but indeed would like to boost my financial wellness as 2009 becomes a year for focused money making efforts.
If there's certain topics you'd like to see covered, please share in comments. I think you'll be pretty excited about what we got coming for ya this month. In fact, on Thursday our first fitness day, we'll get a special video from this hot fitness blogger. Woo-hoo!
I liked the whole discussion about asking yourself, "What are you really hungry for?" This is an awesome question to ask yourself when you feel the need to binge or overeat because in most cases we're not actually hungry for food but for something emotional like love, comfort, or relief. We're using food in replacement instead of reaching for what we are truly craving emotionally.
I like that the 5 women are like people I would know, work with, or have went to school with. They are everyday folk. They are a good group.
