Readying the Captain's Quarters
Restoring our ship to her full potential will not be easy. She’s seen better days—water floods her decks, her sails hang in shreds, and she’s perilously tilted to one side. Yet, the path to recovery is paved with countless small efforts. Step by step, we’ll transform her into a seaworthy vessel once more. The journey begins modestly; first, we’ll tidy up the captain’s quarters. A small but vital move, laying the foundation for greater change ahead.
Getting organized financially also requires us to sort our physical space. If we’re to get serious about getting out of debt and on a journey of financial stability and prosperity then we need a clean slate mentally. By decluttering our workspace, we can go a small way towards this.
Each of us begins this journey from a unique place, shaped by countless factors. Our ages, genders, and backgrounds all play a part. Some may be renting, or a homeowner; perhaps living in either a spacious home, a cozy apartment, or even a studio. You will need to have these factors in mind and personalise the following to suit your situation.
There will be some area of your home you can carve out as your workspace. This will be the area where you go to focus on your finances or perform other work. This area will be solely focussed on those things and not to be used for entertainment or wasting time. We need to be disciplined if we are to reap the rewards.
The first thing to do is clear out the area to are designating as your workspace and give it a thorough clean. We are starting afresh with how we deal with our money and this area is going to be ground zero for where these decisions are made.
If you are lucky, you may have a whole room to designate as your office or it may be as simple as a corner of a room. Whatever it is this will be where we get your finances and more sorted. My philosophy is to run your home as if it were a business where this area will be your head office. For our nautical theme, it will be the captain’s quarters where we log our income and expenses, pay our bills and file away our parchments for easy reference or use later
Obviously, we’ll need to furnish it. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, then buy second hand. What people pay for the convenience of same day delivery or click and collect etc, means they are overpaying for the item right off the bat. Take advantage of the fact that people buy stuff all the time that they didn’t really need as it turns into an albatross around their neck later. We’ve all done it; I bet you could look around right now and find purchases you regret (sell those asap).
You’ll need a sturdy desk, a comfortable chair and a computer (second hand desktops are a cheap option). You can use your mobile phone if necessary assuming you can handle working on a tiny screen (it would drive me bonkers). You’ll need a thumb drive to store a backup copy of your files and either a filing cabinet, desktop filing system, a binder or even boxes depending on your budget, space and preferences to store your hard copy bills and receipts.
You will be keeping digital copies also. There are a few ways you might want to do this. If you have a scanner/printer then you can use that, otherwise there are free apps you can download onto your phone.
ADOBE SCAN:
This app is highly recommended for its ease of use and excellent scan quality. It automatically saves your scans to Adobe Document Cloud, making them accessible from any device
MICROSOFT LENS:
Ideal for Microsoft Office users, this app integrates well with other Microsoft services and offers reliable scanning capabilities
GOOGLE DRIVE:
If you use Google services, the Google Drive app has a built-in scanning feature that is simple and effective.
APPLE NOTES:
For iPhone users, the Notes app includes a scanning feature that is straightforward and doesn’t require downloading an additional app.
CAMSCANNER:
- This app offers a range of features, including cloud storage integration, though it does add a small watermark to scanned documents
YOUR CAMERA PHONE:
Of course, you can just take a photo of it too and save as a jpeg etc.
You can even use the same headings that you are using in your budget as folder headings to keep things organized. The advantages of keeping records are many. You can use them to keep receipts if you wish to return purchases, records for tax time such as items you can write off or any hardcopies of share purchases etc. It is also handy if you wish you keep detailed bills for reference later. For example, say you want to change electricity supplier to get a better deal, then you can check like for like with your new provider. Electricity bills are deliberately difficult in order to make direct comparisons with competitors harder, so it is useful to have as much information about your previous bills as possible. You must be diligent with your filing both in the physical world AND the digital, just as a profitable business would be. Regularly back up your folders on to the removable hard drive. I also recommend this for any personal folders/family photos etc. Many important information and precious moments have been lost by relying on a single digital point of failure.
Speaking of digital you will need software in order to track your spending etc.
The great thing today is that the cost of software is zero in some cases. You can get software by subscription such as Microsoft 365 but I would recommend not doing that. We don’t need the latest versions or regular updates. They would like us paying rent forever for things we can own outright. We’ll cover the evils of subscriptions later. One subscription you will need though is an internet connection. Paying bills nowadays is cheaper and easier over the internet. If you’re reading this via the webpage then I’m going to assume that has already been sorted.
Other personal touches
Get an indoor plant, set up motivational posters or photos and any other things that will make it your work area.
Other non-digital items will include binders, notebooks and pens. Make sure the area is well lit to keep your workspace bright and more conducive to focus. Perhaps a whiteboard, calendar or diary will be useful, not only for planning your finances but also other important parts of your life. The more organized you can get, the more incentive and motivation you will have.
The more organized we are, the less mistakes we will make.
Good hydration, staying fit, eating healthy and getting good rest, while seemingly unrelated to this discussion are actually more important than you think. The more focussed we can be the better we will do in all facets of our lives. And remember if we want to keep with good habits long term then we don’t go hard out. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
For our daily record keeping I would suggest having a specific time each day that you sit down and record all the out goings and incomings of your bank accounts, cash etc. If you have a spouse then getting together once a day at the same time to record everything will help you stay on track. If you have to miss a day, make sure you catch up as soon as possible. Looking back on a weeks’ worth of spending and trying to work out where the money went is a nightmare. Do it every day, religiously. Ten minutes a day is more efficient, less mind-numbing or frustrating than an hour a week. The easier you make the process, the more you are likely to stick with it.
Now that our cabin is organized, we can think about getting the main body of our ship in order. She’s taking on too much water in the form of debts. We need to get the holes either plugged completely or at least manageable by pumping out more than we’re taking on.
Unfortunately, to collect the tools and skills necessary, we must travel to the perilous Debt &Danger Rocks. An island where, if we navigate wisely, we can collect what is necessary to get our ship stronger and more seaworthy than ever.
Luckily you have Your Treasure Compass to help guide you through this rocky labyrinth, else you will surely be dashed upon its jagged shores.
