Three stages to wealth

I used to pride myself on paying my bills on time... and I was always broke. Now I can pay my bills on time and I'm rich.  The secret?  Learning how to NOT pay your bills on time.

Let me explain.  Back when I was broke, I tried to save money. Every pay I would look at my bank balance and see the amount grow and grow.  Then a bill would arrive and I'd pay it.  Then another would come, and another, and another.  Eventually I'd be back at square one with no savings.  Does this sound familiar?  What was I doing wrong?  I tried to save.  I was being stingy with my spending but still my money just seemed to disappear.

Lets look at my situation now.  I save money.  Each time money comes in, I look at my bank account and see the amount grow and grow and grow.  Then a bill arrives and I pay it... on time.  And another arrives and another and another.  But I never get back to square one.... ever.  My balance always gets bigger and bigger and bigger.  Am I earning more money?... actually no.  I'm earning less now than when I was broke.  Have my expenses decreased?  No, I have two small children now.  My expenses have increased significantly.

Am I lying to you? No again.

So what is the difference between then and now?  The very significant attitude change that facilitated the change from broke to rich.

And now the secret.  Not paying the bills on time.  You see, I put my savings as a higher priority than paying the bills.  I didn't even know how to budget and this began to work.  After I learned to budget, it worked better, but the key to success was the attitude shift.

STAGE 2

I'd get paid, save some money and then a bill would arrive.  Instead of paying the bill with my "savings", I would wait until more money came in.  This was pretty easy because I had a job and was getting paid regularly.  So then, I'd get paid, save some more money, and pay the outstanding bill.  I'd watch my savings go up and up and the bills still got paid.  Not immediately and sometimes not even on time. But they always got paid AND I still managed to save.

Lets recap on the THREE STAGES TO WEALTH

Stage 1
Pay your bills on time and stay broke.

Stage 2
Save first, pay your bills when you get money in later.

Stage 3
Learn to budget, save first, pay your bills out of money allocated for that purpose.

The only difficult part is changing your attitude to one that is more relaxed about paying your bills on time.  But if you are prepared to go through stage 2 then eventually you can get to stage 3 and you can be rich and still pride yourself on paying the bills on time.  Have faith that this stage will come and you may find it easier to change your priorities.  After all, who is more important? You? Or the Internet company/ Telephone company/Electricity company/Somebody other than you?  I think you'll find the answer is quite obvious.