At the beginning of a new year (and a new decade) I’m ready to plunge right in and make waves.  Presented with the clean slate of a new year, I’m ready to march forward with plans to do things differently.  I want to make changes with my money, my food, my family, my home, my work – you name it – it’s doomed for an extreme makeover!

But then I found this old birthday card while cleaning out a drawer and it got me thinking about making waves.  My waves are usually of the tsunami variety and can overwhelm me and everyone in its path.  But does change in life have to happen like this?  What if, instead of making waves, we dropped a pebble?

Think of the ripples radiating from the single drop of that pebble.  Unlike a wave, there is nothing destructive or invasive about them.  Yet, change does happen – it just happens in small, gentle, balanced ways.

If we applied this technique to our money problems, we would make one small gesture instead of vowing to change everything, everywhere.  We would drink home coffee instead of Starbuck’s, buy store brand instead of name brand, make lunch one day a week or eat out one less time this week/month.

Each, just a drop in the bucket of our spending habits but each starting a ripple that will make a difference.  A small difference to be sure.  But if we put aside that differen¢e and don’t lose the savings elsewhere, we’ll be amazed to see how it adds up.  And, we’ll be amazed how change can happen effortlessly.  How about giving it a try?

I’m tossing the pebble.  One small step for me….   

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