I came to the conclusion that fees (late, NSF, restocking) are all evil. Especially credit cards and their annual fees! OMG!
Not to mention some of these fees are pure profit for the companies and banks that issue them.
Years ago when I was poorly managing my money and racking up some serious NSF fees, hubby and I had a coming to Jesus meeting (that’s a serious business conversation) and we totaled those NSF fees over a 12-month period. I could have fainted.
I could have had a pair of Christian Louboutin for what I was donating to BofA annually in NSF fees.
Well, that day we agreed no more NSF fees—ever.
And sorry, not sorry to Bank of America but they lost a stream of revenue from this family that day.
It took some work. It took a lot of discipline and it took looking at the numbers and carefully managing our resources.
A few years later, I started to notice that I was paying late fees for things like my cell phone bill and water bill. I added up those late fees and while it wasn’t as bad as the NSF fees, it was money I was freely giving away. That money could have gone towards our son’s college fund or help pay down my student loans.
I vowed we would never pay another late fee.
It took some doing but we did it.
I understand families get in a financial crunch because we were one of them. The mortgage crisis and Great Recession hit our house hard just like it did for millions of others and recovery was painful and slow and very scary.
I remember having a conversation with someone who was trying to decide if NSF fees were cheaper than the interest on a pay day loan they were considering.
The saying goes once you know better, you do better and we really are called to be good stewards of our resources—including our money.
That’s why this church girl came to the conclusion that she had better love money and take care of it or suffer the consequences. (You can watch my video confession here.)
2016 is just a few months away.
If you’ve had any of the fees mentioned in this post this year, be brave and total them.
If the amount stings, trust me I understand. I promise I’ve been there.
But feel the sting. Look at the number.
Next ask yourself how you could have used that money and promise yourself to either eliminate it altogether or at least cut by 50 percent.
Promise yourself that you deserve better financial care and you’re just the person to do it.
There are lots of financial resources and you can learn so much at the University of YouTube where people share their knowledge everyday.
If I can do it—the woman who was scared to look at the numbers and had some really throwed-off thinking about money— you can do it to.
#ThisWomanKnows
Lisa N. Alexander is the author and founder of This Woman Knows and What Million-Dollar Brands Know. She is an award-winning filmmaker, director, producer, and writer and is the owner of PrettyWork Creative.
