Pocket Your Dollars (book review)

Pocket Your Dollars: 5 Attitude Changes That Will Help You Pay Down Debt, Avoid Financial Stress, and Keep More of What You Make

From the back cover:

When it comes to money, attitude is everything

Carrie Rocha, founder and owner of Pocket Your Dollars.com, one of the most popular sites on the web, shares the secrets that will help you change the way you think about money. Seven years ago she and her husband were surprised to discover the mountain of debt they'd accumulated. They knew they'd have to make big changes. Thirty months later they were debt free and have stayed that way ever since.

How did they do it? It wasn't through a step-by-step financial program or spending plan. It turns out, budgets can't fix everything--real change takes an attitude adjustment.

You too can triumph over the pitfalls that lead to financial stress. With practical help in every chapter, including real-life examples and easy-to-use self-assessment tools, you'll soon understand what Carrie discovered: Lasting change can start today.

My Thoughts:

Pocket Your Dollars: 5 Attitude Changes That Will Help You Pay Down Debt, Avoid Financial Stress, and Keep More of What You Make by Carrie Rocha is the first financial book that really makes sense to me and seems to offer ideas and philosophies that I can actually put into place. Often when I read a financial book it seems to be written for people with LOTS of money and LOTS of debt. My husband and I live paycheck to paycheck and do have some debt that we would love to be able to pay off, but we need a plan in place and some assistance in how to do this. Pocket Your Dollars is one of those tools that we need.

I think my favorite part and the part that really hit home was Rocha's writing about the "WHY" she personally was in debt at one point and not the I am in debt and I don't know why cycle that so many other authors seem to write about. I love how she identifies the 5 attitudes that have to be identified and dealt with before you can begin your own journey to financial freedom. For me the 2 that hit home the most were "If Only I Had More Money" and "I Deserve a Treat."

The first part of the book explains the "Why" behind our going into debt. The section that follows offers advice and skills that we need to change our attitude that are the whys we got into debt. I love the idea of changing your self talk to reflect what your goals actually are. Instead of saying you deserve a treat for example, you can change that to " I work too hard for my money to have it go toward a leak in my budget."

The final part of the book, Rocha lends us some budgeting advice that makes sense. These include hints and tricks to make your expenses lower and while she offers suggestions she does not advocate one method above others. She knows that her readers are all different and that different methods work for different people. I love that she acknowledges this.

I LOVED this book. I think it has a lot of practical advice and really speaks to the why so we can do something about it. I will be using this book a lot during the next few months as I try to lower our budget and make a plan for getting out of debt!

Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.