How to Pay Your Bills and Have FUN!


Does paying your bills feel like drudgery and stressful? I have found some ways to make writing those checks more fun and turn that time into a more creative and positive activity. 

As a participant in 21 Secrets, an online art journaling workshop (which is having a Christmas in July sale right now) I have learned a way to have a little fun with those bills that come in the mail. Jo Bruhn, one of the instructors, leads a tutorial on making flowers with the beautiful papers which line the inside of your security envelopes. I've never really paid attention to these envelopes other than to make sure my information is not visible from outside. But after carefully opening and flattening them out, I found a beautiful range of patterned papers. 

With all my bills, envelopes opened and flattened out, I outlined flowers, stems, and leaves with a black Sharpie and colored them in with highlighter pens. I carefully cut around the shapes and these beautiful blossoms are the result. You could doodle with markers, watercolor or use colored pencils to make a number of beautiful images to decorate your art journals or keep your kids busy while you tackle those bills. 

Another technique I use to make bill paying a more positive endeavor, is to cross out all my balances and replace them with zeroes. I act AS IF all my balances are zero after I pay the creditor. This sends a strong message to my subconscious that I am debt free. (And I'm getting pretty close to that!) Finances are a serious business, but changing our attitudes about the money we send out is a positive step to having a good relationship with money. 

The next step is to send payments out with a positive mental image. There is  an affirmation I learned from a wonderful book, "The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn". Her words, which she calls demonstrations, are an affirmation that go out with the money sent. So an affirmation I use from her book is "I pay my bills cheerfully and with a blessing". Yes, it sounds goofy, but it certainly changes my attitude while I'm writing checks and putting them in the mail. 

So I encourage you to change your attitude when it comes to dealing with your finances each month. Make it a more creative positive process, and watch your abundance increase as a result. 

Comments

Unknown said…
Cute idea! The pain of paying bills became easier for me when we started to budget and do it as a couple. Flowers help too! :)
July 26, 2013 at 10:58 AM
Unknown said…
I pay most of my bills online so I don't get much mail. But I do have a vision board about financial freedom. I look at that when I pay my bills. Reminds me that each payment gets me closer to my goals!
July 26, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Soul Comfort - A New Class from Brave Girls Club

Image
Winner Announcement:  Anita  (you'll need to contact me with your full name and email for me to pass on to Brave Girls.  Thanks everyone for the comments! More to come! To the tired, the exhausted, the overstretched…here’s an invitation… Life can be simple. What if we celebrated the brave act of….taking a break? What if simplicity, comfort, and quiet were the goal? What if there really was a way to quiet the chatter in our minds and let us recharge our body & soul? And what if it was fun, too? Introducing a new eCourse . . . Soul Comfort is a fresh new concept using art and journaling as a means to  relax and comfort yourself  and to get grounded while dealing with the craziness of every-day living. This course if full of  beautiful projects to fuel your creativity  in very  simple and easy  ways that are  meditational and relaxing  ,  beautiful comforting things  that will have your soul infused into them so that you want to keep them forever.
Read more

Art Prompt: A Collage of Your Favorite Things

Image
Some of my favorite things: gardens, beaches, porches, sunsets, snorkeling, dancing, sailing, holding hands, good food & drink, feeling a breeze, receiving flowers, breathtaking views, paint & brushes If you need a creative boost, a collage of your favorite things just might perk up your spirit. Here are some ideas for getting started: - collect some of your well read magazines and start cutting out images that resonate with you. No need for a lot of thought here. Colors and patterns may catch your eye, faces or rooms might pique your interest, titles of articles may draw your attention.  - find colorful patterned papers from gift bags, tissue inserts, the inside of security envelopes , junk mail, or greeting cards.  - look for images online and print them on your printer Snip away until you have a group of images and letters to start.   You can adhere your images of favorite things onto a piece of card stock or any heavy weight paper you might have on hand. Glue
Read more

The Zen of Doodle

Image
There is a peacefulness and calm about making lines, shapes, letters, and dots. Music in the background, a stream of thought, the texture of the paper, flow of the pen... and the joy of imagining.  A piece of paper and a pen.  Blissful simplicity. 
Read more