Recently I had the opportunity for the perfect use of a bandage.  Using a bandage can have several connotations.  If can be seen as a temporary fix for a problem –  somehow usually involves lots of duct tape.  We’ve all seen some amusing examples of that one.  Bandages also provide great protection and safety for a boo boo or, owie which is often applied with the help of a kiss. I now have a third use for a bandage.  I’m using it to turn a bit of a downer into a smile!

I achieved a dent on my left side panel of my car awhile ago.  As I explored getting it fixed I realized it was one of those exercises in “what do I want to do with my money“.  The facts were that the quote to fix the car was $1,100, my deductible was $1,000 – ouch!  My 2001 Hyundai Sante Fe actually has less than 90,000 miles on it and is a delight.  Despite that it’s Blue Book value is around $2,000.

You won’t be surprised to hear that I applied my own Money Knot untangling philosophies to this issue.  Spending money to fix the dent didn’t fit in my GOSH Model.  GOSH is my tool to help you see if your spending is aligning with what’s important to you.  In GOSH the ‘G’ is for Growth – nope dent fixing doesn’t do that for me.  ‘O’ stands for Obligation – if I spent  money to fix this it would increase my obligations, instead of keeping them at ‘as low as is reasonable‘, which is the goal for Obligation.  ‘S’ represents Sustaining – the car runs just fine as is, so no pull to fix it from that side.  Finally ‘H’ is for Heart – I do love my car and like it to look nice, but not $1,100 worth!

So if I did spend the money to get it fixed, what would I be doing?  I’d be falling into a Money Trap.  That’s what I call the things that pull us away from spending in alignment with the GOSH Model.  Things like habit, convenience, and ‘It’s on sale’ (Woo Hoo!) are all Money Traps.  They are those things that cause us to look at the credit card statement and ask “Where did it go?”   One of the great things about the GOSH Model and the Money Traps are that they are a bit different for each of us.  What may be Obligation to me, might be Heart for someone else.  For me, if I spent $1,100 to fix a dent in a car that is worth about $2,000 that would clearly be a Money Trap.  I’d  have to call that particular trap the “Vanity/Ego Trap” because it would be solely about ‘lookin’ good’.  Since I still have plenty of miles left on the car and it’s in good condition otherwise, I’d no doubt spend money on other things the car might need to run, but this one is cosmetic not mechanical.

So what did I do?  I used a wee bit of Heart money and bought the perfect bandage for the car.  She just needed a little acknowledgement of her boo boo, and I needed a way to turn a downer into a smile.

The other principle that  I applied was one from my days as in Interior Designer.  If there is some weird architectural feature that just seems funky, instead of trying to hide it, point to it, make it a feature.  Give it a personality of it’s own!

I hope you enjoy both the perfect bandage fix I applied here, as well as the introduction to the GOSH Model.  If you’d like to explore GOSH more give me a call at 503-258-1630 or check out my website at www.sensiblecoaching.com  Meanwhile, avoid those Money Traps whenever possible.

Ka-ching

Shell Tain, The Untangler