Financial Freedom Update

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blog post for a few weeks. Things have been full on in life, as they can often be, so finding the time and more specifically the headspace to sit down and write an update has been challenging. But here we are. Last time I talked a little about mindset shifts and strategies that you can use to help you get more in control of your financial situations. Next time I’m going to (finally) talk about the emotional piece to the overspending puzzle. This post is more of an update on how my own personal journey is going.

Let’s start with what is going well. I’m feeling less stressed about money. That is a big thing for me as it is quite often a key stressor for me. Particularly the lack of money for essential life stuff. But I got to the end of last month and could breathe a sigh of relief because I wasn’t worrying about stretching the pennies out to afford food. What hasn’t been going so well is that I haven’t really been tracking my spending. I check my bank balance sporadically – I clearly still have some anxiety around seeing the numbers. But I have felt fairly confident throughout the month that, if I did check, there would be money there.

So why is that? The key change that I’ve made is a shift in my mindset towards spending. As you may know, I set myself the challenge of not buying any clothes or books this year. There was a small caveat to that. I could buy books if they were necessary for my course, but other than that no. And so far, I’ve stuck to this. Now, I did buy a new bra (for my wedding) and a Wonder Woman dress (for my hen party) but these were small outlays and I felt they were justified as they were for specific and important events. Because I’m just not buying clothes or books, I haven’t really been looking for them. And because I haven’t been looking for them, I haven’t been tempted to buy them. If I was tempted I’d then have the self-control issue of wrestling with the want to have them and the want/need to be frugal.

I set my intention (to not buy books and clothes) based on the review I did of my own spending and in particular the areas I tend to overspend and comfort spend on. I also understood (and could see) that I have a lot of both of these things and objectively speaking do not need any more. At the moment. By really appreciating that I didn’t need to buy them and embracing the part of me that was seeking a less materialistic, more experiential focus this year, I’ve been able to meet my intention with what feels like minimal effort. Because my intention is realistic for me and aligned with my values, this has helped me to remain focused on it. Honestly, I have had times when I looked at books at a bookstore and have said to myself, ‘do I really need this?’ And the answer has been no, not at the moment. I have a massive backlog of books. I made a note of the title and then moved on. The book will still be there when I actually have time to read it.

What this shows is that continuous tracking of every penny is not necessarily required for staying on track. If you review your spending, set your budget and then can shift your mindset to be aligned with your values, then this can help keep you on track. Having a realistic budget in the first place is important, reflecting what you actually spend not just what you think you spend. The values you focus on are also important. If it is a value that lends itself to buying things, i.e. being fashionable, then it may be more difficult to avoid comfort spending, particularly for clothes, if I have a desire to always have the latest thing. We all have a range of values so think about why it is you want to control your finances. Is it because family is important to you and you want to have more family holidays or buy a home? Then focusing on your family and enjoying experiences with them rather than on material things may be beneficial for keeping on track.

My aim going in to the next few weeks is to continue keeping my values (particularly valuing experiences over things) and my goal (of financial freedom) in the forefront of my mind, and to continue as I am. I’m not making massive strides to repaying debt, but I’m feeling more in control, less stressed and more responsible. This is then giving some extra motivation to stick with it to keep this feeling. As they say, slow and steady wins the race. And I’m slowly and steadily working my way to a more financially (and mentally) healthy place. I hope you are too.