December is finally here! Everyone is pulling out their cash and cards, because tis the season to…go absolutely bonkers with money. Believe me, I get it. When it comes to our stuff, we just want what we want. Besides, we only get to enjoy the festive holidays once a year. These are the things we tell ourselves when justifying our decisions with money. But I’ve got some perspectives that may help us out in the long run. I want to share three points that I’ve learned about money lately, and three core reasons I feel that it’s so easy to be unwise with money. (super excited for this one by the way😁)

It’s boring until it’s not:

When I first started learning about the correct way to treat money, I was pumped! By the time I started to actually apply those things to my routine, that excitement was quickly followed by boredom. Choosing to do the right thing with your money can be painful. Sometimes irritating. Those who have reached their financial goals will tell you that it’s worth it though. George Kamel is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to having a healthy money mindset. I read his book “Breaking Free from Broke” and finished in about a week. Shoutout to George! In a YouTube interview that he was in, he explained how he became a homeowner and debt-free. As he did this, I literally started to doze. I fought to pay close attention to what he was saying because even though the process of financial health may not always be fun, you come out on top! Just imagine reaching every single financial goal that you’ve ever dreamed of. Not so boring anymore, right? Learning financial health isn’t always easy, and applying it to life may be a little unpleasant at first. Just because something doesn’t entertain us, doesn’t always mean that we need to disengage. You just have to remember the end goal, no matter how long it will realistically take.

Being Broke:

Being broke is a huge conversation within American culture. If we wanna be honest, all of us have been there and it sucks! Living from paycheck to paycheck has almost become the way of life for the U.S. According to Forbes, there’s about 21% of Americans that have $1000-$5000 saved up for emergencies. That percentage gets even smaller as the savings amount gets bigger. I’m convinced that there are two reasons for this (inspired by The Ramsey Show on YouTube). Being broke is either an income problem, a spending problem or both. Income issues can be solved with pursuing side jobs, searching for a new/additional job for a larger income, and/ or asking for more hours where you currently work. Now NONE of these things are super easy in my opinion, but again it’s worth it. It feels amazing to have multiple streams of income or reach new heights with a paycheck. However, it won’t solve anything if you just spend more in response. The whole point of making more is to pay off debt and build your savings. Otherwise, you’ll just remain broke but with more expensive purchases.

What is our mindset?

When we think about rich and poor, we usually think about how much money someone has or doesn’t have. But what if we took our focus off of that for a sec? Of course “rich” and “poor” have their accurate meanings, but to me they mean so much more than just what the American Dictionary says about them. I’d like to argue that rich and poor are mindsets. These are description words for how one treats their money and their lives. I believe that we can be rich while having little money due to our outlook and decisions. Same for the word “poor”. Even with a lot of money, we can still be poor because of the attitude and actions we take with our money and our lives. In my opinion, to be rich is to do the things that lead to wealth. To be rich is to have gratitude for what you have in the present time, and to make sound financial decisions. I see being poor as allowing materials and items to affect your emotions and your confidence. Take a car for instance. Many people have gone into debt due to getting the car that they prefer. That’s not to say that a less expensive car wouldn’t have gotten them around. The prefered car is one that will most likely affect how proud and happy you feel when you are driving it. At least at first, because everything gets old no matter how cool it is. It’s also what could bring the utmost stress into your life due to the constant monthly bill, as the actual value of the car gets lower by the day. For rich people, when it comes to shiny things, they JUST. DON’T. CARE. They pay for their cars in full or with a huge down payment. If they’re not able to spend their money that way with their first choice because of how big the price tag is, they resort to a car that works just fine but is less exciting, for peace of mind. Maybe we should follow their example.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Let’s go over the super fun topic of why overspending is such an easy habit to include into our lives. You ready? Me neither, but let’s do it. I’ll be sharing three reasons I’ve found as to why we may overspend.

Emotional Spending:

I’m so proud of how far America has come with awareness for mental health. I just feel like a along the way, some of us have put self-care in an inaccurate category. Have you ever heard, or subscribed to the phrase “shopping is my therapy”? Well I believe for a lot of us, this is a statement that justifies frivolous purchases. Gives us space to be impulsive with our shopping. Because we now live in a world where mental health is a very popular topic, we justify a lot of our decisions due to the way that they make us feel in the moment. Even if those decisions could eventually hurt us in the long run. Sure we have things in life that are therapeutic, but we also don’t want to overindulge in anything. It’s all about balance, friend.

Comparison:

Let’s talk about social media for a second. Nothing will make you feel inferior like social media. Spend five minutes scrolling, and in comes the urge to reevaluate your ENTIRE LIFE! Social media can absolutely have a damaging effect on the way you look at yourself and your life. Not only can social media cause the shenanigans, but so can everyday life. If you’re going out to interact with the rest of the world each day, you will see someone who has more. Wearing something nicer, driving something bigger, going somewhere fancier, eating something pricier. Sure our initial reaction may be unpleasant, but we’ve got to pull it together. Besides, we don’t know if that guy had to finance that steak he’s eating. But seriously… no matter what it looks like, those that we compare ourselves to, we have no idea the intricate details of their lives. Not that the details matter in the first place. What I’ve had to do is really reflect and ask myself “Why do I want this item? Is it because I genuinely like it, or because I know that it’s popular? Why do I like the things that I like? What does it say about my current mindset?” I feel like sometimes it’s necessary to take a deep dive like this and understand where the spending decisions are really coming from.

Upbringing:

I’ll be transparent here. I did not grow up in poverty, but I also didn’t grow up with a ton of money. More like working class. My family’s struggle was more about managing money. So in turn, we were a paycheck-to-paycheck household. As I grew up, I kind of had to seek out knowledge on my own because my parents saw nothing wrong with the way they treated their money. Maybe you have a similar story. Or maybe it’s totally different. Just know that however you grew up- whatever example was set for you as a child, it has a direct correlation to the natural tendencies you have with money. Because I grew up with a lack of knowledge about money, I have to re-train myself to do things differently so that my (potential) offspring has quality examples to go by. Maybe you’ll find that you can benefit from doing the same.

Final Thoughts:

I want to stress again that this kind of thing takes a lot of work, patience, and mistakes along the way. In order to reach our financial goals, we have to push ourselves while also extending grace. We have to be kind to ourselves while also not taking “no” for an answer. We should practice reviewing things we can do differently to avoid repeating financial mistakes. For me, The Ramsey Show on YouTube has been the beginning of my learning experience. If I have further questions, I just look it up on my own. I would recommend trying to have a little fun with it by thinking about your goals often. Maybe even creating a vision board if that’s your thing. I personally have fallen in love with learning about financial health. It says in Ecclesiastes 10:19 that “money answereth all things”, meaning that money minimizes external problems in this life. Now I would never advise anyone to fall in love with money itself. That’s recipe for corruption. 1 Timothy 6:10 says that “the love of money is the root of all evil” No one needs that. I’m so so happy about how much I’ve learned about finances, and I’m just ecstatic about the things I’ll learn in the future. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this read because I loved every minute of the write! What are some of your financial goals this coming year? Feel free to share with us in the comments! Until next time, blog buddies!😉