If you’ve resolved to improve your financial wellbeing this year here are three great foundation habits to develop. Or use this as a checklist to validate what you’re already doing.
1. Automate
Make affording a life that lights you up the default result by automating your money system as much as possible. Don’t rely on fickle willpower.
Establish automatic transfers into savings and investments, and automatically cover all other expenses you have committed to.
Whatever is left over is guilt-free spending on impulses and indulgences.
2. Compartmentalise and label your accounts
In the days before credit was so readily available our grandparents used envelopes and jars to balance their budgets and make ends meet.
Using a single account for all spending makes it very difficult to know what you can and cannot really afford. It can keep you living pay-to-pay.
Separately labelled accounts for goals and commitments makes your progress and trade-offs visible, thereby helping you resist the abundant temptation to spend.
3. Remove temptation
Every day we are immersed in an overwhelming spending buffet, where temptation to spend is abundant.
Removing is easier than resisting temptation. Remove the triggers to spend money by unsubscribing from marketing newsletters, unfollowing influencers and avoid browsing shopping centres without a list.
Bonus: Celebrate every good financial decision
Since spending money feels good we need to make not spending money feel good too.
One way to do this is to celebrate EVERY good financial decision, especially when you’re adapting to a new budget. Here are some free ways to celebrate.
For help to understand what money compartments to use and how to work out the amount to transfer into each compartment consider partnering with a money coach to teach you a solid money system. Book an introductory coaching session here.