Hey, heeeeeeey!
While staying on budget is super important, staying motivated can be a challenge. #amiright
So let's talk about a few ways you can keep your motivation up to stay the course and crush your financial goals.
#1- Don't forget to include a little fun money.
Just like a diet, if you don't give yourself a little room for something you enjoy, it's going to be that much harder to stick with it,
If I was on a new diet that told me I'd never be able to have cheesecake again-- well, to be perfectly honest, I'd probably never start.
Similarly, budgeting isn't about deprivation and starvation.
It's about keeping it lean most of the time, giving yourself a little bit of wiggle room so that you can reach your goal.
Isn't better to give yourself $25/week to blow knowing that that $100/month could potentially save you $100's by keeping you on budget and out of the drive-thru?
#2- A picture is worth 1000 words.
Debt payoff coloring sheets. Savings coloring sheets. A jar to stuff every $5 you come across in.
Making reaching goals fun, can go a long way to helping you stay the course.
There are lots of free or cheap options:
-If you are looking for some really fun debt payoff charts, there are tons of cute free ones at DebtFreeCharts
-If you're looking for some super cheap savings coloring sheets, there are some here.
#3 - Celebrate all your wins. Big or small.
Stayed out of Target? Crushed it.
Came in $1.78 under grocery budget? Money. Rockstar.
Didn't transfer money out of savings a single time this month? Money Managing Boss!
Heaping shame and guilt is gross and highly unproductive. Yes, it's important to know where things went off the rails, to work on progress BUT castigating yourself isn't where you need your head to be.
Instead of a constant refrain of, "You suck at this"-- try, "Girl- you just figured out one more way that grocery budgeting doesn't work for you." And then move on to something else.
Your goal is progress. It's not perfection. Go ahead and tell yourself that until you believe it. Because it's true.
So celebrate all your wins.
Because you're my favorite-- go ahead and tell me ONE money win from this week. Big or small. I double dog dare you.
Mine? We used up all our leftovers and I didn't have to throw any food (my biggest pet peeve!) away. I wish this wasn't as big of deal as it actually is in my house. My house is full of picky eaters. 🥺
Keep crushing it,
Kristen
PS- Don't forget to tell me your big win this week!
For more ways I can help you reach boss level money manager, check out:
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Kristen from Mom Managing Chaos shares tips, encouragement, and resources for busy Mamas looking to simplify managing their money. Join a community of over 20,000 who are ready to take control of their chaos.
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