10 signs you need to change your relationship with your money

Money.  It's great to have money.  It lets us do what we want to do.  And it's no fun when there's not enough. Are you feeling financially overwhelmed, even though you have a pretty steady income of some sort? 

Check out this list and see how many of these apply to you:

1. You have no idea how much money is really coming in. You hope it’s enough. That’s all you know.

2. When you receive an unexpected cash gift, you go out right away and spend it on something impulsive. After all, you deserve a treat!

3. You feel great when you have $60-$100 in your wallet, and then can’t figure out where it went a day and a half later, when all that remains are some ones and a five.  Or if you only use your debit card, you feel flush after you’ve been paid and then wonder why you can’t make your money last until the next payday.

4. You find yourself often saying or thinking, “I can’t afford that!”

5. You have some debt, but you don’t really know how much.  If you added it all up you might start to cry.

6. You go into a store for a few things and come out with five additional cool items that were such a bargain you couldn’t pass them up.

7. You have fights or disagreements about money with your significant other.

8. You feel like managing your money is too complicated and you hate math and accounting and all of that calculating stuff.

9. You feel like if you had more money, all of your problems would be solved.

10. You feel like you don’t earn as much as you’re worth, but you have trouble asking for raises or raising your rates, or being paid fairly for your time and energy.

How many of these signs are true for you?  If you agreed with more than five of these statements, you’ll love my upcoming class, The Indulgent Path to Money Management, offered locally in New Orleans beginning October 22, 2014 and hosted by Audubon Yoga Studio on Octavia Street.

We’ll use the bright, clear space of the yoga studio to inspire us to turn our attention toward our finances in a simple yet effective way.

We’ll meet on four Wednesday evenings from 7:45 -9:00 p.m.October 22, November 5, November 12, and November 19. We’ll also have a private online group for support between classes.  Class investment: $157- with a guarantee that you'll come out ahead at the end of the course by more than that!

I've hosted this course multiple times over the phone, and by popular demand I'm offering an in-person version for locals who want more face-to-face interaction.

Want to learn more about the course and hear my story? click here for waay more details.

If you’re ready to make a shift and want some accountability and inspiration while you take action to turn towards your money in a fun and indulgent way that doesn’t feel like deprivation, you’ll want to join this course!  Also, if you've been "meaning to get around to this" for ages and have been stuck financially for a while, it may be worth it to invest some time and $$ into turning things around.  Learn to undo your unhealthy money habits.  Get some expert support.  Make a change that will last.  I did this with clutter recently, and it was so worth my investment!

Email carla@livingwildandprecious.com to enroll or to ask questions.  Put "money class" in the subject line.  Class size is limited and class starts soon, so if you are interested, sign up now!

Not local? I'll teach an online version in January - so make sure you're on my mailing list to be the first to know when enrollment opens!

Five ways I stopped letting money get in the way

I run into this situation with clients somewhat regularly.  Something having to do with money is the obstacle keeping them from truly living the wild and precious lives they want. There's not enough money, they have a giant mortgage, moving to the place of their dreams (often near water) or going back to school would cost too much, etc., etc. Of course, there are plenty of facts to support their concerns.  Some clients have some kind of major debt on top of everything else.  And while I wish I did, I don't have a magic wand to wave around to make debt disappear, replaced by giant cartoon bags of money with dollar signs on the outside!  (That would be cool, wouldn't it?)

What I can offer are some tools to turn the whole money puzzle around. About ten years ago, I figured out what to do over a series of years and months. A "perfect storm" of books and resources all seemingly magically showed up at about the same time, and I was ready to dive into their wisdom.

Years later, here are the five biggest takeaways that I've figured out that made a difference for us.  They might do the same for you!

1. Pay attention.  Most spending that we're sorry about later happens when we purposefully stop paying attention.  We really don't want to know.  Have you ever taken a receipt for a meal or an outfit or a cart of groceries and not even looked at it? Either tossed it away or shoved it back into your wallet?  Have you said aloud or to yourself, "I don't even want to know how much that cost."  Well, there you have it.  Like a scientist doing an experiment, you have to start paying attention to the data and collecting some information, or you'll have no idea what's happening and you can't make a conclusion or analyze your results, or make changes that will work better for you in the future.

2. Stop trying to impress people.  I know, I know. You think you don't do this.  You're a well-adjusted person who makes choices based upon what you want.  You don't care a bit what other people think. Well, perhaps your evolved self doesn't care, but I can almost guarantee there's at least  some very tiny part of your brain that's keeping a pretty interesting tally of where you fit in a never-ending comparison game with others.  With their cars, or their homes, or their vacations.  Or the quality and value of their holiday gifts.  Once you really figure out what you want and get off the status hamster wheel to nowhere, you might be really surprised at the number of cartoon money bags accumulating around your feet!

3. Avoid "budgeting". Setting up budgets and deprivational systems that don't take into account the surprise root canal or cat vet emergency or hole in the roof or sink that won't drain or stolen bicycle or car that died completely - these systems are almost always doomed to fail.  (By the way, all the examples above happened to us in the past eight months!  They will really put a wrench into any budget, let me tell you!) There are other great options (see #1 above) that will work just as well as budgeting and won't make you feel like you've failed when the unexpected expenses for the month add up to more than you'd budgeted for all of your food and incidentals combined.

4. Make it a game. Solving your money issues is so much more effective when you can have fun while doing it! Contests with yourself or family members, charts, challenges, stickers - you'd be surprised how well these types of methods will work. How much fun can you have with just $5? Try that one today!

5. Figure out what's enough for you.  You have to master #2 to really pull this one off.  This is my favorite and most important step and it will completely turn around your money situation. Figuring out what's enough seems so simple, but you have to realize that there are outside forces all around you sending messages of lack and need, creating wants you didn't even know you had. It's called advertising, and no matter how smart you are, it works.  On you.

These are just a few of the things we've learned (you can see they're common sense and don't involve anything creepy or complicated like a pyramid scheme or buying foreclosed properties.) And we have no debt whatsoever.  Even our house is paid for.  We have enough liquid to live on for a year or more if we really needed to.  We have retirement funds.  We have a really happy life with plenty of trips and vacations (This year, a conference in Arizona, hiking on the AT for a week, three different beach trips, a mastermind coach weekend, a road trip to the mountains of Colorado, a trip to see family in Baltimore, a fall camping trip, and a New Orleans staycation getaway!) Our fridge is full of delicious and indulgent food. You get the picture.

And we did this with a very moderate amount coming in - at first two teachers' salaries and now just one teacher salary and one entrepreneur income. You don't need to be making six figures or even half that to transform your relationship with money. Give these tips a try and see what happens!

And check out The Indulgent Path to Money Management - a course I offer both virtually and locally a few times a year - if you'd like more support in living a happy life with the money you have.