How To Achieve Financial Freedom :: The “Why” {Part 1}

5

Budgeting. Debt. Finances.

Have you started sweating yet? If you’re like most people, you are probably feeling uncomfortable just reading those words.

Money can be a tough subject for most people, and throw in marriage and a few kids and it can be the #1 cause of arguments and tension for a family.  A few months ago, my husband and I decided we had to make some financial changes because we were tired of the constant stress that money was causing us.  Since I’m no longer working a full-time job, and we now have a little one, we needed to re-adjust a lot of spending habits that hadn’t changed since our family expanded.  

As we’ve embarked on this financial freedom journey I posted a few things on social media about it, and (surprisingly!) had lots of people message me with either money-saving tips or questions.  This made me realize, that although money is considered a taboo discussion topic, there is a huge need for people to be open and talk about it!  So, while I’m not a financial expert, I am merely a fellow mom who is trying to make it work with less money coming in and more mouths to feed!  Anyone else in my boat?  As such, I’ve decided to write a three-part financial freedom series.  This is part one, and is centered around, “why?”

financial The first step in the financial freedom process is figuring out your family’s “Why?”

Why do you need to change your financial habits? What (specifically) are you working towards? What is or isn’t working right now?

Every family’s answer to this will be different, but I’ve included our family’s answer for some financial planning inspiration.  For our family, our big bottom line, and what keeps us motivated, is for me to spend less time working and more time with our daughter while living debt-free. We also have a lot of smaller, specific financial goals that we are working on, but the big answer, is that we want to be free of debt and want to maintain living in a way that allows me to focus on being a mom.  

Insider tip:  Figure out a good day and time for you and your hubby/partner to chat about your financial “why” and make it a priority.  

Ideally it should be in a relaxed environment and the kids should be asleep (sleepover at grandmas?!)  Be prepared to be honest, vulnerable, and calm, as you talk through the questions listed above.  I’ll be totally transparent: my hubby and I had our big talk about our finances over a cheap bottle of wine on a Friday night after we put the toddler to bed.  It felt casual, and although we had to talk about some tough things, it mostly felt good … like we were on the same team again.

The purpose of your “why” is to get on the same page as one another, before you come up with the next step and plan of “how” you are going to achieve your financial goals.  So, take out that calendar, and schedule a date with your partner for the first step in taking back your finances!

Now that you have your family’s financial why…Stay tuned for next week for part 2: HOW to spend less!

5 COMMENTS

  1. Great article, Jacqueline! I’m anxious to read the “how!” It’s true, most moms are looking for ways to save money (and there are lots of ways!) but just don’t know how. 🙂

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here