How to Improve Spending Habits & Reach Your Long-Term Goals

 Today is episode, we're gonna be talking about our spending and does it align up with our future goals? So if you listened to last week's episode, we ended up, you know, closing that episode talking about financial goals. That's where I wanna start today just to kind of make sure, that you heard that if you didn't go listen to that. But essentially I left the episode with a question to help you build these goals. 'cause we get caught up in, you know, how do you create 'em? How do I define 'em? How is that All I want you to do for your financial goals is what do you want your money to do for you? I want you to answer that question as you, the person right now. And as the 80-year-old year, you, so this is the two different sets of goals, currently. So we can enjoy life now, future. So our future self is happy and being planned for. Really sit and answer that question. What do you want your money to do for you? You know, a lot of times money is in charge. It's taken off and we're just doing all the things and we are getting by, but what are we actually creating? And I think if you think about goals in that sense of money is going to create something for me. I have a dream, I have a desire as opposed to just a goal. I think that's where we get lost. That can be very. You know, muted and like, not so fun. Really think about what do you want your money to do for you as a dream, as a desire, and then go for it. And don't forget your future self. As you are defining these goals, it kind of comes back to again, what is our, what do we want our money to do for us? And it comes down to spending. We have to spend our money. Spending's. Neither good nor bad. It's better if it fits in with our goals, but if we don't know what our goals are, how can we spend our money to influence that? That's why I wanted to cover that again today. But really, spending is where the magic happens. To have our financial success. I hope by the end of this episode you better understand what I mean by that and have some ways to tactfully struct, you know, have a structure to go and tackle your spending. I want to teach you about the power of intentional spending. This is called a lot of things, but I lo, I want to use the word intentional here right now. Most people, they do spend reactively. And while there are times that we have to do this, we really wanna be more proactive. And being able to bring intention in our spending just means we're, we're bringing our spending to the consciousness level. Building up that awareness. There's a lot of individuals I read about, or I've heard about even have come to me, and they've, they've managed to get by, okay, without a budget and without tracking. Now, there's different reasons why they came to work with me, but. I believe they were successful because they had built the soft skill of awareness. They were aware of what things cost. They were aware of where their money was going, and so naturally they could kind of take care of those things. But ultimately, there was some other questions that they needed to answer, and that's why they came and worked with me. To better demonstrate intentional spending so that you can find areas in your life that it can impact you. Being intentional just means thinking about it beforehand. I started doing this more recently with my stock up purchases. The things you get from Sam's Club or Costco, or when there's a big sale at the grocery store. I decided instead of just getting everything I normally get from Sam's Club, that I would kind of spread it out. Better over the months. It was when I needed paper towels, I was down to two rolls. I'm like, okay, I've gotta get some, I better get some toilet paper too. And then I stopped and thought about it. I don't need toilet paper just because I'm ordering from. Sam's Club right now, and that's where I get my toilet paper. Does not mean I need to do that. Okay, well, in this month, and that's where I started it. I am going to buy paper towels. I will buy toilet paper in the next month. And did this do the same thing with, you know. The meats that I'm stocking up. Okay. I don't know what's gonna be on sale, but how is it gonna be on sale? And you know, what do I need? Being aware of, okay, this is getting low. This is getting low, and being ready for those deals and being able to stock up. I was able to do that with ground beef. This month I'm hoping to stock up on my chicken. You know, I'll probably also do my toilet paper, but just being intentional. And you're thinking why? Well, yes, I did have the money for that. That was not the thing. My money gets to sit in my high yield savings account for a little bit longer, giving me just a little bit more interest that I've earned, kind of supporting me there, and then if something did go awry, I had some quote extra money, because I hadn't just spent it all just because I was going to Sam's Club being very intentional. It's thinking about all of these things at the point of purchase. At the point you're going to grab something, maybe it's not on your list. Maybe you just saw it. Maybe you just heard about it. Give it a moment and let's be intentional. How you bring that in and how you decide to make that work for you is going to take some trial and error, but really. The skill is just thinking about your purchases before you make them. Do I need that right now? Does that support me right now? Does that align with my goals? Does that get me further ahead? Those are some things that you can start asking as you're making these purchases, and really, we're talking about large purchases now. A lot of little purchases could be a large purchase as well, so. Not just saying just large purchases, you know, major purchases, but really the little ones can add up. But we're gonna talk about that in a moment. 'cause I, I don't like to do the adages of, you shouldn't stop for coffee every morning, or you shouldn't eat out every day at lunch. Like, there aren't any shoulds or shouldn't in my world. It's creating the picture that reflects who you are and what you can do. We all have a certain level of money, we can only do so much. What is it that we truly, truly desire? That's what I'm trying to really get to in this aligning with your goals align. What is it that you truly, truly want? Okay, there are three spending categories that influence your future the most. Last episode we did a personal finance audit. We talked about all the different areas and we just kind of listed them out to give us an overall. This one's going to kind of take us just a little bit deeper, but also think of it in a different way. Essential spending, it. It's important to keep these basics in check. Essential spending is category one. This is going to be your housing, your food, your insurance, those things that you need to to live, your utilities, your, like I said, insurance, your food, your fuel. There's a basic level in keeping those in check and not letting them, you know, spiral out of control. Just a little tidbit here, 'cause I think it's been a while since I've shared this. Your car insurance, if you choose a higher deductible, okay. Number one, make sure you have that much in savings that will cut down your monthly premium. Just thinking about that shift, is a way to really get intentional with your spending and go, okay, I'm gonna be able to cover my thousand dollars deductible, but it saved me $200 a month. Over time hopefully we can sit there and not have an accident, or not have a claim, those types of things. But those individuals who are only paying 250. It's their premium is going to be a lot more. When was the last time you got a quote? When was the last time you reviewed your coverage to make sure you're protected? It's really important to keep these basics in check. If your coverage for an accident isn't enough, that will impact your finances in a different way. There's two ways to kind of look at that and be exploring that. Spending area two is called growth spending. Now, before I dive into the specifics of this, I want you to think most people are like, okay, well savings. Savings is growth spending savings is spending for a future date, all of the money we save is going to be spent some time in the future, and if we're robbing our future self and not giving her or him. Any money to spend, that's where the disconnect is. Think about your savings as a spend, a future spend. Again, what is it that you want your money to do for future you? If 80-year-old you is vibrant and going to, you know, going on the town, going out and doing all the things and, you know, wanting to be there for all the grandkids or whatever it may be. You gotta be prepared for her. You've gotta send some spending aside for her. She's gotta have an allowance, so set that money on side. Gross spending is investments in your future. This is savings. Making sure you have that immediate savings you can tap into today. Retirement savings, investments, education, investments on yourself. Those are growth spending. And the third category. It's called lifestyle spending. Now, you know, I truly believe that we need to find a balance between today and the future. That is where this comes in, creating a life again, I'm gonna talk about 80-year-old you. If 50-year-old you is living high on the town and you're spending 95% of your money, 80-year-old, you, 60-year-old, you. What is she gonna do? She can't live that high life anymore. Recognizing that there is a balance and kind of filling that out of what works best for you, be cognizant of the fact that you are more than likely going to be here at 80 years old. Now, some of you won't, that is the way life is. My aunt just turned a 99 this week. I don't think she even thought she would live that long. The older lady I met when I went was working in the senior citizen center, may. She was 102, and I asked her, what did you, you know, did you think you'd live this long? She goes, I've never thought of it. It's something we just do every single day, but I think in the sense of shooting for 80-year-old, you is not so far of a stretch. You know, the fewer of us make it to ninety nine, a hundred and two, which I wanna just share. I was reading a book, it was about longevity, but there's 33,000 people who live over a hundred, which our population is huge, but I still thought 33,000 was a lot of people. Make sure if you're gonna be part of that population and adding to that big number you know that you've gotta be prepared. Those three spending categories, we really have to focus on them individually and keep them in check. They've gotta be kind of a balance, kind of an influence, and recognizing who we are, what are our values, what do we value most? Most of you would probably not spend $200 a month on books like myself. You're going to spend $200 somewhere else. These are the things that we need to recognize. Not everybody is the same, but I can't spend a thousand a month on books and have my husband spend a thousand on his tv, you kind of have to rein it in. Within my long-term coaching, I love to teach the spending cons, the spending control strategy I've developed, which has caused. Called pause, reduce, and eliminate. I was working with a recent client as we were, you know, defining everything. We'd been working together several sections sessions, and she says, I just really wanna get my debt paid off. And she starts using these words and I'm like, okay, she's heard them somewhere. I'm sure I'm didn't just come up with it, but I really like to lean into it. Looking at your expenses and are there some that you could pause? And I always start with that pause or reduce. If you have 10 subscriptions, can you reduce by 2, 3, 4, looking at that, could you pause five of 'em and see what happens? As you do that, and you always set, you always set a goal. I'm gonna pause it for three months and then I'm gonna come back and visit it. Usually this is done in times of I need more savings or I need more money for debt payoff, so in three months I'll have X amount of money. And then by the time they get there, 'cause that's got them started on their debt snowball, they realize that it wasn't a big deal to pause that. And so naturally they lean into that last part of elimination. I really think exploring, being aware of your exp, of your expenses, being intentional with your purchases, thinking about who you are now and who you want to be in the future. And then looking at your current spending, not to restrict, I don't want any restriction. I don't want any, well, I don't need this and this and this and this. That is not how it is. I really want you to go in with a pause or reduce and then let it naturally eliminate. In last week's episode, we talked about auditing, our spending, and if we looked at that. Maybe there's somewhere you could pause if you're like, okay, I need to kind of get this under wraps. Pause something. I want you to pause something. Choose one thing. Choose how long you're gonna pause it for, typically longer than a month, and then come back in that three months and go, how did that feel? Was that okay? Could I keep doing that? Or was that really a struggle? That is, you know, testing the waters, testing the waters. Look at your spending to see if it's supporting who you are now and who you are in the future. Just building this awareness, increasing the soft skill of awareness and making sure that you are not only spending today, but leaving some money for you to spend in the future. Hopefully that little shift will kind of get you thinking of why we save. I know. A business connection of mine is like, I hate savings. I hate to be told I need to save. And if you are that person, I want you to, I want you to call it something different. I want you to call it future spending. I want you to think about who that person is that's going to be spending in the future. I know I've covered a lot today. Hopefully that's given you some ideas, some thoughts, some ways to. Bring in the awareness around your money to bring in attention around your spending to make sure that your purchases are reflective as opposed to just being reactive and that they are, they're, you know, being controlled in those spending categories of essential growth and lifestyle. Be sure to lean into those if you need help getting started. Just like I said in last episode, my retirement ready VIP session in two hours, we'll audit all of this. I can help you define your values, define your goals. We can, you know, work through the spending control strategy, whatever it is that you desire. Two hours. Gives us a lot of time to get started on what that would look like. If you're interested, book a free q and a call, or if you're just ready to purchase, there is that link down in the show notes as well. Have a good week.