Your relationship with money plays a big role in how you manage your money, how much money you make, and how much money you save.
Changing and improving your relationship with money is one of the most important things you can do in your life. Once my relationship with money improved, I noticed money came to me so much easier. Making and saving money was effortless.
Here are 10 things you can do to improve your relationship with money.
Take a good look at how you think about money.
When you think about money, what’s your first thought?
Is it…
- Money is hard.
- Money doesn’t come easy to me.
- Money isn’t for people like me.
These thoughts can create feelings and actions that do not serve you.
Instead, what if you think thoughts like…
- Money is easy.
- I love making money.
- Money is fun.
- I can make a lot of money.
- I have enough money.
- I can save a lot of money.
- I can spend money on things that I value and enjoy.
Switching your mindset from I hate money to I love money is a big jump, so I recommend using bridge thoughts, such as:
- Anyone can make money.
- Money is neutral.
- Maybe money can be fun.
The way you think about money has to do a lot with the results you have in your life about money. What are the current results in your life with money?
Action: Journal your thoughts about money. Do a brain dump and write down everything, don’t worry about being perfect. Then ask yourself, are these thoughts serving you? Do you want to keep thinking this way about money? Are these thoughts leading you to create a life full of abundance?
Recommended Books
Change the way you think about money.
I always thought I had to be a super frugal person since I run a personal finance blog.
I never gave it much thought about how I want to think or spend my money. Turns out, I love saving but I also love spending money. I don’t like penny-pinching and I believe money is a great tool to purchase things or services that you enjoy.
Questions To Ask Yourself:
- What do I want to believe about money?
- What can I do to love my money?
- How do I want to spend my money?
- What are things I enjoy spending money on?
The fun thing about money is you can think about it any way you want. Money is neutral, it’s simply a piece of paper – we give it power by creating thoughts and feelings about it.
Set money goals.
Creating money goals keeps you motivated and inspired to toward bettering your life.
Instead of moving through life without a plan or strategy, you can create money goals to help you get to where you want to be in life.
You can create money goals like:
- Save $1,000 in a savings account
- Open a retirement account and start a Roth IRA
- Start a side hustle that makes $1,000 a month in the first year
- Find ways to make extra income each month
- Lower monthly bills and put savings toward things you want to spend money on
Action: Create a strategy on how you are going to achieve your money goal. Create a small goal to work toward your main goal. A plan without a strategy is a plan to fail, so make sure you create a strategy on exactly how you’re going to complete your goal.
Love your money.
As I mentioned earlier, money is simply a piece of paper, but it’s also a tool. We can think about money any way we want to.
You can choose to think money is hard, you hate money, money isn’t for people like you, but are those thoughts serving you in a positive way? Probably not.
How about you instead love your money? Money is a great tool that helps you buy food, live in a home, drive a car, buy clothes, etc. Money can even help you buy fun things like travel, self-care, gym memberships, and so much more.
Money is the reason you get to live the way you live your life. Money helps you afford the things you enjoy doing in your life. It helps bring basic necessities to your everyday life.
Action: Read the post on 11 Free Courses To Start An Online Business. This post includes 11 free courses that will help you find ways to earn more money.
The decisions you’ve made in the past about money.
We’ve all made money mistakes, what’s important is that we move on and learn from them. It does not serve you to sit in misery and regret about your past money mistakes.
Here are some useful money thoughts I like to believe:
- I made the best decision with the information I had at the time.
- I tried my best.
- I made a mistake and that’s okay.
- The mistake pushed me into the direction I needed.
How about you instead think about how the past has lead you to where you are currently? You have the power to move into any direction you want to, how about make it a useful direction?
P.S. Sign up below for the FREE ultimate financial planner that includes printables like: debt tracker, income tracker, annual budget summary, savings challenges, financial goals, and debt thermometers!
Be intentional with your money.
Being intentional with your money means you’re spending in a way that makes sense and feels good to you.
Take a look at what you’ve spent money on the past month. Look through your credit card or bank statements. Is the way you’re spending money feel good to you?
In your opinion, are you spending too much money on groceries and restaurants?
Are you not spending enough money on “fun” money? Are you spending too much on entertainment and alcohol? Are you not spending enough on self-care and personal development?
These are also some good questions to ask yourself:
- Are you spending money the way you truly want to?
- Are your spending habits aligned with how you want to spend?
Answer these questions in a journal and take a good look at how you’re spending money. What’s your emotional gut to your purchases?
Maybe you feel great about your spending habits, if so, you’re spending your money intentionally.
Action: Join my free resource library and get printables on managing money, organizing your life, and starting a business.
Start thinking abundant thoughts about money.
Many of us feel lack and scarcity with money, which can lead to actions of not being able to hold onto money or being afraid to make a lot of it.
Instead, spend your time thinking about abundant money thoughts.
Here are some abundant thoughts about money:
- Money comes easily to me.
- Money is fun.
- There’s plenty of money for everyone.
- Money is available to me.
- I have enough money.
Don’t those thoughts feel incredible? Those thoughts will better serve you in your life.
Pay attention to your money.
Do you feel negative feelings when you check your bank account?
This may be due to not giving attention to your money. Instead, you can take action and change your feelings and thoughts around money.
Learn how to improve the way you manage money.
This can help bring stabilization as you can better understand how money works and what you can do to make better financial decisions.
Here’s an article of the top posts on my blog about saving money, budgeting, making money, creating an emergency fund, student loans, investing and retirement, and more.
Read through some of the articles on the list and learn helpful tips and tools to use on your financial journey.
Action: Make a routine of checking your bank account. Give attention to your money. I check in with my money once a week.
Give yourself evidence that you’re great at money.
Providing evidence for yourself that you’re great with money is a great confidence booster. None of us are perfect, but many of us are actually much better at money than we think.
Here are examples of evidence that you’re great with money:
- You pay bills on time.
- You have a bank account.
- You paid off debt.
- You save money, even if it’s just $100.
Those are just a few. Think of what you’ve done in your life that shows you’re actually better with money than you think. If you can’t think of anything, don’t beat yourself up.
The fact that you’re taking the time to read this blog post shows you are taking action to move toward being great with money.
Surround yourself with people who love money.
There’s a saying that you’re the average of the five people you hang out with.
Are you surrounding yourself with people who love money, find money easy, and love making money?
Or do you spend time with people who hate money, talk about never having money, or find making money difficult?
Now, I get that you can’t simply remove people in your life that talk negatively about money, and you probably don’t want to do that, to begin with. Instead, how about adding people into your life that love money?
Maybe you can find a local Meetup group or Facebook group with women that love money.
Listen to podcasts from people who think and share abundant thoughts about money. My favorite podcasts to listen to are Design Your Dream Life with Natalie Bacon and The Life Coach School.
Final Takeaways
Now that you’ve read this blog post, you probably have an idea of what kind of relationship you have with money. Now, you can work toward creating the kind of relationship you want with money.
As you do this work and create a positive relationship with money, you will find that money is fun and a lot easier than you think. Money is a tool that can make life fun and create joy.
A positive relationship with money can mean the difference between being able to make a ton of money or feeling scarcity with money and not being able to hold onto it.
Think of someone who can’t save money or has trouble retaining it, even if they have a lot of leftover money every month. They may have negative thoughts about money.
Here’s what we learned today:
- Take a good look at how you think about money.
- Change the way you think about money.
- Pay attention to your money.
- Love your money.
- The decisions you’ve made in the past about money is okay. Don’t beat yourself up.
- Be intentional with your money.
- Start thinking abundant thoughts about money.
- Set money goals.
- Give yourself evidence that you’re great at money.
- Surround yourself with people who love money.
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What’s your relationship like with money?
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Alexis Schroeder is the CEO and founder of FITnancials.
With budgeting and side hustles, Alexis paid off over $40,000 of debt and made over $100,000 in side hustles in college.
Since starting this website over 10 years ago, Fitnancials has reached over 3,000,000 readers. We’ve been featured on sites like Forbes, Yahoo, Side Hustle School, GOBankingRates, Mint, and many more.
If you want to contact Alexis, please send an email to alexis@fitnancials.com.