9 Habits of Financially Happy People
Here at Kindness and Cooking, our main focus is to find ways to ease our anxiety and stress. May that be through yummy, healthy, allergy-friendly recipes or tips to make our day to day life a little easier, we are going to explore it all together! Money and finances can be a huge stressor in our lives. For a ton of people, it can be their #1 stressor. So to help alleviate that stress, I’ve compiled a list of financially healthy habits that I’ve tried and love and that I think will help you!
*Affiliate links are present in this post*
1. Explore your relationship with money
The best place to start on our happy financial journey is at the beginning! Before we dive into the different ways to save money or explore into the different habits that will make your financial life easier, you have to dig deep into yourself and discover how you feel about money in general. Do you feel that you don’t deserve to have a lot of money? Do you feel that you never will have a healthy relationship with your finances? Are you feeling that money is the only thing that will make you happy in this lifetime? Exploring these different ideas and digging deep into your past, your childhood, etc can really help you determine the things that you should focus on to get the most out of your relationship with your finances.
A lot of these questions that I have presented can really stir up some deep emotional thoughts. Check out my post on my personal favorite guided journals. They can really help you digest some of these feelings that might be coming up https://kindnessandcooking.com/6-mental-health-journals/
Also, reading up on positive money relationships can really help you navigate through this process.
The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
The Energy of Money by Maria Nemeth Ph.D.
2. Homemade meals over takeout and restaurant trips
I feel like this tip is in every post about saving money in the history of time. But it is so true! Its a no brainer but it can be a tip that is hard to follow. When cravings hit, they hit hard! So my biggest piece of advice is to compile a list of “copycat recipes”. Think of the menu items that you crave the most from your favorite restaurants and do a simple google or Pinterest search or even search right here on Kindness and Cooking. Find some recipes, try them out and keep your favorites so that you can use them the next time a craving hits.
3. Choose “no spend” days
For me, I don’t spend too much money on my work days unless I grocery shop or HAVE to run errands before work. So my weekends I tend to spend more money. In my experience, I think it is best to spend the money that you HAVE to spend in just a few days. The less you go out on a mission to buy, the less you’ll spend. Yes, it’ll be tough that one or two days that you do spend your money for the week but in the long-run, you’ll save so much money.
4. Watch out for interest, credit card spending, etc
One of the oldest rules in the book: Don’t spend money you don’t have and don’t live above your means. But in this day and age and especially where I live in Southern California, living above your means is extremely common. We are on a mission for financial happiness here, folks. The thought of debt and growing interest following us everyday isn’t really a recipe for happiness. Obviously, most of us can’t pay for our college or our cars in cash but avoiding frivolous spending will help you immensely.
5. Give yourself a goal
Think of most lifestyle changes we make. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, drinking more water, going to therapy and working on our mental health, etc. All of these changes have a goal at the end. Either reaching a goal weight, feeling better on the inside, or just genuine happiness, we all have goals. So when making a financial goal, you’re going to motivate yourself even more to reach that goal. Maybe its taking your family on a vacation, getting out of debt, buying a home or a new car and just SIMPLE STABILITY, whatever it is, let it motivate the heck out of you every single day!
6. Prioritize!
We all know this… but what’s more important? A $4 coffee or putting $4 towards rent, retirement, an investment? Yeah, yeah we all know that the coffee isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things but why is that so hard to remember when that craving sets in? Its because prioritizing can be hard! Human nature, y’all! And thats ok, none of us are perfect. But on our mission for financial happiness, we need to make those baby steps to prioritize where our money should go and in time, it will get easier and easier. Practice makes perfect!
To skip your daily coffee run, here’s a few investment coffee makers/supplies that will help you kick the habit:
7. Stick to your list… and physically write out that list!
This applies to groceries, household supplies and TARGET. I am so guilty of this and I am completely aware of it…. I will go into a store with a list in my mind and I will walk out with a thing or two that I didn’t plan on getting and most likely that I don’t really need. For me, personally, its because I would usually use a mental list and just try to think of what I needed as I went. I, along with a lot of others, need a physical list (maybe even with little checkmark boxes) to have a successful shopping trip.
Here’s a few of my affordable favorites:
8. Work on having an emergency fund
This can be hard when you’re living paycheck to paycheck buuut having backup plans and backup funds in the case of an emergency can ease so much stress. Taking these little steps mentioned in this post can help you grow that emergency fund.
9. Get yourself educated
Its so nice that podcasts are so popular now. There are so many experts or even just randoms like you and me who are obsessed with financial stability and happiness that want to share their tips with others. Research popular financial podcasts, read blog posts and books, hop on Pinterest and watch Youtube videos and get yourself educated and gain that confidence!
Here’s a few great “beginner” finance books:
Hope y’all enjoy and happy saving!
XOXO Leah
