Small Steps to Lasting Change- Simplify Your Family Budget

This episode is the 4th in a series I’m calling, small steps to lasting change and today we’ll talk about small steps you can make when it comes to your family budget that will have a lasting impact and hopefully simplify some things for you too.

If you missed the first 3 episodes, make sure to listen to those after this one.

Alright, let’s get right to it! These steps are not in order so take what works for you and start wherever will have the biggest impact on your family budget right now.

I want you to know a few things about me and my relationship with money before we get started. I used to be a spender. Like a major spender.

As a teenager, I worked at Walmart and every time I was at work, I’d make a mental list of all the things I wanted to purchase. Then, as soon as I got my paycheck, I’d cash it at the service counter and buy the things I wanted.

I went into my marriage with a large chunk of student debt and a car loan. My husband on the other hand didn’t have any debt. This motivated me to pay everything off quickly. We rented a tiny house, shared a car, and lived on one income even though we both worked. During this time, I realized just how little we could live on and still be completely fulfilled. I found that knowing exactly how much money we were bringing and where we were spending it was empowering. We set goals and continually tried to beat our savings.

Throughout the years, we’ve had moments where we got more relaxed, like right now, which is part of the reason I’m doing this episode. I know I need to re-evaluate our habits and focus on our financial goals for a bit and I’m hoping what I’ve learned over the past decade or so of us becoming debt free will empower you to meet your financial goals too!

You may not be able to change the amount of money you’re currently bringing in, at least not immediately, but you can take control of what you spend and be in charge of your money rather than letting your money be in charge of you.

Here’s a few small steps you can put in place for your family budget.

Small step one- know your numbers- where do you spend your money?
Small step two- check in with yourself every day.
Small step three- set goals.
Small step four- make it a competition with yourself.
Small step five- only shop with a list.

In this episode of The Simple Home Podcast, we’ll talk through each of the above steps so you can make lasting change in the way you spend and budget your money.

Links from this episode:

Money is a hard topic to talk about because we’re all in different positions financially and many of us have “money baggage” or negative emotions associated with money. I don’t want this episode to make you feel bad in any way, or cause you to freeze up and not do anything to change your current position. I want you to remember that most people are living paycheck to paycheck (like 80% of people), and most of the people who look like they have their finances in order are drowning in debt. If you want to live differently, no matter where you’re starting from, you have to make changes and live within your means. Choose one small step you can do for your family budget and take action.

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