Debt is such a burden! Borrowing money from one person to pay another is a horribly stressful way to live your life. Aren’t you sick of it yet? How to start paying off debt can feel like an overwhelming thought.
The constant weight of the worry “what if” that you carry around on a daily basis. Think of the full breath of fresh air you can inhale once you get that off your back!
But where do you begin. What is step one and where do you go from there? That is exactly what we are going to be chatting about today.
We’ve all been there, Pearl. You set a budget with all the best intentions, then BOOM, budget is blown in an instant. And it happens over and over again. How does someone get started, and actually stick to their budget? Your budget is failing!
It’s definitely not a cake walk, though I wish it were because that would be more enjoyable.
The part that a lot of people miss is that there is a mindset you have to have around money to become successful. You have to change how you think, feel and act around money, to start to see momentum build up behind you, pushing you towards your goals!
Creating a positive money mindset is vital when it comes to staying on budget! The problem is most likely you have some not so obvious hurdles that keep pushing you off track. Resulting in your budget failing over and over again.
Let’s uncover those hurdles so you can start crushing them!
This is going to be fun! I am so happy to introduce you to a brand new series here on Pennies Into Pearls where you get a look into another Pearl’s real life budget strategies and life lessons that they have picked up along the way.
Learning how other families are making it work is always a top way to keep our own motivation. When working through your own financial rescue for your family, I want these Pearl spotlights to offer you encouragement to keep going!
As you watch these real life budget talks, pay attention to strategies and tips that you can try out with your own family finances. Is there something our Pearl has done that you could adjust a bit to customize for your own family budget?
Are you one of our lucky Pearls who is getting a refund from their taxes this year? Lucky! I bet you are so excited! I am excited for you! Do you already have plans on different ways to spend your tax return?
There is so much that you can do with that cash!
Would you mind me offering a few suggestions as to what you should do with that money? To be sure you are intentional with those dolla bills and don’t end up wondering where it all went!
What if you could use that tax return to help your family by actually starting to gain traction on your goals?
Think of all the stress it will lift from your shoulders! Think of the excitement and hope you could provide!
Do you have the spring cleaning fever like I do? We just got our carpets cleaned and it’s heaven on earth! But we aren’t talking about cleaning your house, let’s take it up a notch on the importance scale and talk about spring cleaning your budget!
Man it’s been a minute since we share our family budget update and holy cow a lot has happened since I last took you into our bank account! I have a lot to share with you this month!
I also really want to know what information I can share that would be most helpful for you and your family. So stick around and we can chat!
With all the extra holiday spending and budgeting behind us, it’s exciting to look to the New Year with new financial goals! Hubby and I in the process of sigging down with our Financial Unity Workbook and and planning our 2019 goals around what we currently value most for our family finances.
Starting a family budget doesn’t have to be restrictive! Look at it in a way that you are actually telling your money what to do rather than wondering where it went. Then not having enough to pay the bills… Stressful! Make sure to continuously check out my Instagram Stories for helpful budgeting tips!
This setting financial goals post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Pennies Into Pearls by using my links!
Hey Pearl! 2019 is here and it’s a GREAT time to sit down and really get your goals set for this year. We could set all kinds of personal goals, but I am here today to help you set your money goals for 2019.
Let’s reflect on 2018 first, shall we? What were your financial wins and loses last year? Is there something that you are doing particularly well, and areas that could use improvement?
Write them down! Now, let’s dive into the 6 best tips I have for setting financial goals for 2019!
Make sure you also follow me on Instagram where I often share stories talking about creating a budget, like these. 🙂
What is valuable to you in your life right now? It may be spending time with friends, getting outdoors, working out, cooking meals? Once you know what you value, you’ll be better equipped to set your financial goals to help facilitate those values in your life.
Brainstorm Your Dreams
I want you to list out ALL of your dreams, whether they are fiancial or not. Once you know what dreams you have for your future, you can create financial goals that lead you in the right direction! Make a list of 5 dreams you have for the next year, 5 dreams for 5 years from now, and 5 dreams for 10+ years.
Prioritize Those Dreams
Now that you have a big “brain dump” of your dreams, let’s narrow it down. Prioritize and get down to the 3 most important dreams for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. Pick 3 dreams for each time period. From here, we are going to start to make a list of actionable steps to take for each dream you have. Where do your goals and values align? Make sure every goal you choose reflects what you value most.
Top 3 Life Goals
Now we are going to dive in even deeper. Let’s narrow it down to your top 3 goals for your whole life. Don’t focus on anything else but three at a time. I know this is a hard step, but its so important to help drive you towards making financial choices that help you get to your dreams the fastest.
Get specific
For each of these 3 top goals write down:
What the goal is
Why it’s a priority and why it makes the cut and deserves your attention
Write down any potential obstacles that might stand in your way
What financial baby steps will help you achieve your goal. Write them down.
Give it an ideal due date
Reevaluate Regularly
Now that we have these goals, and steps to reach them, you’re going to reevaluate every 6 months to see where you’re at with achieving them. You’ll be able to readjust at this time. For example, lets say your top goals were getting better at meal planning, saving for a vacation and spending more time outside, but then you had a baby. Now you may shift to saving for college for that child in the future. Our priorities change from time to time so make sure you’re adjusting as you go.
Setting big, lofty goals can be really challenging. I expect this to take you some time to work through. But having these goals laid out is going to give you an excellent starting place for building a goal based budget. Another thing that will help is taking one of my FREE webinars coming up this week and next!
Our Pearls write me about it ALL the time and I know exactly how it feels. The complete hopelessness that comes when trying to figure out the first steps to starting a budget.
There are so many factors that play into the giant web that builds your family finances. The never ending expenses, your family income, emergency costs, and bills to name a few. Just thinking about it all quickly gets your head spinning!
Where in the world do you start? What numbers do you look at first? Right now it might feel overwhelming trying to decipher where to begin, but by the end of this article you will have a clear picture on what needs to happen first when it comes to starting a budget for the LAST TIME!
It’s time for another Family Budget update! In these updates is where I share the nitty gritty details of our real life family finances. All the details of what has happened in our bank account over the last few weeks.
I have been doing these budget update videos for over TWO YEARS! It’s crazy to see how far we have come!
When we started we were in over $20,000 in debt and living off one income. We figured out how to start and maintain a budget that was based off our goals. This way KEY in keeping motivated to keep going!
If you don’t know where you want your money to take you, then you most definitely will end up walking in circles. Or in other words, living that paycheck-to-paycheck life. The life that we are all trying to escape!
Intentional goal based family budgeting is a major topic that I cover in depth in my online course, 30 Day Family Finance Rescue! I want you to get excited every time you work on your budget. You’re going to get pumped because you know that your budget is helping you reach your goals!
Enrollment is currently not open yet, Coming January 2019, but you can sign up for my free email newsletter to be the first to find out more info when it’s ready for ya! I’ll leave a link for in the description box.
