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Hi, my name is Lindsay and welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday Morning.
We're continuing our journey into the emotional side of money by looking at values -based spending.
Generic financial advice doesn't always resonate because what what matters to each of us can be very different.
Today, we'll talk about how to align your spending habits with your own personal values to create lasting change.
You need to have six to eight months saved in an emergency fund.
If you have any debt, you need to focus on paying that off as soon as possible.
Blanket financial advice like this assumes that we have the same everything.
thing. We have similar incomes, expenses, lifestyles, and access to different financial products and services.
And these blanket personal finance rules are so prescriptive instead of realistic.
It's so important for folks to understand that blanket financial rules are that way for a reason.
The more generic you can be with your advice, the broader audience you can can reach. But then that means that so many of us who do not fit into those particular prescriptive rules, we feel left out.
And when we try to adhere to these rules, here's what I see happen all the time.
Somebody says to me, Lindsay, I'm going to start this 30 -day no -spend challenge.
So -and -so told me that I have to do it if I want to be good with money.
And they come out of the gate very excited, they pull back on all of their extra spending, and then a few days into it, a friend asks them to go to the movies.
And then after the movie that they've spent money on, they get into their car and they go home and they are saying, oh my gosh, I couldn't even hold back on spending for three or four days.
What's wrong with me?
I'm so behind. There's no point.
Why even bother? So it's imperative that when it comes to financial well -being and financial rules, that we make the decisions about what we need to do and what works for us to decrease that that shame and embarrassment and start taking proactive and realistic action when it comes to our money.
Another example that I have when it comes to doing things intentionally instead of following somebody else's guidebook, I was leading a financial well -being workshop and we were talking about how to dial down spending on things or in areas that are not aligned with their values and somebody raised their hand and they shared that they had done one of these, you know, stop all the extra spending challenges.
And they said, look, I cut out everything.
But I realized that something that I really loved, which was going to the movies, not doing it made me miserable.
When I stayed home and I tried to stream a movie, my phone notifications would be going off.
I'd get distracted by my dog.
I felt like I was like, you know, multitasking instead of actually unwinding.
And in that workshop, they identified some of the things that going to the movies reflected in their values.
Things like being creative or present or curious and learning.
So they decided that they were going to spend their money on movies.
And instead, they were going to pull back their spending in a category that just simply didn't bring them as much joy.
When we align our spending with our values, it doesn't just make achieving a goal more sustainable.
It also tends to lower guilt and increase fulfillment.
And research shows that when people set goals tied to their values, not somebody else's rules or somebody else's expectations, they're more likely to feel better about them.
They're more likely to say things like, I feel good about myself.
I experience more positive self -esteem.
I feel like I'm able to better problem solve.
So values -based goal setting isn't just about whether or not you're going to set a goal to run a 5k it also should be included in how we engage with our money so a a way to start spending in alignment with your values is just to do a little check -in grab your phone or log into your banking app and look at the last 5 10 purchases that show up and when you look at those purchases just do a little self -check -in is this spending aligned aligned with the things that I care about?
Yes, no, maybe. No judgment, just observation, just data.
That's step one. And then once you have those answers, yes, this is aligned with what I care about.
No, it is not. Then you can go another layer deeper and say, if this spending is not aligned with my values, are there ways for me to spend less money in that area?
And if so, So what might that look like?
That's it for today.
Thanks for listening.
Tomorrow we'll cover practical mindfulness tips for managing financial anxiety, something many of us deal with regularly.
I'll see you back here really soon.
