I talk a lot about money here. I write about it because it interests me. Money is a tool and I love hearing about how people decide to use that tool in their lives. But I wasn’t always so eager to talk about money. I’ve talked about my financial fears, but I also have a confession. I used to be bad with money. But I’ve learned the benefits of being in charge of your finances.
Back when I was fresh out of college and earning a salary for the first time, my life was a revolving door for money. I once spent my rent money on a flight to London for 56 hours so I could go to the open auditions for Star Wars VII. It was an idiotic move. But the resulting credit card debt finally snapped me into getting in charge of my finances. (Plus it’s a great story)
It’s been the better part of a decade since that version of me, and I’ve since embraced control of my money, employing my dollars to help me live the life I want to live. Here are the 6 biggest benefits I’ve gotten from being in charge of my finances.
Peace of Mind
This one is a bit cliché, but paying attention to my money has decidedly brought me peace of mind. I used to cringe to check my bank balance, but now it’s just…information. Not a judgement.
I’ve noticed that the scariest horror films to me are the ones where you don’t see the monster. And I think that same concept applies to money. If you open the closet door, you might find the monster you thought was hiding in there is, in fact, a pile of sweaters waiting to be handwashed.
Clearer Goals
Once you’ve calmed down about it, it’s SO much easier to set goals for your money. If you have a clear, realistic sense of any resource (money, time, etc), your goals will become reasonable. The mountain you might have looked at with hesitation quickly becomes a hill you can traipse over, given time and determination. And making recognizable progress toward goals will motivate you to make more progress.
I don’t know about you, but I can read about subjects without actually feeling like I know how to do things. I learn best by doing, and actually setting and achieving financial goals has done more for me than just reading about them.
More Mental Bandwidth
Once you get used to that peace of mind, you’ll realize how much time and energy you spent worrying about your money. And this point goes hand-in-hand with the previous one. If you aren’t panicked or nervous about your money, and you’ve taken the time to write good goals for it, you are free to go do…just about anything else.
I wish I had tracked the amount of time that I spent checking my bank balance back in my early 20s. Now, I only check things once per month! Which gives me time to do other things, like write a blog.
Understand What You Can Control
This might sound like peace of mind, but it’s more like the next level up from that. After some time paying attention to your finances, you might realize that the best budget won’t ever be accurate. And that’s ok! A budget is your best guess at what you’re going to spend your money on. Nobody can guess accurately 100% of the time. (And if you can, can you let me know?)
Once you let go of trying to control every dollar you spend, your peace of mind over knowing where your money is and what it’s meant to do will level up to a nearly zen-like place of being able to let it do its thing. It’s the money version of the serenity prayer.
Your Priorities Lead Your Spending
This is a concept that works for your finances as well as other areas in your life. Once you are in charge of your finances, you’ll know that you can’t save for everything at once. So you learn to prioritize your financial goals. After that, it gets a lot easier to say no to purchases. It’s a lot easier to order a beer instead of a second fancy cocktail when you realize that you are at the bar to socialize with your friends, not explore the latest in cocktail trends.
It would be really easy for me to try out lots of new makeup techniques and test products until I find the perfect one. But I’ve acknowledged that beauty is not a priority for me. So it’s easy for me to set aside my curiosity about lash serums. I know it will never satisfy me like buying new yarn or books.
You might not be very good at controlling your spending right now. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have control of your finances. In fact, control over your spending will follow being in charge of your finances.
Real Conversations about Money
When you are in charge of your finances, it’s a lot easier to talk about them. There’s less shame attached because you’ll be self-assured about your choices. In fact, you might be curious how your friends deal with their finances!
Money is a taboo subject but, like with all taboos, we are welcome to accept or ignore the taboo. Personally, I try and be sure my friends know I am open to talking about finances. You don’t have to disclose your personal balance sheet. But I’ve built stronger relationships in my life by acknowledging when finances are on my mind.
So what do you think? Are you ready to take advantages of these benefits of being in charge of your finances? Check out my guide to budgeting and get started today!
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