Are you consistently weighed down by guilty thoughts and ‘shoulds’ around money? You can budget yourself into a coma, OR you can follow this hassle-free system of money management that I’ve spent years simplifying for myself.

Whilst there’s a time and place to track every single cent that goes out, when it comes to managing your day-to-day money, it needn’t be overcomplicated. 

I’ve just finished preparing a quick 2 hour workshop to help you sort out your everyday money, and it launches next week.  But in the interim, here are 5 easy steps you need to make sure you put into place to manage your money...

Show Notes

• [09.50] 5 easy steps you need to make sure you put into place to manage your money.

  • Know where it goes

  • The 'worth it' test

  • Renegotiate it

  • Automate it

  • Segment your accounts by time frame

Join me LIVE to work through your plan for Hassle Free Money so you can Spend to Zero.

Related posts and episodes

• Why Financial Enablement doesn’t help those you love

• How to find your passion

• The F*ck It Fund

• The Brain Hack you can use to grow your wealth on autopilot

• Wake up your Creativity with Nina Pearse
  

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Quotes

"And when it comes to managing your day-to-day money, that’s one that I don’t believe should be over-complicated." - Lisa Linfield

"It’s not about cutting out things that bring you true joy. It’s about knowing that you can’t spend on everything." - Lisa Linfield

Script:

197 - 5 easy steps to hassle-free money management

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s episode of Working Women’s Wealth.  I’m Lisa Linfield and I’m building a community of Women who are committed to the journey of living Financially Free lives – so that we can have the money that enables us to CHOOSE – IF we want to work, where we work, and when, so that we can follow our dreams.

How many of you can relate to feeling so flipping weighed down by money thoughts?

It’s like, no matter what, they slip into your mind all the time.

Should I spend on that?  I really want to do this… but I don’t think I should… I know I shouldn’t spend this much but… And my all time favourite at the grocery store… how can ONE bag of goods cost so much money?  IT’S JUST ONE BAG???

I see the struggle everyday in my clients, course participants, and myself.  And the stress that people have on whether or not they’re doing ‘the right’ thing.

For most of us, we’re tired of the guilt that comes with money.  Guilt of spending.  Guilt of saving too much.  Guilt of not being able to keep up with the Joneses (despite the fact that the Joneses are up to their eyeballs in debt).

So what’s the solution?

Well, The World Out There tells us we must budget ourselves into a coma.  Track every single expense, keep a running tally of what we have left to spend that month, and keep it tight.  Make sure your payments go off each month, and somehow, get it all sorted whilst trying to hold down a job, sort out your family, juggle your friends and survive home schooling.

To me, all of that feels time consuming, and nit-picking… and I’m always okay for a few days, maybe even a few weeks, and then it all goes pear shaped.

And then there’s more guilt.  AAARRGGGG.  I’m so over guilt.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love a spreadsheet or ten.  And there is DEFINITELY a time and a place for it.

One of my hardest periods of my life was in April-June last year when I got into a tight squeeze financially with my business.  I talk about it in the hardest podcast I’ve ever had to do, Episode 133.  I had one of those perfect storms of things that should have happened that didn’t, and found myself totally maxed out on my business credit card, and no cash left.

If you listened to that episode, you’ll know that whilst I could so easily have dipped into our personal cookie jar to fund my business – I had the epiphany that that was exactly why I was in this spot.  I hadn’t managed my expenses tightly enough because I just kept dipping into the cookie jar.

So I took the tough decision to go through the storm.

And, in that period of my life, I lived by a spreadsheet minute by minute.  Just to make sure that the next payment bounced.  It was THE most humiliating, shame filled time of my life.  How on earth does a person who worked so hard to become financially free personally, who professionally managed a R3bn business, get herself into financial shit?

But, I also have to tell you that this year March when I paid the last cent off my credit card, and now in August sit with 2 months expenses in my emergency fund… it’s the proudest achievement of the year!

I clawed my way back using a spreadsheet every single day.

So there are times and places to track every single cent, and to make sure that your payments won’t bounce.

But, if you’re not in that tight squeeze – or even if you are, but you’ve tried that and it just doesn’t work for you, then I may have something that may work…

It all started a while ago when I was having a chat to a client I was financially coaching.  As always, we started with he question, "If you had all the money in the world, what would a year, a month and a week look like?" 

I love this question.  It gains so many different responses.

For most, it’s fascinating to see how they squiggle and squirm.  How unfit we are at dreaming.  We’re so used to constraints.  So used to saying ‘but I can’t because…” or “that’s stupid because…” or “that’ll never happen because…” that we’ve lost our ability to dream.

John is going through the same question.  From next year he can do ANYTHING.  But it’s the first time he’s ever truly had a blank canvas to say… what do I actually want to do?  With no constraints.  And we were just yesterday sitting on the patio looking at the amazing view of the forest and mountains and thinking… goodness, it’s actually really hard to come up with an unconstrained dream.

Anyway, my client got into it, and was totally amazed at her answer.  The reality was that she wanted to live a pretty similar life, just with more time.  She still wanted to do something during the week – not a big heavy job, just something similar to what she was doing now, but on a freelance basis, with none of the stress of managing people, budgets and deadlines.  But she wanted more time.  More time to have longer holidays.  More time with her husband, more time with her friends, more time with her kids, and hopefully grandkids.

I love watching people’s faces change as they talk about their future… and realising how lovely their life is now.  It’s that deep appreciation for what we have… that gratitude.

Unfortunately, the conversation has to move to today, and how to get to that future.  And that’s always challenging.

As we dug deeper into her day today habits, I could see the frustration rise.  The helplessness and inability to control her money because the prices of everyday things seem to go up so much – electricity, medical aid insurance, school fees that jump way more than inflation as the kids get older.

And then those unexpected, unbudgeted bills that just knock everything out of kilter.  Like her car breaking down.

I’ll never forget that look of frustration.

She knew she needed to get her money sorted… she just didn’t know how, and honestly, she just didn’t have the time, energy or the emotional bandwidth to try tackle it herself… to try and sort through all the noise and jargon the finance industry puts out into the world that can take you down fifty wrong turn rabbit warrens.

My heart just broke.

So here’s the thing.  I always say that each one of us is unique in the things we love doing, things that come naturally to us – our talents and passions.  What you find easy, I’ll probably find hard.  And what I find easy, you may find hard.  I call them our SuperPowers.  Those things we do that others find difficult.  I talk about it in Episode 73.

For me, I love to solve complicated problems into simple, yet powerful solutions.

And when it comes to managing your day to day money, that’s one that I don’t believe should be over complicated.  But, that’s because I’ve spent years simplifying it for myself – and now I help others do it.

So, I worked with her and gave her my solution, which she was shocked at how clear it was, easy to understand, and effective in helping her get her money sorted.  And, when Covid hit, despite being a business owner, she was able to both cut her salary AND not have to dip into her investments.

I was sharing this with a friend the other day who said to me – you must be nuts keeping this to yourself… you need to get out there and share this!

So I’ve just finished preparing a quick 2 hour workshop to help you sort your everyday money.  It launches next week.  I’ll tell you about it later… But I was so excited by it, that I thought I’d quickly share with you, my first tribe,

5 easy steps you need to make sure you put into place to manage your money.

1.       KNOW WHERE IT GOES - It always amazes me when I do this with my clients how shocked they are at how much they spend on certain items. 

But this exercise isn’t just about putting all your expenses in a spreadsheet.  It’s about looking at your money through a different lense.  I use a system I developed that’s the foundation actually for working out how much you need to have invested to stop working.  I call it the N,E,W,S system

When you look at any problem through a different way, that’s when you have those A-Ha moments.  And, when you are forced to categorise your spend by whether you truly need it, or whether it’s a want… then you have some epiphanies.  For most of us, we just WANT to Need it, but, unfortunately it’s a want, and therefore not on the most important set of expenses.

This exercise is not about slips, it’s not about guilt, and it’s not about spreadsheets.  It’s about creating mindfulness.  Creating Ah-ha moments.  It’s about changing your thinking.  Making you more conscious of how you justify things to yourself.  Making you more conscious of the judgemental, scolding voice, or the defensive, justifying one.  It makes you look deeper at your real reasons, and your good reasons.

This exercise is about stepping back and watching you from the balcony dance with money.

Depending on where you are with your money will impact how often you do this.  I do this every 6 months in my personal life, and every 2 weeks in my business.

2.       THE ‘WORTH IT’ TEST – Here’s the thing – whilst we must be mindful of what are ‘needs’ and what are ‘wants’… we also have to be mindful of the fact that we have only one life, and we sure as nuts must live it.  And live it hard.  It’s why, in episode 190 I talked about the F*ck it fund – because one thing I know for free, exactly like a starvation diet, if you cut your expenses so dramatically, you’re going to go on a spending spree.  So, everyone needs their own little pot of money that your partner, but most importantly, yourself, can’

The ‘worth it’ test is also about recognising what really is worth spending your money on, and what’s not.  It’s one of the key secrets to wealth.  Money is finite.  You can’t spend it and invest it.  It’s one or the other.  And those things that aren’t ‘worth it’ – are the area where you need to RUTHLESSLY cut your expenses.  These are areas where you trade down.

For each one of us, that’s different.

Cappuccino’s for me are ‘Worth It’.  Cars however are not.  Bottled water is never worth it, I carry my own water bottle… but holidays, they’re always worth it.  Takeaways aren’t worth it… but eating in a restaurant with my family where the whole experience is an outing… that’s worth it. 

It’s not about cutting out things that bring you true joy.  It’s about knowing that you can’t spend on everything.  Even Rihanna went bankrupt.  You need to choose what’s worth it, and trade down on everything else.

3.       RENEGOTIATE IT – one of the things that really ISN’T worth it is paying more than you have to for grudge purchases.  Like insurance, and car tracking devices, and WiFi, and TV subscriptions. 

I absolutely HATE negotiating with people.  I never do it.  It brings out every single heebie jeebies in me.

But, I do renegotiate my monthly payments every year…. Because it’s become ‘worth it’ to me.  Worth it to overcome my heebie jeebies not to pay people more.  And what amazes me is how often I get a discount just for asking.  It goes against everything in me that companies always give the best prices to their newest employees, and those that don’t ask don’t get. 

And when it comes down to it, if I’m going to get the exact same product for cheaper, I’d rather have it in my wallet to spend than theirs.

4.        AUTOMATE IT – All of us are busy and have a whole lot on our plate.  Don't put that extra 'to do' on your list of trying to remember each month every payment you 'should' make.  It's just another energy draining, time-consuming item that you get to feel guilty about when you forget to do it. 

Automating your payments either via the person you’re paying, or initiating a payment yourself is the key to reducing stress and making sure you’ll never miss a payment – which in turn keeps your credit record healthy as you come up as a regular payer. 

This includes automating your savings and investing – or paying yourself first.

5.       SEGMENT YOUR ACCOUNTS BY TIME FRAME – If you put in place the system of savings and investing accounts I recommended in episode 172, you’ll know that your Cash Flow account is for the short term, your Emergency fund is for sometime in the next 3 years, and your goals and investments are segmented by time frame.  It’s so important you think of your money in terms of the different time horizons, because it helps bring you calm.  You end up with peace of mind knowing exactly where you’re covered, and where you need to put stuff in place.  And when you automate your payments into that account, you don’t have to think about it.  You just watch your money flow, knowing that what’s left in your account is yours to spend.

And that’s where the system is so beautiful.  The reason I don’t need to watch every penny of my day to day spending or track it on a spreadsheet is that I know the major stuff is taken care of.  The money’s in the right place.  And if the paw paw hits the fan, I’ll be okay because my emergency fund or cash flow account kick in.

And I know that whatever’s in my bank account is mine to spend.

And that my friends, is peace of mind.

As I mentioned, I’ve been convinced by a friend to kick off some money training.  I have an absolute passion in my heart that every one of us should have peace of mind knowing our money is sorted.  It may not be what we want to be, but we know we have a plan around it.

So, for the first time in a year, I’m going to head back into the Zoom room and do some teaching. 

I’d love you to join me on Thursday, August 26th for a 2 hour workshop on your Everyday Money.  Trust me, even if you think your money is sorted, you’ll probably learn a ton!

Once you put in the work to sort out your day to day expenses and accounts, the rest flows so quickly.

So friends, it’s only $25… come join me LIVE to work through your plan for Hassle Free Money so you can Spend to Zero.

Head to the link in the show notes, or to teachyourselfwealth.com…. (no www)…. That’s teachyourselfwealth.com.