Hey guys,
As you all know I'm a huge fan of minimalism. If you have missed my previous posts about minimalism you can find them here: Minimalise your life - Getting ready for the yard sale and here: Why I choose a minimalistic Lifestyle
Minimalism is all about mindset, what is important to you in your life? What can you live without and what is just clutter?
Today I will help you minimize your economy and in that way grow your financials.
For this to be successful you need to have an open mindset. If you don't you won't get anything out of my post and you can stop reading and spend your time on doing something else.
I will split this up into different steps for you to take to be successful in changing your economy to a more minimilistic one and in that way get more money in the bank.
1 - Re-program your brain.
The first thing you need to do is to start thinking in a different way. You need to get rid of your own image of yourself and the way you think other people think about you.
Nobody really cares about how you dress, what car you drive, what things you have and if they do they are pretty shallow and not a good person to be around.
We all build an imaginary picture of ourselves growing up - hence the word image. It's how you see yourself and how you want others to see you.
It's all made up by religion, environment, the way we were raised, our friends and so on. We all build a person around what we think sounds good or make reason and decides - This is who I am.
The thing is that we all just are, we don't need to define ourselves and when you realize that you will also realize that your want for things goes away.
2 - Be ok with your feelings
A lot of us shop to deal with our emotions. It makes us feel good and it gives us a reward to buy nice things. That's why it's addictive. Everything we buy or indulge our brain gets a kick. It's the same kind of kick you get when playing games and it feels nice to get that reward.
Instead of hiding from your emotions, insecurities or whatever it is you feel. Be ok with them. Recognize that the feeling is there and meditate, talk to someone or go for a walk. You will soon realize that the feelings are not so bad and start to manage with them instead.
Stop shopping your feelings
3 - Look over your monthly spendings
Make a spreadsheet of your monthly spendings.
That will help you see what you actually spend your money on. It's so easy to just swipe the card and at the end of the month we steal from our savings or live cheaply to get by.
If you make a spreadsheet of what you spend you will see it black on White and can start making some more aware choices.
Cancel that magazine you don't read, Close down your Netflix account when the series you watch aren't in season.
Examples of categories are:
Living costs: Rent, Electric, water
Transportation: Car, metro card
Food: The food you buy to eat at home
Dining out: The money you spend eating out
Shopping: Clothes, things, etc
Subscriptions: Magazines
Other: As the category sais, anything that doesn't fit in the ones above.
When this exercise is done you will easily see where you can start to cut your spendings.
4 - Get rid of what you don't need
Just as you get rid of that magazine you don't need you also need to get rid of the things you don't need. Holding on to stuff makes your space cluttered as well as your inner peace. The stress of having things that are not needed or used will make you more stressed than what you think and you will shop new things to numb that stress.
So recycle, sell or donate the things you don't need, use or want.
5 - The need/want mindset
When you think about buying something. Start asking yourself this question: Is this something I need, or something I want.
There is nothing wrong with buying things from time to time but we do over consume way too much and we all need to start thinking about why we buy.
Do you really need it? Do you have something similar? Or is it just a craving for something else unresolved?
I get by with just a few clothing items in my closet that I use quite frequently and no-one have noticed. People don't pay attention to what shoes you wear or if you have been using the same jeans two days in a row.
Pay yourself first
6 - Pay yourself first
When you get your salary try to pay yourself first and save 10% of it into an account that you don't touch. This will give you a little bit of self-worth and after that, you can start to pay your bills and all other expenses.
7 - Set a food budget
Make a budget for your food. This will help you keep track of how much you spend. Take out the money if you live in a country where physical money is still used or put them in a separate account so you can keep track of how much you spend.
This is by far the best thing you can do to keep track of your spendings on food.
I hoped this have helped you a Little bit to rethink your economy and help you get on a track of more abundance.
All photos are from pexels.com
Thank you for taking your time and read my post. It means a lot to me.
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If you liked this post and want to read more then feel free to visit some of my other posts :)
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Lots of love to you all / Nicole <3
ive had a funny relationship with money. and one of the first phrases i could speak as a child was 'i want one!' and i would say that when i say almost anything! as u can imagine ive been quite possessive, my parents would have to give in but not always and then they couldnt simply because there was not enough money! It was in my teenage years i became obsessed with clothes and would spend all my pocket money on it, it went on until my 20s and i spend all my hard earner cash on anything i wanted, if i could afford it. some of it was useful and part of my hobbies/creativity! i still think i could be tighter with my money, and if i saved instead of traveling id definitely be in a better position right now. But the traveling made me wiser and saving money would of taught me nothing special. 100% dont care what anyone thinks and im not going to be spending my money on crap ppl say that i am suppose to have!
I do think that travel is something you should not hesitate to spend your money on. It's a great experience and you always learn something from it so it's more of a investment in yourself.
So many of us have an unhealthy relationship with Money. I'm happy that you don't care about what others think, that is so important.
And not spend your money on steriotopic stuff that the matrix think we should own :)
Very great tips!! We also have a budget for food and extras. We are working on increasing our income, but actually we have everything we need and dont spend money on crap anymore;)
That is so important :) The want is rarely what we need <3
Enjoy your sunday sweetie!!
Thanks for these tips! I'll try to incorporate some of them in my life. I definitely struggle a lot with stress shopping and what to eliminate that..
Thank you so much for your comment darling <3.
Yes so many out there tend to shop their feelings. My favourite way to deal with it is to meditate instead. That way you will work on the reason of your feelings and not act out on the symptoms. ❤️
I used to be such an emotional shopper, and realize now that I was just extremely unhappy with my life. Once I realized and made the necessary changes (leave the bf, move to Panama), everything improved. Now I barely shop at all, only when my clothes start to get holes in them =)