Good morning Loves. Let’s talk about two of my favorite subjects, shopping and money. As you probably know I’ve had my money troubles in the past. My bad habits of overspending, constant shopping, and spending carelessly as a way to keep myself busy landed me over $50k in debt in my 20s. Bad habits.
It’s not about the money, it’s about the mentality
It took me a few years to realize I had a problem, another few years to actually change my habits and a couple years after that to become debt free. I think the hardest part about paying off debt was trying to change my mentality towards money and savings. And that my friends is the one and only way to start becoming debt free.
If you want to achieve a financial goal – actually any goal in general – it’s all about changing your mentality. I honestly believe that. They say the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. This logic also applies to your money management tactics. I wasn’t able to physically change my money habits until I started to change my mentality towards money and spending.
You have to make changes to see change
I thought spending money made me happy and not until I overcame that urge to spend could I actually start paying off my debt. I became so addicted to the adrenaline feeling of taking my finances into my own hands that I kicked it in to high gear.
My income wasn’t allowing me to pay off my debt as fast as I wanted to so I got two jobs to pay off my debt. Honestly the hard work and long days weren’t even the hardest part, it was not spending the extra money when pay day came around.
Constantly remind yourself that you can do this
I think my debt – actually I know – my debt would have been paid off a lot quicker if I would have overcome the mental obstacle of spending money a long time ago. When you’re addicted to shopping, spending money and carrying around a handful of bags life can be fun. However if you don’t have the money to support your lifestyle it can become a total nightmare.
This was absolutely the hardest part for me to get over. Every Saturday I would go out for brunch with friends and spend the afternoon walking around shopping until it was time to go out for dinner. This was a terrible habit, but it was my routine.
Saying no to my friends and cutting down my social activities was the hardest part of changing my money habits – and it was completely a mental and emotional obstacle. I was lonely at the beginning but then I started working more and kept myself busy. The rush of paying off my debt became more addicting than spending money and that’s why I’m debt free today.
