Hey, fam!

I know it has been a while, but I’m back and I’m here to help you with all your money questions and concerns. Today let’s talk about having a toxic relationship with money. If you find yourself in a toxic relationship with your finances, there might be some patterns that need to be broken. Here are a few pointers and things that need to change in order to improve your relationship with money.

Being unaware of your survival number

Do you know how much it costs you to stay alive and well every month? To eat, pay rent and do all the things that make you feel good about life? No? It’s time to fix that, girl! Pull out your phone or a piece of paper and make a list of all the necessities in your life. From groceries to cash for lashes, write away! After doing that, take a look at your cash inflow and find out if you would have up to 30% of your income left over after all your needs are met. If you don’t, it might be time to pick up a side hustle, boo.

Spending more than you earn

These bad habits have such a domino effect. If you don’t know how much you need to spend, you will spend more than you earn and run into debt without even realizing it. To fix this, head over to the app/ play store and type ‘budgeting apps’. It’s time to track your spending to know exactly where your money is going so that you can make changes and adjustments where necessary.

Not having an emergency fund

One of the primary reasons why it’s important to have money left over after bills and expenses are paid is so that you can build an emergency fund.
Life gets messy sometimes. And in many circumstances, the messes are out of our control (coughs and whispers 2020) but messes get compounded when our finances are out of order. To avoid running into tight corners, aim to save at least 15% of your income to build up your emergency fund.

 Using consumer debt to pay for things that you cannot afford

Good ol’ consumer debt. It really lives up to its name. Ever ready to consume us before we even realize what is happening. I would not say all debt is bad. A mortgage, for example, could radically improve the quality of your life. But make a rule to only use debt as leverage. In other words, use it to purchase things that are likely to improve the quality of your life long term; like a home, your education and for starting or scaling a business.

Having a plan for your money might not naturally be top of mind for you but in the long run, it would actually save you a lot of stress. In one of our future conversations, I will share tips for effective planning. Until then, let me know which of the above you are committed to changing this month.

See you in the next post, boo!