Spending with Intention Without It Being a Pain in The Budget

By Jackie White

Money. You love it. You hate it. The relationship you want with it might go something like this song from Bruno Mars:

I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Buy all of the things I never had
I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

That would be nice wouldn’t it? But, seriously, what does your dream look like? Maybe it’s owning a little coffee shop or buying your own home? Maybe it’s retiring early and being a beach bum or simply living a comfortable life that allows you to pursue your passions. Whatever your dream is, it’s likely that if you made the decision to spend with intention, keeping that dream in mind, that little hot finger on the Amazon “buy now” button might cool off! 

I sat down with Rhonda Noordyk and Chassidy Camp of the The Women's Financial Wellness Center and we chatted about why so many women find themselves in a bit of a financial jam which then doesn’t allow for the financial foundation needed to build dreams upon.

Let’s define what we mean by financial wellness. Financial wellness is a state of well-being where an individual has achieved minimal financial stress, established a strong financial foundation, and created an ongoing plan to help reach future financial goals. It’s the financial wellness trifecta that can buy you freedom! Sounds pretty good and maybe a little punny. But still you question...what's the catch? 

aybe you are thinking there must be some pain involved with establishing financial wellness. Well, that all depends on how you look at it. The fact is, to get financially healthy, you have to start with awareness. It is important to know what is coming in and what is going out of your bank account each month. For some, this could be painful. For example, you might have never really realized that the Starbucks coffee you buy every morning is costing you almost $1,000 a year! Whaaa? That is a little painful!

Besides Starbucks, here are some other areas we spend money on that can add up quickly when you’re not paying attention:

Memberships: Amazon, Costco, Gym
Streaming Services/Cable TV: Netflix, Hulu, Sling etc.
Self-Care: haircuts, colors, nails, massages, make-up
Cloud Storage services
Music Services: Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora etc
Food: Eating out, Delivery, Drinks
Uber
Retail Therapy (It feels so much better when you call it this, but it’s really just buying stuff you don’t need).

If you are not aware or are choosing to avoid managing your money, things can get worse.  Here are some stats you need to think about. Time to focus, Grasshopper. You don’t want to be so broke you can’t pay attention! Just a little money humor there to lighten the mood!

The Stinging Stats on Finances in America

• 81% of women and 78% of men are living paycheck to paycheck. The eye-opener here is that many times it is not because they don’t make enough money. It’s because they do not live within their means. For those whose heads are in the sand right now, that means they spend too much money on stuff they don’t have money for. Ouch.
  

Back to the stats: 

• Americans across all salary levels show that more than 50% of them save less than $100 per paycheck. PSSST - that’s not enough.
  

• Although 6 months of expenses should be saved in the event of an emergency, like a pandemic, only 23% of people have that much saved.
  

• Only 1 in 10 Americans are saving 15% or more of their income for retirement
  

• Over ⅓ of women have zero saved for their retirement
  

• 36% of Americans know how much money they will need to retirement
  

PS: Retirement is not forever away. You need to save for it!

The moral of the story is that Johnny Kemp’s song “Just Got Paid” should not be your theme song:
Just got paid; it's Friday night
Party hunting, the bass is right
Booty shaking all around
Poured my drink, now I'm getting down

You can still shake your booty, but let’s not wait on Friday to have money. It’s time to spend more intentionally, but how do you do that? It’s a combination of really exploring what your best life looks like and what it will take to make that vision come true.

Analyzing the Dream
Have you really looked into what it will take to afford your dream? You have to ask yourself the relevant questions and identify the answers. For example, if your dream is to own a house then what sort of house are you looking for, where is located, how much does that cost, what type of down payment will you need? The next step is looking at how much you make and how much you can save. Maybe you need to consider eliminating some expenses and/or taking on another job to help finance your dream. Or maybe you need to reassess your parameters of your dream to make it an affordable option for you.

Here is another way to look at dreams.Sometimes the dream is not necessarily owning the boat. If you work the numbers of purchasing a boat, trailer, insurance, storage etc and compare that with how often you might take it out, perhaps it would be cheaper to rent a boat a few days of the season and avoid the hassle of ownership.

If owning a cabin is your dream because you want to have family and friends to come visit, maybe it’s the act of getting together that is really what’s important to that dream and not so much the cabin itself. Perhaps, the cabin would be nice and could possibly be something to save for, but could you get together with friends and family at a park or local beach until then? 

What if we just called it a BOOjay?

Budget: an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.
BOOjay: is the exact same thing as a budget, but sounds so much more friendlier and fun!

My friends, Rhonda and Chassidy at The Women’s Financial Wellness Center share that creating and following a budget or as I like to call it a BOOjay, doesn’t have to cramp your style. 

5 Simple Budgeting Guidelines to Follow

• Less is More - There is a movement towards thrift shop finds and tiny houses! Less is definitely more. It is a mindset shift.
  
• Be Realistic...no, like for realsies. Avoidance and underestimating your financial needs will catch up to you. Also, if your dreams feel too financially big for your budget, can you scale back and still achieve an acceptable alternative? 
  
• Avoid the Latest Fads - you do not need butt injections or 6 inch bedazzled nails! Instead focus on your longer term goals in life and put that money towards achieving those goals.
  
• Weekly Budget Conversations. It is totally fine to talk to yourself. Just don’t listen to the one voice that is always saying “Life is short, buy the shoes!” Frank conversations with yourself and/or partner on spending will keep you on track to achieve your financial goals.
  
• Adjust Each Month - adjust your saving/spending as needed, but with one caveat: not to the detriment of the whole BOOjay!
  

The bottom line,(yup, another financial pun - who knew there were so many?)... Anyhoo, the bottom line is to take some time to be aware of your spending, make a plan and work towards your dreams! Download SoulShine’s DreamChaser Goal Getter Guide Finance Edition for more help with intentionally planning for your dreams.

And for help with your BOOjay, The Women’s Financial Wellness Center can help you with their Budget Course. Check it out here: https://wfwcacademy.thinkific.com/

Stay intentional and Shine on!

About The Women's Financial Wellness Center:
The Women's Financial Wellness Center was established in 2014 by Rhonda Noordyk. The idea was sparked when Rhonda learned about a new women's health facility in the greater Milwaukee area. It was revolutionizing health care for women. Their state-of-the-art approach to holistically helping women through all stages of their lives. She thought it would be great if there was something like that from a financial perspective. So years later, she had the opportunity to leave the financial industry where she was working to create The Women's Financial Wellness Center. The intention was to create a safe space for women to gain holistic financial wellness and empowerment. 

An interesting organic off-shoot of the business became helping women who were contemplating divorce. The Women’s Financial Wellness Center specializes in helping women through divorce and also women who are just needing some help getting their financial wellness in order. The business has grown and today there are two locations with one in Milwaukee and one in Madison Wisconsin. www.wfwcdivorce.com