Do You Create Financial Chaos? [ These 3 Steps Will Help ]

Whether you like it or not, finances are linked with your beliefs about survival. The way finances were modeled to us as child certainly plays a role in determining whether we repeat subconsciously or oppose consciously. An example of subconscious repetition could be observing a scarcity-based mindset that seemed arbitrary ( being miserly or frugal at random while overspending in other areas). An example of the conscious opposition could be growing up in poverty to later on deciding that the only way to succeed or feel happy in life is to amass large amounts of money. 

I've had to take a cold hard look at my financial habits and beliefs over the past year and here's what I've found 👇🏽

• There are sneaky ways we justify our spending habits that don't always align with our end goals
• Financial habits are one of the easiest ways to create chaos in our lives
• We tend to relate to money emotionally and for that reason make poor decisions that can change depending on how we feel 

My family and I have spent the last few months addressing some of these financial habits and what we did changed everything. Here's a list of a few simple changes we made and how it's changing our day to day and rewriting the script for our kids.

1. We all made a commitment for a month to stop buying anything other than weekly groceries. In today's world with Amazon, convenience buys and subscriptions everywhere - overspending sneaks up on you. Sometimes we don't realize how convenience-driven spending ends up doing longterm damage to our financial legacy. When we all committed as a family to stop for a month, we quickly realized that there are other healthier and cost-effective ways to enjoy many of the same things. 

 2. The month of December has 2 out of 4 kids birthdays, Christmas and Chanukah so as you can imagine - historically it's been a month of overspending on presents. This year, my husband and I challenged ourselves to only purchase presents from Goodwill. Setting these new parameters and communicating this new expectation to our older kids was initially met with some resistance but everyone embraced the challenge and enjoyed it. In total we only spent $83 on everyone's presents and they were all thoughtfully curated, collected and packaged. The takeaway here is that in today's world of fast fashion and cheap manufacturing - sometimes older is actually better. We supported a good cause and learned to shift our relationship with consumerism this Christmas and I think it'll be a new way of life for our family. 

3. I'm grateful that we've been blessed with a ton of financial success over the years but it's made us careless about spending on certain big purchases. In years past, we essentially bought whatever we want when we wanted it. As you can imagine, this happens to us all at various price points. We noticed this style of spending was emotionally-driven and without a plan behind the spending - DOOMED to fail. Some people mistakenly think "when I have more money all my problems go away." The truth is whatever your flawed or emotionally-driven spending habits are just scale up with your new income. In other words - more money, more problems. Over the last few months, my husband and I have discussed what bigger items we want to be able to purchase over the next year and we've created a clear list of goals and timeline for each one. This includes being methodical about how we are going to purchase each item. When we determine this list non-emotionally we set a standard to measure against in the new year when something emotionally-driven comes up. Do I WANT that or NEED that? Is it something that I feel I want right now but months from now will regret or no longer care about? Creating a spending plan non-emotionally with your partner for the upcoming year is a potentially stressful but important commitment.  

 You Brain Pattern determines how you perceive situations, prioritize actions to take and how you repeat cycles. This absolutely informs how you relate to money and generate spending habits. Want to know your Brain Pattern Type and how this impacts your financial habits?

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With every purchase of the Brain Pattern Assessment using the code above you'll also get access to a lecture: Brain Patterns & Financial Habits. Offer only valid until 12/31. 

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays! I hope this blog helps you take a look at your financial habits and take the necessary steps to BREAK the cycle for you and your family. 

Warmest Holiday Wishes,

Bizzie & The Break Method Team