ļ»æOUTLINE
0:00:01 - Planning Day recap and introduction to financial self-care
0:02:59 - Understanding the concept of financial self-care
0:09:45 - Practical tips for financial preparedness
0:19:35 - Tracking expenses and creating a budget
0:24:00 - Prioritising spending and financial goals
0:27:00 - Automating financial management
0:30:00 - The importance of financial self-care
0:35:00 - Conclusion and call to action
THE ERIN DAVIS SHOW
Before we get started, I just wanted to give you a bit of an update on the Planning Day that happened last week because I have had lots of interest in the planning day and I am going to schedule another one. I am just in the process of working out the dates at the moment. However, I wanted to give you an update from the Planning Day.
The ladies that came walked away with so much clarity. We talked things through. We didn't just have a to-do list. We actually went deeper and connected in those actions with what it is that is going to move their business forward, connecting into why they want to do it, and really just going that deeper level, rather than sitting on the surface level all the time, the ladies found some gaps in their business. Also found the areas of focus that they really want to hone in on for the next 90 days, and it's easy to look at the big picture and to look at all the bright, shiny objects that are out there, and want to achieve everything.
However, when you do that, you don't actually achieve anything. You stay focused on that big picture and not actually on the movable, actionable things that are going to take you and your business to where you want to be. So the Planning Day was just such a beautiful space. It was a place where they could empty out everything that was going on in their head and really just sit quietly so that they could recalibrate, switch off from the outside world, and just get themselves into this fresh, beautiful state where they can concentrate on moving their business forward for the next 90 days. So as I said, we will have another Planning Day, which is happening in December, and I will let you know the details very, very soon.
But for today's episode, it is all going to be focused around financial self care and creating a financial self care routine, because I find that when we get so caught up and busy doing the day to day things again, like the Planning Day, that we really just don't take the time out to focus on what it is that's important, and financial self care is is well, it needs to be at the top of the list, because when the financial situation is under control, the amount of stress that it relieves is just enormous, and I think we underestimate just that mental load of just how important it is to create a financial wellness self care routine.
So financial self care, it's a bit strange, isn't it? It's a bit of a strange concept, because we talk about self care routines often, and that really just looks like taking time out for yourself, doing the things that fill your cup, making you feel good, making you feel rested and then energised and ready to take on the world again. And financial self care is really along those same lines. It is taking a moment to stop and pause, filling your cup, removing the mental load, and then just looking at what it is that you need to do to feel energised and abundant. And I think when you become financially well, and that means having a financial self care routine, which you put into practice often, it allows you to be better prepared for decisions you can make off the cuff decisions, but you know that you're going to be okay and you know you're going to be prepared.
So part of that financial self care routine is being financially prepared. So what does financially prepared actually look like?
Well, for me, that is creating a list of income and expenses that you know, particularly around the expenses that you know are coming up for the year. Now that can be in your personal life, car radio, insurance, you know, birthdays and holidays, but in your business, it can be things like council rates, water rates, electricity bills, you know, if you've got planned advertising that you need to have happen every quarter or every month, and it's those expenses that we know what are coming up and. Are prepared for it. The worst thing is when you get surprises. Now, having an emergency fund is definitely a part of the financial self care routine, and I think that that needs to be a focus, and particularly for women, they really need to have their own emergency fund so that you're not relying on anybody else.
So that's a different thing, but become financially prepared for what it is that is coming up. Now, if it is, say, for example, your insurance and car rego, we know the date that it's going to be paid, I would be knowing that total amount, and then working out how many weeks until that payment is due, then you need to work out how much do you need to be putting aside each week, each fortnight, whatever that pay cycle is for you, and putting it into a separate place so that you are financially prepared for it. It is not going to be a surprise. You know it's coming, and I think we underestimate the amount of mental load that is released when we are prepared like this.
Now this may seem like a very simple budgeting tip, however, you'd be surprised at the number of women I speak to that you know, know that they should do it, but don't actually do it. So this is your sign to sit down. Work out what it is that you have coming up in your expenses. List them out, and then work out the timing of them. Now for us, we have a list of income and expenses. I know exactly how much is coming in and how much is going out, and I know the timing of those, and I have an amount of money each week that is allocated for our bills. Now those bills are transferred to a separate bank account. I have the amount sitting there knowing that I am going to be covered for things like the electricity and the monthly income protection insurance that we have coming out, the monthly house insurance, the monthly car insurance, the council rates that come out every quarter, the water rates that come out every four months. So I know that I don't necessarily have a whole year's worth of those expenses sitting in the bank account ready to be covered.
However, I know that the weekly amount I have coming out is sitting there, and it is ready and available for when these bills come in. Now, that account is with a separate bank, a separate bank. We don't have a card attached to that bank because I don't want to be able to access it easily, so I put it over to the side. I need to log on to the computer if I need to transfer money, and I just know that that is where all our direct debits come out of, and all of those big bills get paid from. So the amount of mental load that that reduces is huge, and like I've said before in many episodes, that we underestimate that mental load that we carry when we don't quite have a control of this. And you know, I I know that it is pretty tight at the moment, and there are a lot of people struggling, both in their business and in their personal world. However, you need to do whatever you can do and take that responsibility to be able to manage your money and come up with it.
So part of the financial wellness and financial self care routine is knowing what these expenses are, and becoming financially prepared. Another tip I would suggest in that self care routine is look at what you actually spent for the last month. Now you can do this in your personal world and also in your business. And I would suggest that if you do have a business, you have a separate bank account for your business. You don't muddy the water, you don't bring personal into the business account and vice versa. Just keep it very separate, because otherwise it's a nightmare for your accountant. Just ask me, I know, and I would look at all of those expenses that have come out, and, you know, I've said before that the numbers don't lie, and they really don't. Spending can be very emotional, and it can blindside us, and we don't really become aware of exactly what it is that we're spending.
You know, we might spend $5 here or $10 there, or we might go and do this or that, and all of a sudden we've got no money left in the bank. But if I asked you, how did you spend this? Month? Youā€™d go, oh, nothing really, like, I don't overspend, or I don't go out a lot. I don't live it up, I don't live the high life. And that has definitely been something for us. And when I did this exercise, the amount of takeaway that we were consuming was ridiculous. And now, if you asked me, Do you eat out a lot? I would say no, like, because we don't. We really don't go out and eat out a lot. However, we do pick up bits and pieces here and there, and kids have sports or we might just grab an ice cream on the weekend, or we might just grab some takeaway, you know, one night a week. And we really didn't take notice of exactly how much we were spending in that space.
And I always said, we don't live the high life. We don't live extravagantly, we don't go out a lot, we don't do those things. But when I actually looked at the spending for the last month, and added up just exactly how much we were spending on takeaway. And another one was groceries. You know, the amount of money that we spend on groceries was just ridiculous, and I thought we were doing pretty good. However, adding it up and looking at the amount we spend per week and all those little incidentals, or I'll just duck into the shops to just grab this. And you know when you walk into the shops, you never actually just walk out with the things that you wanted. You know, tell me that I am not alone here, that I am not the only one that walks in intending to just buy milk and walks out with a whole three bags full of groceries.
It's all of those things that then add up to be the extras, and that's what puts the pressure on the budget. And it also puts pressure on to stretch your dollar further, particularly when those dollars need to be watched very closely. And I'm in that boat. I am definitely in that boat. And I am not preaching this because I am sitting on this pedestal saying that I have this all under control, and I know exactly what's going on. I make stupid financial mistakes all the time.
However, I am totally aware of what it is that I am spending now, because I did this exercise, and it wasn't that long ago, and it really surprised me, because I thought I was under control, and I thought that I had everything where I needed it to be. So doing this challenge of looking at what it is that you spent last month, and breaking it down into those categories of essentials and non essentials. You know, the play money, the going out money, the bills, whatever it needs to be for you, whatever those categories look like. Don't overthink it too much. Just put it into those buckets of, say, absolute essentials, groceries, takeaways, bills, and look at it like that, and then keep a track of it.
Do it again for another month, and you will become so much more aware of what it is that you are spending your money on. And those frivolous $5 here, $10 there, you'll start to question when you are buying that, you go, Oh, hang on. No, I don't really need to do that.
And so that's the next thing in the self care routine is actually taking a moment to pause before you buy something. You know, we now know what we're spending our money on. We've got an idea because we've looked at it for the last month. Now what I want you to do is have a look at, does that spending actually match your goals? Is it moving you towards creating the life that you want? Will future you be grateful for the things that you've spent your money on? And again, it is really challenging when money is in short supply and it is hard to find, however, it is about prioritising those goals.
You need to be super clear on what it is that is important to you, and if eating out every week is important to you and it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable and take away money from the budget and from the goals that you want, then that's fine. Like, don't, don't change anything. However, if you are sitting there going, I want to go and do this, or I want to leave my job, or I want to, you know, buy this next asset in my business, or I want to employ this next staff member, but I don't have the cash to do it, then it's really about coming back and looking at those goals that you have and then matching your spending to it. If you start to prioritise that spending towards those goals, because you know where. You're spending your money, it is going to make those goals happen so much easier and so much quicker. I also want you to practice financial gratitude, and now that may seem a little Woo, woo, and a little bit out there.
I think that when we start to practice gratitude for everything, and this is not just for money, then we start to feel that lightness within us, and as I've spoken about before, money is really just the transaction. It is just a thing. It is not who you are. It doesn't determine your worth. It doesn't determine your value, but the way we feel about money really impacts how we feel about ourself. And I would challenge you to think that the way you feel about money is how you actually feel about yourself. And you know, if you feel like you don't have enough money and it's never enough and you can't generate more, then that really is saying that you don't value yourself, you don't think that you can generate more. You don't have enough, you don't do enough, and it may feel a bit uncomfortable, particularly when you start to uncover those beliefs around money and how they translate into how you see yourself.
So I would really challenge you to practice some gratitude. Be grateful for where you are, be grateful for the lessons that you've learned, and say thank you to the universe for providing what it is that it has provided. And again, I know that not everybody is fortunate enough to have what it is that they want, or they may be struggling, or they may be experiencing some really hard times, and I would like to encourage you to just find the gratitude, even if it's not around money, just find the gratitude in in the everyday, start to look for those little moments of joy. Because when you start to put together those small incidental moments of joy, they end up becoming the big moments, and they are the things that will create the overall happiness within yourself that then moves you into that happier, more calmer, more aligned state. And as we know that when you are in that state, dealing with the ups and downs of money and the pressures that come with running a business or managing your money, or being a mum, for instance, we are able to cope with things so much better.
So as a part of this financial self care routine, I really want you to practice financial gratitude. Acknowledge where you're at. Be grateful for that, be grateful for the lessons that you're learning, be grateful for the opportunities that you have, and acknowledge where it is that you want to go. And by putting these things into place, you can then start to move into that financial wellness capacity where you're creating the life that you want now.
So to do this, we need to automate. Once we know what we're spending, we take a pause before we're spending some more money. I want you to automate, automate as much as you can, take that mental load off what it is that you're experiencing, and just set up as many automations as you can. That means you can set and forget. You know that is having your pay, if you're an employee, split into different bank accounts. So you don't even have to see it. You don't have to touch it, you don't have to do it. You don't have to remember it. It may be using roundup apps, which most banks have, that you know, if you spend $4.50 on a coffee, they will round up the extra 50 cents and put it into another bank account. It is also setting up automatic transfers between accounts, you know, having a different account for different goals.
Now, I would suggest in a business, don't have so many bank accounts that you are just continuously transferring from one account to the next, that then becomes messy, and I find it doesn't achieve the goal that you want. It creates confusion, it creates overwhelm, and you're really just robbing Peter to pay Paul, and not growing those savings accounts like you need to. So have a look at the bank accounts you've got set up. Does it work for you?
If it does, that's perfect. Don't change it. But if it doesn't work, it creates that confusion and overwhelm. Then it's about, what do we need to do to change it? How can we set this up? How can we move forward so that you don't need to stress about creating those automations? And finally, to wrap up. But I just want to touch on, why do you think that financial self care isn't taken very seriously, or we're not prioritising it? I know for me in the past, before I went on this self development journey, probably five or six years ago, I was really running on autopilot. My whole life was autopilot. The way I showed up at work, the way I showed up with my kids and my husband, was autopilot because I was just trying to get through. I had my head above water only just and every day felt like a struggle. It felt like Groundhog Day, and it felt like nothing I did was enough, and the thought of self care, let alone financial self care, was completely foreign to me, and I know that over the last few years, there has been particular conversation around self care and around how looking after yourself then impacts everybody else around us, and I really didn't give that enough credit back at the time and and I am still in that process of learning and growing and developing and allowing myself the opportunity to have that self care.
I am more aware now of what it is that I need to do for me to be able to function as a nice human, whereas before, I was not functioning as a very nice human at all, and I was not enjoying life. And so there is this opportunity to learn and grow wherever we are, and financial self care is something that we really need to take seriously. And I really feel that modern women need to be in control of their finances.
It's not okay to leave it for somebody else to do. It gives away your power. It gives away your control. And I really feel like we need to do it for ourselves, and when we owe it to ourselves, we also owe it to our kids to teach them about money and to teach them that we are financially independent, and it's not about doing everything yourself, but it is about knowing, understanding, learning and feeling comfortable with having these money conversations, and now I think that the instant gratification provides a lot of temptation for us. At the moment, credit cards are just so easy, and it is so it is so useful to just get you out of a spot. However, getting you out of that tight spot means that your financial goals are going to be sacrificed later on. And I know that I have had troubles with credit card debt, and it has been totally consuming.
And again, I have said in the past, being an accountant, I feel like I should know this stuff and I should have better practices, but that's my expectation that I'm putting on myself. I am human. I make mistakes. I am learning and growing as I do. The credit card debt provides that instant gratification, things like afterpay or zip or whatever it is that you can just buy now and pay later. It just means that you are sacrificing your financial wellness for that instant gratification.
The temptation is just so high to get it right now at all costs. And it doesn't matter what it is, because that's a future you problem. It's not a right now problem. And when we do that instant gratification and we take that temptation, it then means we're not sticking to our goals, which then translates into I'm a failure. I can't stick to goals. I'll just put my head in the sand. I just won't even look at it, because what's the point? I'm going to fail anyway. So we totally avoid we then end up with so much stress and overwhelm and worry because we're not achieving these goals that we want. And then it is that perpetual cycle that we link the emotions to everything we have, shame and guilt, and we just can't move forward from it.
And as women as you know, that's what we do. We attach a motion emotion to everything. So when you start to not take your financial wellness seriously, all of this stuff snowballs. So today, this is your sign. I want you to become financially well. I want you to schedule in some self care, financial self care, and that may include or be as a part of your normal self care routine, but you're just going to add a financial aspect to it. Maybe you're just going to sit down and do one of these things that I've spoken about today, and because empowered and aware of what it is that you're doing and that what it is that you want. Because when you have that awareness, you then have the ability to make decisions.
You can then decide what it is that you want to do, where you want to spend your money. How is that making you feel? Because it all comes back to feelings. Everything comes back to feeling. So these are my tips for the financial self care routine. I really want to encourage you to prioritise your financial wellness, because this financial wellness piece impacts every other aspect of your life. And I would challenge anybody that doesn't think that that's the case, because if you are not financially well, the amount of stress and worry and overwhelm you experience is huge, and it is going to impact every relationship you have, every conversation you have, and it is going to make you feel so heavy and disconnected.
So there that's today's financial wellness piece, financial self care routine. If you are struggling with your financial wellness. I do have a free download that you can have. It is www.erindavis.com.au/moneystrategy
This is really just the starting point to creating your own money strategy, and it can be your financial self care routine. Actually, that is a really good idea. Why don't you grab that download, do that as the very first part of the financial care self self care routine, and see where it is that you're at. Because once you have that awareness, you can then start to create the life, the strategy, the movement that it is that you're looking for. So I hope this resonates. If it does, let me know if you've got any questions, reach out, because, as you can tell, financial wellness for women is something that I am super, super passionate about.
