Three Mindsets to Radically Improve your Financial Health

Looking back on my journey out from underneath the mountain of debt I created for myself several years back, I was able to make some very important conclusions.

First, it wasn’t so much about changing specific actions in my daily life, it was more about changing my mentality towards money and how it comes in and goes out of my life.

Next, it is not as hard as it seems.  Once you get going on a program and you stick with it, it really becomes easy.

Also, you don’t need to start tracking every penny you spend, and, depending on your level of commitment, putting yourself on a budget isn’t necessary either.

What I did find when looking back on this journey was that it was much more about changing my mental mindset towards money rather than creating and following some sort of ABC list out of debt.

Some of the mindsets that I put into place (and still practice to this day) are as follows:

The Willingness to Act

No one is going to solve your financial problems for you.  The only one that can do it is you.  Similar to a diet, you have to be willing, and have a true desire to get out of debt before anything meaningful will begin to happen.  Of course, after the willingness, you actually have to “act” as well.

Your work hard for your money

Therefore, you should treat it that way.  I am assuming that most of us out there work hard for the money we earn.  It is surprising to me then, how many people I see out there who simply waste the money that they work so hard to earn.  Valuing your money as much during the spending of it as you do during the earning of it goes a long way to financial well-being.

Changing habits

So much about getting out of debt is changing your current habits with money.  Your current spending habits, your current saving habits (if there are any) and your current work habits, among others. If you can change your spending habits, pretty soon, it becomes a way of life and you won’t find yourself micromanaging every purchase that you want or need to make on a daily basis — you’ll know right away whether it’s the right thing to do or not.  If you don’t have saving habits, it’s a good idea to get some — it might even help on your credit score rating scale.  If you do have them, are you getting the most out of the money that you save?  And finally, another thing that a lot of people who need help with their finances don’t realize is that doing your best on a daily basis at your job can have an impact on your personal economy.  For some reason, many people simply fail to realize this.

I did not mention any specific ways to save money in this article for a reason.  This is because if we change our mental outlook and mindset towards money, then all the specific ways to save money and spend less of it will simply come naturally to you.

David Bakke is the creator and author of the personal finance blog, Yourfinances101.  He also published his first work in the genre called “Don’t Be A Mule:  A Common-sense Guide to Saving More Money…”.  He is married with a three year old son and lives outside Atlanta, GA

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