My Financial Comeback: Mindful Spending

I’ve been practicing Mindful Spending for almost a decade. What this means is that I spend my time and money by pausing to consider the impact of each expenditure on myself, my life and the lives and environments of those around me.

As a family, we choose to spend more money on our food than the average family. We never opt for conventionally grown processed foods because it does not make a positive impact on our short or long-term health even though it is a lot cheaper.

We also prefer to spend money on experiences like going to concerts that we love, traveling to places we have never been to before, or fine dining. We can now do all these things without the stress because we have no debt and a good grip on our financial health.

Part of the reason why I have been able to turn my finances around has a lot to do with my spending habits. Being a woman who loves fashion and skincare shopping was inevitable. But I defeated my shopping demon and put down some boundaries for myself for impulsive shopping.

It was extremely hard when I first had to bare my financial soul to hubby. But after that first encounter, my financial stress was completely lifted. Since then we established some ground rules – combined accounts to pay for all the necessities, individual accounts for our spending money, and any purchase over $500 will need to be discussed and agreed on.

I now take a lot longer to purchase an item and only buy them on an as-needed basis. And when I do I usually troll the internet for a better price.

Here are some simple mindful spending steps I follow whenever I have the urge to shop.

Pause. Do I really need this?
Is this something I could live without?
How will this investment of my time and money benefit my life?
Sleep on it. For. A. Week. If you keep thinking about it for over a week non-stop then get it. Otherwise, forget it and move on.

Truthfully, we don’t need a financial advisor or read countless books and articles to tell us that spending has a detrimental impact on our finances and ultimately on our relationships. Hubby and I hardly argue when it comes to our finances because we are financially compatible.

After paying off my debt and got my finances in order I never looked back. As the expression goes, money can’t buy happiness. But the lack of it can increase stress which makes it harder to enjoy life. What’s most important is how you handle the money you have.

Since practicing mindful spending not only do I have less stress but more money in my pocket to spend on what really matters most.