How To Start Living Below Your Means | Clever Girl Finance #Finance

so do you earn a good Income but find yourself living paycheck to paycheck or do you find yourself overspending or taking on unnecessary Debts even though you have a good Income what are your biggest concerns about your spending well if you

have any of these questions in your mind this CashNews.co is for you I’m going to be talking about how to start living below your means to achieve your financial goals keep watching hi everyone my name is Bola shumi I’m the founder and CEO of clever girl

href="https://cashnews.co/finance" style="font-weight: bold; color: #1a73e8; text-decoration: none;">Finance I’m also the author of The clever girl Finance book series and my most

recent book choosing to prosper welcome to clevergirl Finance TV so today’s CashNews.co we’re going to talk about how to create a financial plan for yourself to

help you start living below your means especially if you find yourself in that place where you’re earning a good Income but your money still finds ways to slip through your fingers so we’re going to start by looking at how you currently spend your money there are some

key indicators that will let you know that you are living well above your means and the sooner you’re able to identify these key indicators in your life the quicker you’re able to create your plan to help you start living below your means so some signs that you are living above your

means despite earning a good Income include number one you don’t have an emergency Savings fund number two you have Credit card Debt number three you’re not saving at least 10% of your Income number

four you’re purchasing Big Ticket items despite your Finances number five you’re paying for expensive vacations you didn’t plan for if you can relate to any

of these indicators I’m going to be sharing some key tips to help you get past them and start living below your means and also saving more money so step one you want to assess your financial situation you essentially want to determine where do you stand right now when it comes to your

Finances where is your money going and you want to look at your bank statements your Credit card statements over the last 3 to six months to get a good idea

of where your money is going where are you spending this money even those small expenses you want to pay attention into them so one the first thing you want to do is get clear on your current situation by determining where your money is going highlighting those key expenses and then determining

your Income and comparing your Income to those expenses a lot of people think they know what they earn but they actually don’t know because they haven’t paid attention to that full number they’re basing it on their annual salary before

Taxes come out right so how much do you really earn after Taxes on an annual basis how much do you really earn after Taxes when you get paid each month or every two weeks or if you have an inconsistent Income what is the average um

Income that you earn after you’ve put aside your expenses you want to be aware of this you want to compare your Income to your expenses and determine how much of your expenses are going over your Income right how much are you spending beyond

your Income once you’ve done this assessment to see where your money is going and how much you are overspending by then you’re ready for step number two step number two is to create a budget this is essential to being able to live below your means and when you create

your budget you want to break your budget into categories for example you can have a category in your budget for your future self where you’re saving for retirement you have your Debt payoff goals in there as well you need a category for your Essentials these are the things

that are essential for you to live your life uh you may have a category for your life goals so these are the things that you want to achieve outside of saving for your future self and then you can also have a category for everything else where you pay attention to what you’re spending whether

it’s eating out traveling shopping Etc so that you’re not spending beyond your means and this category will help you stay in check so it’s important that you lay out a budget now based on your Income and based on your expenses and as you lay out your budget you

may find Opportunities to cut things out because you realize that wait a minute I did my spending assessment and I realized I actually don’t need to spend money on these things anymore or I can temporary cut temporarily cut back from spending money on these things so it’s really

important that once you do that assessment that you then sit down and create a budget and there are many different Budgeting methods it’s all about finding a budget method that works for you so some Budgeting methods include the cash envelope system zerob

based Budgeting um percentage based Budgeting or using an app or spreadsheet and you can stop by clevergirl Finance.com we have tons of

articles on all these different Budgeting methods we also have several free Budgeting worksheets in our worksheet library that you can find on our website and then if you feel more comfortable Budgeting with an app go to your smartphone’s app

store at download a bunch of Budgeting apps and then go through them take some time to go through them to see which of them uh you prefer to use and will work best for your lifestyle the key to successful Budgeting after you’ve built your budget is checking

in and finding a Budgeting method that you enjoy using so that you can check in often and then step number three is to create a financial plan so you know where your money is going you know how you’re spending your money you’ve created a budget to help you keep your uh

spending below your Income but now you want to create a financial plan a plan of your long-term and your short-term goals that you want to achieve in your life this is really important to have this is also tied to your purpose and your fulfillment and so your financial plan will

include things like your goals your Debt payoff plan your emergency Savings plan your investment plans and even an estate plan this is essentially your overall plan to Achieve Financial Wellness for yourself starting with those short-term midterm and then your

long-term goals you can use Financial Planning app or templates or worksheets like I mentioned we have over 40 plus free worksheets on clgl Finance.com it

doesn’t matter what tool you use to set up your financial plan it can be a simple uh spreadsheet or work Word document but it is essential that you lay it out so you know what goals you’re going to pursuing and you know why you want to stay motivated and inspired to work your plan U and

live below your means by the way if you’re enjoying this CashNews.co I would love for you to hit the like button below and subscribe to this Channel and then tell all your best girlfriends friends about clevergirl text-decoration: none;">Finance then stop by our website at clevergirl Finance.com we have over 30 plus completely free courses over 40 plus completely free worksheets

like I mentioned and our blog gets updated every single day and you can also tune in to the clever girls no podcast everywhere you listen to your podcast episodes okay let’s get back to this CashNews.co on living below your means and then step number four is to curb your spending and so this

is now an intentional act you’re going to take an intentional action you’re going to take to minimize how much you’re spending especially in unnecessary area so that you can get to the point where you’re living below your means and one way to do this is with a spending

Journal you can do this for a couple of weeks or for a month where you have this journal whether a physical book or the notes app in your smartphone and you write down what you’re spending every single day and in addition you write down where your mind was was at what your mindset was how you

were feeling when you were making that transaction especially ones that are not tied to your Essentials and at the end of the night you want to review your spending this just helps you be mindful of what you’re spending money on and helps you make better choices the next day so you want to be

intentionally focused on cutting down on your spending maybe you’re spending too much money shopping or eating out or at your coffee store whatever you’re doing that you find is excessive that is causing you to live above your means you want to be intentional about catching yourself in

those moment so that you can adjust that choice and make a better choice so that you can start living below your means number five five consider living frugally and one thing I want to say about living frugally is that it’s not about being cheap it’s about looking at a new way of life

that allows you to save money that is what being Frugal is about you can still have quality great items make quality purchases um but instead you’re focusing on how can I save where can I cut back what is worth it and what is not and so living frugally is one way that you can focus on living

below your mean so for example instead of always is buying brand new clothes you might decide to focus on making a list of things that you need that are missing your wardrobe for example if you do need to shop and then looking at the pre-owned market for high quality items a lot of times

you’re going to find brand new items from brands that you love but at an incredible discount because they are considered pre-owned and so you want to explore options in which you can save by living frugally another example of living fugly is looking at coupons finding coupons online or

browsing your grocery stores website or app before you uh plan your grocery shopping so that you know where you can save right you’re still buying the same groceries the same brand names that you like but now you’re getting a discount because you intentionally went out and found some

coupons to help you save on that grocery bill and then step number six you want to focus on improving your money mindset and this basically means that as opposed to thinking of living below your means as a restriction think about it as a pathway to your financial Wellness think about it as a

pathway to being able to improve your life you want to think positively about your Finances and your goals and Empower yourself with words and affirmations that make you know

that you are able to achieve what you have set yourself up to achieve you don’t want to dwell on the past or past mistakes and start to feel regretful and discourage yourself from even taking action because you have made mistakes instead take a look at your past assess the lessons from those

mistakes and then let it go and apply those lessons to your future and so it’s really important that you have that positive money mindset where you think positively about your none;">Finances even if you are in the process of paying off Debt even if you’re in the process of living below your means even if you’re in the process of rebuilding your emergency Savings think positively about your

href="https://cashnews.co/finance" style="font-weight: bold; color: #1a73e8; text-decoration: none;">Finances and this will keep you inspired and motivated to keep moving forward and then number seven step seven is find ways to make extra money and so when you’re in this space

where you’re trying to live below your means you may find find that okay you have cut back as much as you can cut back but your expenses still happen to be high and you can’t adjust them right away for example you may be tied to an expensive mortgage or rental lease that you cannot

break immediately and so this might be one of the hindrances uh causing you not to be able to live below your means right away and so one way you can get past this is by making additional money bringing in extra Income this means uh being intentional about perhaps asking for a

raise at work finding a part-time job starting a side Hustle selling things in your kitchen in your closet your kids items that you no longer need or like or want to bring in extra Income that you can put towards helping you live below your means when you have that extra money to

spare it helps you be at peace because you now have this buffer you now have this additional Income that you can put towards even things like saving and investment as you focus on living below your means and then step number eight utilize Financial courses and resources so when you

decide that you’re ready to make a change with your Finances you’re ready to become more focused and intentional about how you’re spending your money so you

can live below your means it can feel overwhelming because you’re making all this change and it can also feel really uncomfortable because it’s not what you’re used to doing you’re used to just spending and spending and so you want to leverage resources like I mentioned we

have the clever Go Finance platform we have tons of CashNews.cos here on YouTube that you can reference to help you stay motivated and keep your mind on track you can take

one of our 30 plus free courses you can check out our worksheets you can check out our podcasts and you can check out the clevergirl Finance books to help you stay focused on

your goals in addition YouTube and other social media have really really awesome Financial communities that you can participate in and follow so that you can stay focused on what it is you’re trying to achieve so it’s all about making sure that you are sticking to your intention of

living below your means and it is totally possible if you stay focused and you stay motivated you can even make get Fun by making a challenge or participating in money challenges around Savings or paying off Debt or you can have a friend join you on this goal on

this path to living below your means and have them keep you accountable I would love for you to share in the comments what specific things are you doing right now to help you live below your means so that you can put that money that you you don’t need to spend right uh to saving investing or

paying off Debt share in the comments below I hope you enjoyed watching this CashNews.co If you have please hit the like button subscribe to this channel tell your best girlfriends about clevergirl #1a73e8; text-decoration: none;">Finance and then stop by our website at clever girl Finance.com and check out all of our awesome free resources I will talk to

you next time