Financial wellness is essential for all of us but especially important to moms. As mothers, we juggle many responsibilities related to our families, careers and other commitments. With the right money management strategies, we can put ourselves in a better financial position to face whatever life throws our way. Understanding what financial wellness means for moms can help equip us with the knowledge and confidence needed to be more financially independent from debt and start planning effectively for our families for the future.
Being a mom is tough. I am so I know. Not only do you have to nurture and care for your children, but you also need to make sure there's enough money saved up for your family's future. It can be hard to find the time and energy to balance time and manage your money effectively - especially when raising children.
However, by following a few simple tips and setting financial goals, moms can achieve their financial aspirations without compromising on their family needs. In this guide, we will offer tips on how to budget properly as a mom while setting realistic financial goals that everyone in the family can achieve together!
1. Set Goals
1. It is important to set goals that everyone can contribute to. These goals should be attainable, and if accomplished will have a positive outcome for the family's overall financial situation. Goals are made up of three components: Financial, Emotional, and Physical. For example, "Spend Less Money" might be one of your financial goals while "Do More Activities Outside" might be an emotional goal and "Walk 6 Miles a Day Together as a family" could be your physical goal. With these three components in mind it becomes easier for parents to communicate their priorities with their family members so they can all work together towards a shared outcome.
2. Track Goals and Progress
Create a simple chart outlining all your goals and how much you have already accomplished each one so you can see the progress you have made. This will help serve as a reminder of the small steps that still need to be taken toward your larger goal while also motivating you to keep on going! For example, if I want to save $120,000 per year for my children, I will work backward to know how much I need to save every month, which means $12000. In another word, daily I need to put aside $400, or weekly I need to put aside $2800. For days that I cannot put aside $400 that day then I make sure I will spend less for the rest of the week to achieve the weekly goal. I will also use apps like Progress Tracker, so for each goal, I put it as a different project and put different tasks to reach the project goal. From the app, I can visually see the progress bar for easy tracking.
3. Plan Ahead
For many parents, it is difficult to plan for their future because the responsibilities vary from day-to-day depending on what their children need at that moment in time. Having multiple small tasks planned for each day can be a good way to help avert some of these unexpected moments and keep your life on track! Having goals and tasks planned out can also help provide structure in times of transition. For example, if there is a holiday coming up, and I know that we will spend more than our usual days, then I will make plans of our holiday and calculate how much we need for the entire holiday and the difference between the holiday and the usual days. We can then spend less before the holiday to keep our goals on track.
4. Focus on Priorities
It is important to prioritize what will make your life easier in the long run by figuring out which goals or tasks are most important for you and writing them down ahead of time. This can be done by making a to-do list and prioritizing tasks by when they will need to be completed.
5. Break It Down with a Task Calculator
If you feel overwhelmed and can't think of where to start, use a task calculator such as the timer app with Pomodoro Technique.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by five-minute breaks. Longer breaks, typically 15 to 30 minutes, are taken after four consecutive work intervals. Each work interval is called Pomodoro, the Italian word for tomato. This method allows you to break down your work day into segments and become more focused on a single task. The Pomodoro app I have been using is called "Focus to-do". It allows users to set tasks and projects, I used it to plan my daily to-do list. For each task, you can simply click on the play button to start your work interval easily. I like to set it to strict mode so I don't let my phone distract me when I am focusing. Also, I can have statistics reports seeing the time I spend on tasks.
Take away from this blog: Plan and set goals allow us to visually see what's expected.
I hope after reading this blog, you will spend 5 minutes taking action if you really want to make some changes in your life. How about just setting your financial goal for this year and small goals on how to achieve it?
Just reading this won't help you unless you take action. Just do it, finesse your finances is just a step away.
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