This girl is ready for a money mindset reset. If you have followed our family for any time, you know one thing we value is travel and adventure. Recently, I have noticed that my spending habits are well, how to put this…messy? lazy? sometimes unintentional. Any money I choose to spend on home decor, fast food or other ‘non-essentials’ is money not available for the experiences our family really loves and that is just not acceptable any longer! To travel (or whatever you love to do!) many times requires money, which requires precious time (life) spent earning it – so, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it!

I am also suspecting the time I am spending doing the purchasing is time stolen from accomplishing bigger goals I have in mind…robbing me of precious time to focus and pursue the bigger things in life, you know?

Time for a money mind reset.

One night I was talking to Quinn and said, “babe, I want to see how much money I could save if I just stopped spending any extra money for one month.” Of course, he was one million percent on board with this idea – he has always been very mindful and frugal with money – me, not so much.

Money can be one of those sticky subjects in a marriage and one of the leading causes of disconnect and stress/worry in a couple/family -especially when there isn’t enough of it and one or both partners are spending all of it.

I found a book called “The Year of Less” by Cait Flanders where she shared her story of a strict year of no spending. When I finished the book, I discovered there are many books, apps and blogs who all promote the same type of activity – an increase in awareness of spending habits to ultimately allow more time for being, less time worrying and more money in the bank.

It got me thinking, I am not ready to commit to a year of no-spending, but I am totally down with a month. A month of complete self-awareness and discovery to my relationship to spending money. My hope is this reset will give me the mental reboot and shift in habits to discover why I spend money the way I do and how to clean it up!

Even if you gawf (is that a word?) and think, “must be nice, I have NO extra money to monitor!” I lovingly would say…I bet that’s not true…I would imagine there is an extra dollar or two you are mindlessly spending. And honestly, ultimately, the money is not the bottom line of this reset…I am hoping by paying attention to why and when we wish to spend money we will perhaps discover some deeper parts of our beings that need some attention….is it possible we are spending to feel better about ourselves, avoid unpleasant experiences, because we are over-scheduled, out of convenience, we are addicted to shopping, to hide insecurities, the list is long and personal.

So, I decided to post an invitation to the Rockonliving community for March. Let’s reset together! After all, isn’t March about following the pesky leprechaun to the pot of gold, right?

Your why. I suspect we may all have different reasons this reset appeals. My hope is this reset will kick-start a more respectful relationship to time and money. By stopping all unnecessary spending for a month and adding some optional challenges each week (cleaning out closets, kitchen drawers, under cabinets – the places some of us stockpile and store things we never or rarely use – hidden – unseen – maybe like our bank accounts) and making it public I hope to find myself in a different place moving forward April 1st.

Time and money….These two words are are so interconnected. Money isn’t what we want or miss, I think if we dig deeper it’s time…time to be and doing what we love.

Want to join me? I would LOVE some friends to accept this reset challenge and do it together.

It costs NOTHING and we will begin March 1st 2020! To be ready to roll in a little less than a week you need to do 3 things:

1. Write your Spending Rules.
2. Tell People.
3. Journal or Document Experience.

Write your Rules: This is where you will generate a list of items you give yourself permission to purchase for the month. I will share my list below to get your brainstorming in full gear – I ran it by my hubbie for some final tweaking and also helps with #2 on the list, tell people.

What I am hoping is that in the process of taking action to be mindful of spending habits I will uncover deeper understanding of my priorities and values surrounding how I spend money (our time) to either move us toward or away from living our best life. I would imagine that as we move through the month we will discover and need to create an “add on” list of sorts for things not captured on our initial list.

This is a cold reboot. May feel a little harsh to ban some things that bring us joy (massage, mani/pedi) but doesn’t mean it is forever. It is one month, we are resetting a mindset and hoping for some personal insight and growth.

I remember years ago, when working with a life coach, I was asked to clean out my bedroom closet and first thinking, why am I doing this? I want to change my inner-being….and you know what happened? I found myself sitting on my closet floor sobbing over missing my mom and the dysfunction from childhood – that – see what I am saying?

What seems like an activity of decluttering of an external, or physical space can be is a powerful tool for self-awareness and cleaning out those neglected, cramped spaces shoved full past experiences that, like a pair of jeans from the 80’s, no longer fit us. To poke, prod and examine our internal landscape to make space for new mental wardrobe.

Tell People: Once you have committed to this activity for the month of March (or any month if you are not ready right now) I strongly encourage you tell your tribe! Speak your intentions to your immediate family, friends and coworkers – anyone that you feel will help you remain accountable to your reset!

Journal: The last step in this reset is to document (old-school paper & pen, electronically, social media) your experiences that will help you learn and unpack your experience. My hope is near the end of the month, we will start to formulate a plan for what parts of this mind-shift/reset we want to continue.

Ok friends, are you in?

I have no idea how this will all play out, but for now, my plan is to share the experience on social media and partner and interact with anyone who wishes to add me to your accountability tribe!

If you’re cool with the sharing game, tag me @rockonliving, use the hashtage #rockonliving or shoot me your lists and I will share on my account for inspiration for others!

Until next time, rockonLIVING friends, Vickie