3 Simple Tools to Cleanse Your Money Mindset
During the month of March the Association of Virtual Assistants has been focusing on the topic of money. Specifically taxes and how to manage your expenses to avoid an audit.
When it comes to money and your virtual assistant business, we cannot forget the important topic of mindset. It’s still early in the year and while many VAs are doing a physical cleanse this is also a great time to focus on cleansing your money mindset.
Sherry Parks, CPA, of Lives In Balance is a Money Mindset Coach and understands how women can feel trapped by their finances. In this week’s blog, Sherry is going to share how to do a money mindset cleanse to positively move forward.
Here’s what Sherry has to say:
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I recently completed a five-day Vegan superfood cleanse. Food cleansing has been part of my life for several years now, but it’s been more than a year since I did one. I allowed stressors in my life to derail my cleanse attempts last year and didn’t get past the first or second day.
But I knew my body needed a cleanse. It needed a break and a chance to rest. You see, after the death of my mother in November, I began to experience a lot of fatigue, sleeplessness, and the most disturbing was brain fog.
While I know that brain fog is often part of the grieving process, I also knew that it had been long enough after mom’s passing that I should be feeling more clear, creative, and focused. While I fully expect to continue to experience some of the grief symptoms, I knew I needed to provide my body with some additional support.
Many people in my life look at me like I’ve grown a second head when I talk about food cleansing. It can seem like a lot of sacrifice with a lot of discomforts. And yes, there was a ton of discomfort.
But that discomfort was totally worth it. I emerged on the other side feeling amazing. My body felt great, my energy levels were up, I’ve been sleeping better AND my brain feels clearer than it has in a long, long time.
Sometimes, we have to endure a little bit of discomfort to get the big results! But it is so worth it in the end. And it works the same with our money. Sometimes, in order to get back on track or to get to the next level with our money and our mindset around it, we need to do a detox or cleanse.
Just like cleansing the body allows it to rest and rejuvenate, a money cleanse offers us a chance to reset, reevaluate and renew our relationship with money.
One of the keys to receiving more money is to strengthen our relationship with money. You see, in order to have more money you MUST trust yourself with the money you already have. And conversely, you have to trust that money will be there for you.
Having that basis of trust between you and money is imperative when you are ready to receive more. And keeping that relationship strong sometimes requires a cleanse to reduce bad habits, refocus on your goals and implement some new good habits.
Here are three ways to do a money cleanse.
1 – Don’t buy any extras for 5 days (or longer, I recommend at least 14). Yes, that means no coffee drinks, no clothing shopping, no snacks at the grocery, no entertainment, etc.
When you stop spending money mindlessly, and get really intentional on your spending for a period of time, you get clarity on several things.
- You become aware of any spending on unnecessary items.
- You gain clarity on what habits might be derailing your money goals.
- You have the opportunity to purge or detox from purchases that may be no longer serving you, i.e., multiple streaming services, auto shipments, etc.
- You create a waiting period that allows you to determine if you truly want or need to make the purchase.
Bonus points here if you journal about how this makes you feel. Writing down the emotions that come up combined with the waiting period before you buy, enables you to see if you are buying on impulse or mindlessly. It allows you to tap into what is really important for you and see what you might be trying to cover up by purchasing things.
2 – Use the things you already have – don’t buy ANYTHING until you’ve used all your current resources. We often have so much stuff that we don’t even realize what we have. And we mindlessly buy more; without intention and without purpose.
One of the most powerful things we can do is to use, appreciate and value what we already have, or to say it a different way, what money has already provided us.
Have you ever tried to use all the food in your cabinet and refrigerator before making a trip to the grocery? When you go through an exercise like this, there are many, many benefits. Here are a few:
- You eliminate waste from things going bad.
- You create empty space and have the chance to sit with any discomfort that space opens up. Sitting with discomfort and allowing yourself to actually feel it is powerful for transformation.
- You save money because you aren’t constantly running to the grocery and buying the same 10 things.
This process works the same with other things that we buy. Clothing and shoes are one example. Instead of buying more clothes, we get creative with the ones we already have. We also create the opportunity to fall in love with something that we haven’t worn in a while. We see how much we are already blessed with.
Or how about entertainment? Instead of buying that new book (talking to myself here), how about picking up one from the giant stack you already have that you haven’t read? Or instead of paying for the movies, how about playing a DVD or streaming an oldie that you already have in your library?
Taking actions like this strengthens your relationship with money because you are using, appreciating and valuing what you already have. Not only that, but you are creating space for the next level of the relationship. Meaning, you are opening yourself to the next level of income.
3 – Choose to talk about possibilities, not problems. One of the most important things you can do to improve your money mindset is to learn to live in possibility with money, rather than lack and scarcity.
Take a day or two and notice what you are saying about your money. What problems are coming up for you? How are you talking or thinking about them? Notice if you are blaming someone or something outside yourself. Notice how you are feeling and write it all down.
Next, take the next for days or a week and conscientiously choose to change your speech or thoughts about those things you wrote down. Try to think about what you truly want in your life and talk about the possibilities open to you rather than the problems themselves. Try to think like one in charge rather than the victim of circumstance.
An exercise like this helps you become aware of your negative self-talk around money. It detoxes your money mindset from a lot of negativity and puts you back in a position of power and personal responsibility. And truly what better place can there be than to know that you are in charge? You get to create whatever you want with your bank account.
Test out one or all three of these money cleansing tools. My guess is you will find yourself detoxing a lot of negativity and angst around money and finding yourself renewed with energy and purpose to create the life of your dreams!
Sherry Parks, CPA, is a Money Mindset Coach who helps women escape feeling trapped by their finances. She is passionate about helping women change mindset, emotions and actions regarding money, so that they learn to keep what they have and generate more.
Check out her 5 Steps to a Better Money Story workbook and join her women-only Facebook group More Than Enough Money Sisterhood.
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