Where fitness is taking over the world like a wild fire, the new thing that has been trending is cleansing — 30 days of drinking lots of water, healthy food, directing energy, losing weight, exercising, etc. Cleansing results in reaching your short-term fitness goals faster. Just take a wild guess what I am going to say next?
Imagine the reform it would bring if the concept of removing the harmful things "feeding" on the finances — a financial cleanse, was brought about. Setting aside time to focus on money habits can make a huge impact on short-term financial health and provide just the motivation to kick bad habits, get your finances in order, and keep them that way. Below are a few hacks you might want to start with in case you are inclined to a deep tissue financial cleanse.
1. Clean your cluttered financial refrigerator of all the junk temptations
Well… these are just examples… You must basically get rid of anything that initiates a tab in your head of spending on something unnecessary not unessential.
2. Make an entry in your financial diet chart!
Just as you would do on a physical cleanse of recording what you ate the entire day and checking out the tiny boxes of obligations, the same must be done during a fiscal cleansing. Keeping a track of every penny that rolls out from your piggy bank, will be of great assistance while budgeting.
Using pocket cash is one of the best way to accomplish this. Like literally! But, if credit cards and accumulating points gets your motor running, you can opt for that too and track your spending using any one of the online apps, spreadsheets, and other tools. The motive here is to keep your wits about every penny and reroute the flow if you see it is going the wrong way. It might come to you as a surprise, that, you are spending way more than you realized in a specific category.
3. Cut down on your financial carbs!
Cleansing often requires you to focus on one aspect. Be it including high protein diet for muscle building or a major cut down on carbs for weight loss. Be it either, the trick is to focus on one aspect. Financial cleansing needs the same. By focusing on correcting one aspect of your finances, it's easier to gain a sense of accomplishment, which builds confidence to tackle other categories, as well.
4. Separate your needs from your wants.
Once you've identified some of the problem categories, it is time to bring yourself down to basics. During a health cleanse, this might mean ensuring you're getting the essential amounts of protein, vegetables, or fiber in your diet before you "spend" on empty calories and treats. For a financial cleanse, this means looking at the category we all dread: payments.Getting familiar with how much of your income is allocated for essential spending, compared to discretionary spending, can help you identify areas to work on in order to create a bigger gap between the two. The bigger that gap, the more you can start saving and planning for the future.
It might seem like a stretch to apply the concept of a health cleanse to your finances, but try these tips and see if they help you cut unnecessary consumerism and spending, energize your budget, and motivate you to pursue a healthier financial lifestyle.
5. Visit a financial dietitian
If you think the online research is not good enough to help you maneuver through your financial cleansing, visit a financial planner – your financial dietitian.
Incorporating a financial planner will help you chart out a way to deal with your finances and make them healthy again.
