Money Tip: Saving is Buying Peace of Mind

It’s time for another Money Tip! Because we all want more money but don’t always know how to get it. And when we get it, it’s tempting to use it to buy stuff. That’s kind of how the economy works, right? But, let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who wouldn’t consider themselves to be “good with money.” Is that you? Let’s talk about that. -- Connect with me through your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl -- I want to start with a disclaimer. Nothing I say in this episode is meant as criticism. It’s not meant as judgment. I say it all from a place of compassion. I do understand that money is a bit of a touchy subject most of the time, but especially now. We are just about one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which created and amplified financial issues for people around the world. People were suddenly without jobs, without income, relying on unemployment systems that were overwhelmed by demand, and so much more. It’s still fresh at the time of this recording, so I get that it might be triggering. But my intention is to help so we can all be better prepared in the future. We can’t do anything about what has already happened, but we can make changes in our habits that will help us in the present moment, and hopefully the future. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to get down to business, starting with a blunt statement. If you think you can’t afford to save, you need to address your budget. Saving should NOT be optional. It shouldn’t be where your money goes if you have any left after all of your other expenses. It should be a top priority in your budget. I’ve heard every excuse in the world, and I don’t accept any of them. I get it. Life is expensive. You have needs. There are things you want. Things that will make your life easier, or your business run more smoothly. Emergencies come up all the time. The kids need something for school. Your car needs an expensive tune up. The water heater needs to be replaced. Your pet really needs that fancy extra plush bed with the built-in pillow she can crawl into. Yes, these things are often urgent, but the real emergency is letting yourself get to a place where you don’t have a safety net. A place where one unexpected expense throws you into a debt spiral. No one was expecting a pandemic to come along and force everyone to stay home. We didn’t expect our businesses to be put on hold for an indefinite amount of time. Some were able to open quickly. Some still aren’t back. Most have nowhere near the volume of sales they did before, and a lot of adjustments have been made. It was terrible for many, so again, nothing I say here is meant to throw blame or in any way discredit the valid hardships anyone faced. But it was concerning to me how many people went into panic mode because they didn’t have any money saved. No emergency plan. No rainy day fund. Just relying on the check from the last job to survive. I’m not going to harp on everything that happened, how many systems failed the general public, or how much stress everyone was under trying to figure out how to stay afloat when they couldn’t work. We all know what happened a year ago and where things are at now. I’m more interested in what we can do moving forward. We’ve been talking about adapting a lot on this podcast because it’s so relevant to what’s been going on. Adapting is great, but it’s a reaction. The best thing you can do for yourself financially is to be proactive. Build that safety net so you know you will be okay if something like this happens again. I know there are other factors in play here, like how many people aren’t earning a fair wage and they are working hard to support themselves and their families but are still barely getting by. It’s an unfortunate epidemic and I wish I had a solution for that. The sad truth is that sometimes we just have to make sacrifices. For some background, I didn’t grow up with money. My mom opted to be a stay-home mom while my brother and