Finding Your Version of the Radical Middle

Happy Friday, Friends! 🫶🏻

A new book in a series that I (Kim) adore came out recently (any other fantasy readers here?) and I’ve spent the past few days alternating between binging every word and complete apathy.

I know a lot of us are the same when it comes to TV shows - either you binge three seasons, or you don’t watch for six months straight and have to start over because you forgot what happened. 

For a lot of us, we treat our finances similarly. 

• We’re either accumulating debt or in a strict payoff journey. 

• We’re either saving for retirement or traveling the world. 

• We’re either going out to eat 3x a week or skipping restaurants all together. 

The Radical Middle

The Radical Middle is all about you and your version of the middle ground with your finances.

Finding the Radical Middle means laying down what you “think” you should do and holding the tension between what you’ve been told and what reality will allow you to do. 

It isn’t to find perfect balance - because life isn’t perfectly balanced!

Practicing your version of the Radical Middle will look like allowing both/and into your life - rather than using either/or and excluding one or the other extreme. 

Focusing Questions

What extremes might you be drawn to, and how can the Radical Middle help you? 

Get curious about your values, and use our example questions below to help explore what the Radical Middle might look like in your life. 

1. Do you shop? If yes, when you go do you buy one thing? More than what’s on your list? Are you currently participating in a shopping ban? 

2. Are you on a debt payoff journey? If so, does every hour of OT go to debt? Do you make room for celebration? Do you have a “fun” category in your budget? 

3. What does traveling look like for you? Do you travel at all? 

We are all unique, and every answer will be different for each of us.

Maybe we’re avid travelers and find shopping to be boring - or maybe our favorite place is playing Jenga at the library and we can’t fathom spending money.

That’s okay! Use these questions to help identify what you value, and where you can hold the tension in your budget.

Implementing the Radical Middle

Once we’ve identified what areas we could use the Radical Middle in, we need to implement it in our budgets & lives.

Thankfully, there are four easy steps, and we’ve already taken care of one of them 😉

1. Identify the extremes you feel drawn toward or pulled between

2. Consider what led you to be drawn to these extremes (i.e. your personal history)

3. Brainstorm ways to move towards “both” instead of “either/or”

4. Do steps 1-3 so much that it becomes second nature

I’ve come up with a “Radical Middle” spending plan after identifying my spending triggers and what extremes I can hold the tension between (Chinese, I bid thee farewell…until next Tuesday).

Send us an email back detailing your version of the Radical Middle!

All the best,
Kim

⭐️⭐️ P.S. Want to share all this goodness with your friends AND earn cool Frugal Friends merch?

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