How to cope when you can't have it all!

Goooood morning! 

How are you doing as we round out 2024? This time of year can be both exciting/hopeful AND overwhelming/deflating.

We’re hearing about other people’s achievements and successes, while also being bombarded with messages that make us believe we can (and should WANT) to have it all—a beautifully aesthetic house, a nice car, all the newest tech and games under the tree.

And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want it all? 

But here’s the hard truth: You can want anything, but you can’t want everything.

It’s not about wanting less, but wanting different. And knowing what’s true priority for you in this season is key to moving through the noise and feeling good about your own money decisions.

As we look into the new year, here’s a few steps to take to help cope as we prioritize what is right for us and our money through every season of life. 

🍃 5 Steps to Cope When You Can’t Have It All

1. Take inventory of your season. 📋 Acknowledging the context we’re in helps us set priorities and plan for financial demands, whether you’re a home-owner, caretaker, experiencing high stress, or paying off debt. 

2. Consider your short-term and long-term money goals. 🎯 It’s easy to get caught up in the right now, but the key to long-term financial wellbeing is holding the tension between short- and long-term money goals. You can break this down further to include both short- and long-term savings goals AND short- and long-term spending goals.

3. Prioritize your money goals. ✅ You can’t do it all at once, so deciding what needs your attention first will help you focus on what truly matters. Hint: safety and security needs should come before ‘nice to haves’.

4. Review the math.🔎 We recommend doing a 90-day inventory: review all your incoming pay and outgoing expenses. A 90-day inventory helps us be honest about the reality of our situation, not the fantasy. 

5. Bring it ALL into alignment. ⚖️ Take all the insights you’ve gathered from your goals, your budget, and your priorities, and create a plan that is individualized to your season. Conversations with your loved ones, financial planner, and maybe even your mental health provider could be critical at this stage.

Some examples of things that might happen when you align your money with your season include: 

• Identifying areas to reasonably increase or decrease spending. 

• Eliminating OR adding money goals to the list.

• Extending or shortening the length of time we anticipate it will take to reach out goals.

Kindly, 
Misti

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

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