Values Based Spending Within Community

Happiest of Fridays, Friends!

I (Misti) want to spend a little more time reflecting on relationships today.

As I wrap up my 6.5 week “friendship tour,” I’m finally checking in on my finances…

And man, I went WAY over budget AGAIN.

But this time, I’m not beating myself up too much about it. Why? 

In the past, I often overspent just trying to keep up with a lifestyle I didn’t even really align with (too much partying, trying to dress the part, and so on).

But now, I’m noticing my spending is much more aligned with one of my core values… I was spending on experiences with my friends. 

Obviously I’m still missing some key pieces if I’m spending over budget, so I want to take what we’ve learned the last couple weeks about relationships and social capital and really dig into how to center our guiding principle of values-based spending within our communities.

🤗 Values Based Spending Within Community 🤗

When thinking about the type of community we want to cultivate and be a part of—the kind that will support us and positively impact our spending behaviors—there are 3 foundational concepts we need to be implementing:

1. Understanding ourselves and our values. 🫂

This is the critical first step. When we have a good grasp on who we are, what’s important to us, and the goals we want to achieve, we are less likely to be blindly influenced into spending decisions or lifestyle shifts that aren’t for us. 

I think it’s helpful to spend a little more time thinking through how each of our values fit together here. Some of our values might conflict as we honor our current season, so it’s important to also consider how to prioritize each value.

2. Establishing boundaries and speaking your needs. 🗣

We’re social creatures. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the flow and not speak up if we’re spending outside our needs. Like we talked about with honoring our season, when given reasonable constraints we actually operate better than if everything was a limitless free-for-all.

Within our community, we need to define these constraints, and more importantly, communicate them. It is from this place of definition and clarity that we will be free to create, play, spend, save, and LIVE out of the parameters WE have set.

3. Holding relationships with an open hand. 🤝

We can care for ourselves relationally and experience quality community when we allow this very living organism to grow, morph, and shift. It involves tending to our network regularly, but giving space for things to change, people to transition, and our own needs to evolve.

It’s okay to go through seasons where your spending looks different than friends may be used to!

As we weave our own money management into our relational selves, we can take with us these concepts of self-understanding, boundaries, and open-handedness. We can show up emotionally and financially healthy in our relationships and implement our aim at intentional spending.

👉 I’d love to hear from you– have you successfully implemented one of these concepts in your community recently? Email to share your story!

All the best,
Misti

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

**Means this is a sponsored or affiliate section. We may earn a small fee or commission when you choose to try one of our sponsor or affiliate partners. But opinions are still 1000% our own.