Welcome to reThinkable – my weekly newsletter where I share actionable tips, strategies, and resources to build a wealthy, healthy life.

🔎 My recent discovery

💸 What is it?

🤗 A 6-Step Framework

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 48 seconds

💸 What is it?

The reality is, we live in a world where money matters. 

You need money to take care of all the basic needs that allow you to be happy and fulfilled in life.

And with everything getting more expensive and people losing their jobs, financial self-care is more important than ever.

Basically, financial self-care is about mindfully managing your finances and your relationship with money as it relates to your overall happiness. 

It’s NOT just about making “responsible financial choices.” It’s about making “intentional financial choices.”

For example, when it comes to making a budget:

1. The responsible financial choice: You create a budget to track and control your spending so your expenses aren’t more your income

2. The intentional financial choice: You create a budget that not only controls your spending but also aligns with your personal values and priorities so you make sure your money is spent on things that genuinely bring you joy

The difference is nuanced, but financial self-care is a much more powerful long-term way to look at money that results in more upside. 

In fact, a 2023 study found that having an intentional healthy long-term relationship with money can increase the future health and wealth of you and your family. 

With that said, financial self-care is just as important as regular self-care.

🤗 A 6-Step Framework

Thankfully, it’s easy to start practicing financial self-care, regardless of your financial circumstances and goals. Here’s what I do:

I have monthly “Money Hangouts” with myself. 

These Money Hangouts keep me financially on-track so I can pursue what I want.

Basically, every month, I block off 30-45 minutes to sit down and go over all my bank accounts, credit cards, investments, and tie up any loose financial ends like refunds or canceling unused subscriptions. You know… the fun adult stuff.

And then, I wrap up by checking in on my financial goals to see the progress I’m making towards the life that I want.

It’s my financial self-care routine because it makes me feel great knowing I’m taking care of my future-self.  

Here’s how you can start your Money Hangouts:

1. Block off 30-45 minutes every month on your calendar for your Money Hangouts. I prefer Sundays to “prep” for the new week. Commit to doing it at the same time every month to form a habit.

2. An important strategy to help you stay committed is to make your Money Hangouts fun. Take this time to indulge in your guilty pleasures like snacking on Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie. That way, you’ll start to look forward to doing them.

Once you’re settled in, here’s the 6 Step Framework for a successful Money Hangout:

1. Check Your Monthly Spend: Look at your bank accounts and credit cards to review what you purchased the past month. Is there anything that makes you think “this wasn’t worth it” or “why did I do that?” This is all helpful to know for next month. I’m not telling you to not spend your money but rather only spend your hard-earned money on things that bring you joy.

2. Look For Anything Extra: Did you come into any extra cash or savings you’re just idly sitting on? Beyond your emergency fund savings, is there anything you can invest with? Is there anything you need to transfer, brush up on, or optimize?

3. Pick The Low Hanging Fruits: If you have any financial housekeeping tasks left that you’ve been procrastinating on, now is the time to do them. Do you need to pay some bills? Check if the refund came through? File your taxes? 

4. Look At The Bigger Picture: Review your financial goals and see if you got any closer or farther away from them. If you want to be debt-free, how much more do you owe? If you want to build a new income stream, how close are you to making your first $1,000? Take this time to escape the day-to-day activities of just surviving to look at the bigger picture.

5. Celebrate the Small Victories: If you got even a little closer to your goal, celebrate. Celebrating wins (no matter how small) is a great way to keep your motivation up. Remember, small wins add up to big results.

6. Set a Challenge for Next Month: Pick a small, achievable financial challenge for the coming month. Maybe you want to save an extra $100 next month, or maybe instead of an iced coffee, you want to get a matcha latte because you realized that matcha makes you happier. Doing small challenges like these makes it fun and holds you to making intentional financial choices