There’s a connection between stale cheese crackers and your financial management. Hear me out.
We took all four kids to swim in a river on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great time. I packed a cooler with watermelon, water, and an assortment of leftover snacks in the pantry. One of them was a slightly stale half-eaten box of cheese crackers. On the evening drive home, the five-year-old munched on them. We got the van mostly unloaded and cleared out that evening.
The next Monday morning, I took two of the other kids to the pediatrician. As she climbed I to the back, the seven-year-old wrinkled her nose. “Mommy, you need to spray back here. Something smells,” she announced.
Looking up from buckling in her younger sister, I spotted the box of leftover cheese crackers. “What do you think is causing the smell?” I inquired. “I don’t know,” she moaned, “but it smells bad!”
“Did you notice the box of crackers back there next to you?” I said pointing them out. “If that’s the cause of the smell, spraying air freshener isn’t going to get rid of the problem. I’ll open the windows, and when we get to the doctor’s, you’ll need to throw them out.”
After the appointments, as we all got back into the car, I noticed the offending box of crackers still perched in the middle of the back seat. “Honey, I thought you hated the smell, and you were going to throw those out?” I said, a bit surprised.”Oh, I guess I forgot,” came the reply.
Chances are, if you’ve worked hard and are smart, you have some money on hand. You probably have taken some good steps to pay off debt, save for retirement, get health insurance, and have some money saved toward an upcoming purchase. You’re not perfect, but you’re doing pretty good.
So what’s holding you back? Do you still feel guilty around your actions? Maybe it’s hard to decide between purchases that are reasonable, but you’re not sure they’re the best option, and you find yourself struggling to make decisions. Do you buy something, and then get bored pretty quickly? Or maybe you’re doing it all “right”… But you’re not confident with your money.
You’ve got something that needs to be cleaned out of the back of the van.
The problem is most of the time – you’re not dealing with the deeper underlying problem. You’re dealing with the smell.
In the financial management world, we spend a lot of time dealing with our day-to-day behaviors, and not a lot of time dealing with our underlying values. Our lack of confidence with our finances is often directly related to our lack of connection to what matters to us. When we talk about aligning our daily behaviors with our values, we’re dealing with the deeper issues that drive our behavior. Identifying your values starts with asking a few questions:
- What matters to me? (Relationships, connection, independence, security, family, prestige, etc.)
- How do I see these in my life today? (Family – I eat dinner with my family, Independence – I do my own financial planning, etc.)
- How do I want these to show up in my life today?
- Am I living according to my values in a way that makes sense?
Being honest with these questions is vital to financial success. If you invest your money, over time you reap the rewards. If you want to feel great today about your money, you need to start investing your daily behaviors in the life that matters to you – and align your spending and saving accordingly.
I started the Value and Invest Academy to support women in feeling completely confidence in their finances by aligning their values and their daily behaviors. You can look into my courses and coaching at Value and Invest Academy.