Last week I talked about your money story - where our thoughts and feelings about money originated. This week we’re moving into the present and asking, “What is actually happening with my money right now?” Not what you think or hope is happening. What is actually, honestly happening. 🟢 Why awareness is the foundation of everything Most of us operate on financial autopilot. Money comes in, money goes out, and we hope things are basically working out. We have a general sense of our spending but don’t look too closely because we’re busy/it’s uncomfortable/we don’t really want to know…you choose the reason that applies to you. Awareness might seem scary at first, but once you have a clear picture of where you are, you can begin making intentional choices. You need to know what’s happening now, so you can decide which improvements and changes you want to make. The good news is awareness itself creates change. Simply noticing where your money goes can create a natural shift in how you spend. It puts you back in the driver’s seat instead of feeling like money is just something that happens to you. 🟢 What awareness actually looks like Financial awareness doesn’t have to be complicated. It means checking your account regularly, noticing your spending habits, and paying attention to where your money goes. It also means noticing your money feelings. Do you shop when you’re stressed? Spend when you’re sad/bored/lonely? How are your emotions tied to your finances? 🟢 This week’s action step For the next seven days, I want you to try checking your accounts every day. Quickly glance at checking and savings balances, note your credit card balance, and just pay attention to what’s happening with your money. Notice what’s there, how it makes you feel, and any patterns that start to emerge over the week. At the end of the week, set aside some time to think about what you learned. Awareness can have a huge impact on the way you manage your money day-to-day, so establishing this habit can naturally lead to positive changes.

There’s a good chance some of the beliefs you carry about money were learned through the way your family talked about money, the things you heard growing up, and the way they managed the finances. I know I learned some things this way, and it certainly impacted how I managed my money when I was first getting started. That’s where this series begins. Not with a budget or a spreadsheet, but with a couple of questions. Where did your money story come from? Is it still the story you want to be living? ➡️ What is a money story? Your money story is the collection of beliefs, feelings, and patterns you’ve developed around money over your lifetime. It’s the voice that tells you money is stressful, or that you’re not good with numbers, or that people like you don’t get to have financial freedom. It’s also the habits you default to without thinking…the way you spend when you’re stressed, the way you avoid checking your account when things feel tight. ➡️ Most of these beliefs formed long before you were old enough to question them. A parent who worried constantly about bills. A household where money was never discussed. A message that wanting more was somehow greedy or unrealistic. You didn’t have any influence over the story you were taught, but deciding what to carry forward is worth paying attention to. ➡️ Why this matters for your debt payoff If you’ve been working through your debt payoff plan, this is the piece that runs underneath all of it. The practical steps matter so much…knowing your numbers, building your snowball, keeping money flowing in the right direction. But the beliefs you hold about money are what will determine how you continue moving forward. Understanding your money story doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it. It means you get to thoughtfully shape the next chapters. ➡️ This week’s action step I want you to write down three beliefs about money that you grew up with. They might sound like “there’s never enough,” or “talking about money is rude,” or “rich people are greedy.” Write them down without filtering or editing.

Over the last few weeks, a lot of you have done something many never do…you sat down, looked honestly at your debt, and built an actual plan to pay it off. That’s something to be proud of! If you’ve been part of Debt Payoff Made Simple, you’ve gathered your numbers, worked through the debt snowball (or whichever plan works best for you), made decisions about where your money needs to go, and thought through how to stay motivated when it gets hard. You built your own custom roadmap. So here’s my message for today: a plan only creates change when it actually gets used. If you’ve built your plan ➡️ This is your time to finalize it. Look back through everything you put together and make sure it’s ready to go. Not perfect, just ready. There’s a difference, and waiting for perfect is one of the easiest ways to lose momentum before you’ve even started. July 1st is our kickoff. That’s the day your plan moves from paper to practice. Between now and then, your only job is to make sure it’s ready to go and somewhere you’ll be able to access it easily. If you haven’t started yet ➡️ Maybe debt payoff has been on your mind, but the timing hasn’t been right or it just felt like too much to take on. If this sounds familiar, it isn’t too late to join! Every session, worksheet, and resource from Debt Payoff Made Simple is sitting inside our community right now, ready for you. You can work through it at your own pace and be ready to kick off your plan on August 1st. You don’t need to catch up overnight. You just need to get started. Here’s what I want you to do ➡️ If your plan is built, take fifteen minutes over the next two days to review it and make sure it’s ready for July 1st. If you haven’t started, head into the Classroom, find the Debt Payoff Made Simple materials, and take the first step. August 1st will be here before you know it, and there’s no reason you can’t be ready too. You’ve got this! I’m cheering you on every step of the way. 💚

☀️ Summer Is Here. Let’s Talk About How We Spend It. We have a way of starting summer with the best intentions and leaving with a bigger credit card bill than we planned for. The barbecues, the day trips, the kids home from school, the impromptu plans…it all adds up faster than we expect, and before we know it September arrives with a financial hangover we weren’t prepared for. ☀️ It doesn’t have to be that way. In our house, summer spending is something we think about intentionally. We usually have a trip planned that we’ve saved for throughout the year, and outside of that, we try to be thoughtful about how we spend. We look for free and low-cost ways to enjoy the season because honestly, some of the best summer memories don’t cost much at all. ☀️ The real cost of summer The reason summer tends to derail our finances is that we don’t plan for it. We have a general budget, but summer comes with its own category of expenses that don’t show up the rest of the year. Admission fees, vacations, activities, hosting, back-to-school, summer clothes…the list goes on!. When those expenses aren’t planned for, they become surprises. Taking even ten minutes before summer gets into full swing to think about what the season will cost is an underrated financial move. Prioritize the things you really want to do or experience this summer and decide how much you’re comfortable spending. Then look at what’s left and decide intentionally rather than just spending as things come up. ☀️ Enjoying summer without the guilt Here’s what I want you to take away from this. Enjoying summer is not the enemy of your financial goals. Unplanned, unintentional spending can be. There’s a big difference between choosing to spend on something that matters to you and overspending because you didn’t have a plan. When you decide in advance what summer looks like for you — the one trip, the weekly farmers market, the occasional dinner out — you can enjoy every bit of it without the money stress. The things you didn’t plan for are easier to say no to when you’re clear on what you want to say yes to.

I know that might sound like a bold statement, but hear me out. Every month you carry debt without a plan, interest quietly adds to your balance, minimum payments eat into your income, and the mental weight of it follows you around in the background. None of this requires urgent response, but there is a quiet, compounding cost of waiting. The longer we wait, the larger the gap between where we are and where we ultimately want to be. I spent years in that gap. Making payments, feeling stuck, never getting ahead. What changed everything wasn’t my income or some perfect financial moment. It was finally having a clear plan that was built around my actual life. A clear debt payoff plan doesn’t just help you pay off debt faster… - It stops interest from working against you every single month. - It frees up cash flow that you can redirect toward the things that actually matter to you. - It replaces the background anxiety with something that feels a lot more like confidence. You are a clear plan (and a commitment to yourself) away from a completely different relationship with your money. You just need a starting point and a strategy you can stick to. This is your invitation. Debt Payoff Made Simple starts May 25th, and I would love for you to be there. Over five sessions, I’m going to talk you through the tools needed to build your personalized roadmap to debt freedom. Plus a bonus Q&A session at the end to make sure every question gets answered before you head off on your own. The best time to deal with your debt is right now. Don’t wait. Make the commitment to yourself and jump in today!