Money and Happiness

Hello Friends!

Season 1 Episode 5

Grab your coffee and let’s chat. If you don’t have your coffee or tea, pause this episode and make your cup of goodness then come back and sit down for a while.

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I’ve been thinking alot about Happiness. I’ve also been thinking about money. Today I want to talk to you about both. Let’s tackle money first. Then let’s finish up with some happiness ok? 

Talking about money may be personal to many of you, it is a personal subject for many people including me, but we’re friends and we are here to make each other better. To make each other grow. I’ve been thinking about money, especially with what is going on right now in our world. I married young. I was 23 when I married my high school sweetheart. We are still married. We met on the school bus. I was in the 10th grade. We had a great conversation on the way to school. The whole bus got quiet because I was a quiet girl  and a boy was talking to me lol! We married young and we thought we knew it all. Turns out we had a lot of things to  learn but we learned together. One of those things that we really didn’t have enough knowledge about is money. I think in the past, I would have been ashamed to tell you that we didn’t really know enough about money. But, you don’t know what you don’t know and when you know better, you do better. Growing up, I wasn’t taught a lot about money and schools do not teach us about money.

As I got older, I discovered Dave Ramsy. I worked close to home at one time and I would either go home to grab some lunch or eat lunch in my car and listen to Dave Ramsy’s radio show. I learned so much during that time. . It got to the point that I would ask myself “ What would Dave do”? If I found myself needing to make a decision. As I got older, I would read books or listen to Suze Orman on tv. Then eventually I found some good Podcasts about money and budgeting. A few money podcasts that I would recommend are Journey to Launch, The His and Her Money Show, Couple Money Podcast, ChoseFI  and The Clever Girls Know Podcast. Those are just a few. I have also found that there are many millenials that really have their stuff together and can teach older people a thing or two. I think that’s wonderful. The world is changing and people are defining work in different ways.They are making new money goals and thinking outside the box. I love it! I really do! I listen to podcasts as I drive to and from work. So if you  have a commute, or need to get some housework done, that’s a great time to listen to podcasts. Sometimes I put my earphone in and clip my phone to my waist and listen while I get things done around the house. 

I wanted to talk about money because now is a time when many of us are out of work. Many of you are fortunate enough to work from home and that’s great. But I feel we all need to be thinking about money. I don’t mean worry. I don’t want you to worry but I want you to be aware and be prepared. I think if there is one money lesson that should be learned from this COVID Pandemic, it’s the fact that we should all have money saved. Who knew that something would happen where people would be forced to stay home from work, work from home or close their business? Incomes have decreased and unemployment is at an all time high. Now that we have dealt with something like this, we need to make sure we have extra money put aside. Work to eliminate debt and build that emergency fund. Some of us may have had an emergency fund that we have had to tap into and our emergency fund has decreased. If you already have an emergency fund, make it even bigger. My car was paid off in February and I was so happy! When all of this happened with COVID-19 and our office had to close. I was even happier that my car was paid off. I plan to drive that car for a long time. If you don’t have a budget, it may be a good idea to start. Just to make sure money isn’t being wasted. A budget will make you aware of what you’re spending and make you think before spending money. It’s always a good idea to save as much money as you can. Now is also a good time to cut unnecessary expenses like subscriptions you are not using or no longer need. 

I’m no money expert. I’m still learning and I know that money is a touchy subject but I want us to be able to talk about anything. I know there are some of you listening that can teach me some things. Each one teach one. It’s a good thing. When I grew up, my parents didn’t talk about money. As I grew up, I realized that there was so much that I didn’t know, I realized that we need to make it ok to talk about money. There is so much to learn.  We can all be better with money. Now is the time. I’ll stop right here because I don’t want to talk you ear off. I could go on but we’ll talk more another day. 

Interlude

Happiness, let’s chat about it. We all know that happiness is important. But not all of us are happy. Not completely happy. So what’s holding you back from being happy? And how can you make changes so that you can be happy? What obstacles do you need to move out of your way in order to experience the full joy that life has to offer? We only have one life. We only have one life and this is not a practice run. There used to be a time when I wasn’t happy, I would think that I would be happy when I got more money or I would be happy when I found a better job or when I could decorate the house the way I wanted to or when I could lose weight…… My kids were young and I was a working mom and there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. There was always something to do and I felt something was missing. Do you find yourself thinking or saying : I’ll be happy when? If you do stop. I’m going to say something that maybe you have heard before but I really want to say it and I really want you to listen and just let it sink in. Be Happy Now. Those three words have so much power. Tomorrow is not promised and we have to be happy now. Not when bills are paid off, not when we are debt free and can do the debt free scream lol, not when our kids get older or when we are able to get a new job or move or lose those 20 lbs. You get the point. Happiness starts with you. We have to make the choice to be happy now. Live life to the fullest and enjoy every single moment. Work on the things that you want and need to work on but continue to be happy while working on those things. 

Find joy in the journey. Find peace in where you are today. If you are not satisfied with where you are today, know that tomorrow can be better because you can make a plan to get where you want to be and work on it everyday. Sometimes working on a plan can make you feel happy because you know that you are doing something to change your situation to make things better. I talk about getting lost in day to day life and the stress of life; we have to find ways to work through that. Life will always be busy and stressful to a certain extent. Make time to work on things so that you can have a better tomorrow. I’m working right alongside you. I really am trying to be better everyday. I am like a piece of clay and my shape is becoming more and more apparent everyday. It’s looking better everyday. I’m growing everyday. You are too. Even if you don’t realize it. You just need to be more aware. 

Sometimes when I sit down to think about what I want to talk about, I feel like someone needs to hear what I have to say. Today I felt like someone needed to hear this message. We all need encouragement and I know that some of you have heard it all before but this is the message that I felt led to give today. This is our girl talk for today. Make that list, write that message on your mirror with lipstick…. Be Happy Now. Work on your goals and don’t give up. 

 I see that more people are listening and I’m so thrilled! I hope I’ve helped someone today. I’m very happy because starting a Podcast was the right thing to do. I love talking to you all. I really do. I was right, I love talking much more than I like blogging. I really feel like we are all sitting down with our coffee or tea and when our talk is over, we feel better than we did when we began. I hope you feel the same way. 

 I really enjoy talking to you on Saturdays so I will keep that going. The only change I will make is that  I plan to release the episodes earlier in the day. I hope you all have a great day and weekend!! I love you all. Be safe and be happy. I can’t wait to talk to you all next week! Bye for now!