15 Money Resolutions
This week we’ve been using the fresh Imbolc (the Celtic festival celebrating the return of light and the first stirrings of spring) energy to create empowering resolutions that will actually stick (or they won’t and we’ll have learned something).
I offered these 15 resolutions ready for you to pick up and play for your ease - I aimed to represent some quick and easy, some more involved and dynamic and also some wider-ranging ones. To recap:
I-Can-Do-This-In-An-Evening Resolutions:
Open a high-interest savings account.
Check your subscriptions.
Increase your pension contribution by 1%.
Have a money conversation you’ve been avoiding.
Switch one thing to save money.
Longer-Term Resolutions
Plan to max out your ISA this coming year.
Track your spending for a month.
Commit to reading a finance book.
Get an accountability buddy.
Organise your financial documents.
Lifestyle and Mindset Resolutions
Forgive yourself.
Set up regular charitable giving.
Help somebody else with their money.
Support businesses that align with your values.
Find ways to enjoy your body.
Your Very Own Financial Goals
In this post I want to talk a little about setting your own goals and resolutions - a topic very close to my heart. I really believe that self-development saved my life. It certainly made it a lot more enjoyable. Learning how to do it in a way which serves me, and not some arbitrary date in the calendar, has certainly been a part of that.
Self-development isn't necessarily about productivity, although productivity definitely scratches an itch in my brain for sure. What I’m really getting at is working out what is right-for-you and then working towards it. What lights you up, what is your path and purpose, what inspires you, what moves the needle for you.
It requires quite some insight, and frankly some willpower, in this day and age. It also requires a softness that I struggled to offer myself for a long time.
Your Underlying Goal
So the goal is set based on something deeper than most New Year's Resolutions. Then the resolutions, intentions and habits are aimed towards that higher goal.
In that way, you actually can’t fail because if a habit doesn’t stick, you simply adjust - the habit itself was never the aim of the game. The aim is still out there to be worked towards - you just need to find the thing that works for you to get there.
If my goal is to enjoy my weekends. Then I could:
Actually make plans for the weekends
Tidy for 15 minutes a day in the week instead of a whole Saturday morning
Think about changing my career to avoid the Sunday scaries
Set up a sinking fund so that I can say yes when my friends ask me out
Try new hobbies
Join a gym so I’m fit enough to go on hikes
Some of these, like the Imbolc resolutions I’ve offered to you, are quick-do-it-in-an-evening jobs, and some are much longer, multi-step processes which might take several years (if I aim to study for a Masters to change career for example). But each of them are aimed specifically towards something which makes sense for the higher goal and they’re achievable.
So Before Your Choose Which Of My 15 Resolutions To Try…
…ask yourself: what's the actual goal? What do you want your financial life to feel like? Peaceful? Abundant? Aligned with your values? Fun? Once you know that, the right resolutions will become obvious.
The way to adjust them for yourself will also become more obvious. Maybe 'forgive yourself' becomes 'go to therapy about money shame.' Maybe 'read a finance book' becomes 'listen to a finance podcast.' The specifics matter less than the direction.
This week’s newsletter offers practical actions you can take to forgive yourself. It’s a wonderful blend of woowoo and get-shit-done. I think you’ll like it.
With that in mind - what are plans are you putting into place this weekend?
Love Eleanor xxx.
