“It's not a virtue to take more time than necessary on a decision just because it makes you look slower, more considered or more grown up.”

"Saving money on food isn't about spending as little as possible. It's about being intentional, wasting less, and treating yourself preciously."

"Stability and comfort is your birthright."

"It's fine to have extra wealth stashed away in a bank account. But apparently unacceptable to have extra calories stashed away in your thighs."

"I wouldn't enjoy having it, and I would feel awful that my colleague didn't get her little spot of recognition that she earned."

"Fabric is more precious than we realise and should have at least a few runs at being useful."

"If the amount of money predicted the feeling, that wouldn't make sense. But it's not supposed to make sense - because the feeling was never really about the amount." 

“My flabbers were ghasted.”

“I'm not 'good at maths', whatever that actually means. But I am interested in this and it means something to me - so I'm going to find a way of working it out."

Social wealth doesn't appear on your net worth spreadsheet - but it is absolutely real.

Managing money when you are depressed is genuinely harder. It's not a moral failing.

Financial stability isn't all about retirement or nice houses. It's about giving ourselves the breathing space that, as humans, we might need.

Clients come to me not because they're ready, but because something shifted just enough to make reaching out feel possible. That's enough - that's actually plenty.

Shame is a self-fulfilling prophecy - you'll find evidence for it in everything that happens.

It's connection, rather than willpower, which will break this down

The future is not something I always thought I would have. I'm on the other side of it now - and that means it's possible.

Creating a garden is an act of hope for the future. And investing works the same way - you plant something today, you don't dig it up tomorrow to check, and over time, quietly, it grows.

Taking a step with your financial life is taking a step with your mental health. If the only reason you're doing it is because you're treating yourself like a pet - do that. You are worth it.

Money issues are rarely just money issues.

I felt disheartened, I knew that in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a lot of money, but I also knew how hard I'd worked and what it represented.

It's my favourite kind of financial step forward - the kind of thing you set up when you're feeling motivated, and then it's simply in place when you lose that oomph.

The cognitive shift it takes to decide to pay yourself first is absolutely key. It might feel silly at first, it might feel too little, or too selfish, or too serious - but it is none of those things. You take care of the things that you love.

Once you are happening to money, instead of it happening to you, your options open up. It allows you to poke around a bit, make some decisions, begin to use money as a tool for the life you want - instead of simply limiting the life you're in now.

That forward motion leads me to do the dishes whilst I'm waiting for my kettle to boil and maybe take out the recycling so the kitchen is clear. Then I've got a spot to sit down and think about what I need to work on this week - and it reminds me that I wanted to repot my money plants. I feel brighter and I've got some momentum.

Moving house, downsizing, in the snow and with no help has been a lot. But there have been little sparks of joy - like finding this perfect, if a little battered, piece of furniture at just the right minute to sort out a problem.