It's hard work being a grown-up Menopause and Money ~ Menomoney

Anxious, furious, sweaty, frustrated, irritable, achy elbowed insomniac - Hi, I'm Lucy nice to meet you!

My colleague & friend Tracey is a Meno Money Coach which as you might imagine, combines the challenging combination of navigating the menopausal season of life with navigating financial goals.

We collaborated live on Instagram which is a grab-a-cuppa-stick-it-on-your-iPad-whilst-you're-cooking-dinner kind of listen.

What did we talk about? For those of you, like me who just need to get to the information without reading a long-winded intro...

• What tips have we got to help an overwhelmed, overworked woman get a grip on her & her household money?

• Why do so many people find it hard to create and use a personal budget, particularly menopausal women? Is it because we don't have any goals or even think about what we want to do in retirement or are we just so knackered we don't put ourselves even 3rd never mind 1st?

• What's ONE simple way that you can create a budget so that it's really flexible and how do you know if it's working?

Ok, so you can scroll down to the insta live link which is a really nice listen even if I do say so myself OR you can read on before you do - please give a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review at the bottom & share it so others can come into our community.

My short answers for menopause & money

• Overwhelm is one of THE biggest reasons women don't get a handle on their personal & family finances. Layer on top feelings of shame, that at your age you really should have got your shit together by now, doing an audit of where you're at gets bumped to next week on repeat. My insomnia makes me irritable. This is not helpful when I'm trying to log into my bank account, have forgotten my password, the phone rings & the cat voms on the carpet, so either the laptop gets shut for another month or there is a full on meltdown any toddler would be proud of.

Financial Decluttering Made Easy - ebook and checklists

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• When you're the central cog of your family life, putting yourself first is highly unlikely. On the rare times when you do, managing your money is not really in the top 5 of the things you want to do, is it? Budgeting can feel like a restriction especially when you have the wrong idea about it. It can be a scary concept of having to look at your spending & pick apart every £1. Shame, guilt & embarrassment cycle back around to upset & overwhelm. It's a bit like stepping on the scales, one eye squinting as you hardly dare look at your weight on the display. You also don't want to look at your bank accounts on screen do you? Not looking doesn't change the outcome, but you know that already.
  

• Goal Setting ... this terminology can either irritate or align with your style. The language you use matters. Think about healthy eating, it depends on your end goals as to how much urgency you put into making changes. Getting married in the summer has a far greater drive than a looser goal of getting healthier. Same with money. What is your driver, your sense of urgency or your longer term vision? Take this use of language as an example; "I'll never have enough money to" ~ go on holiday, retire, get back to the gym, buy only sustainable fashion or go part time" is a barrier you create. "How can I afford xyz" opens up a more creative process so that you only see what is possible. When you can see what is possible, you can do different things to bring that closer. Doing different things or doing things differently is the only way to make change happen, ONCE you've made up your mind that is. If you're still betwixt two lifestyle choices, hanging on to what you know vs letting go & moving forward, you need to do some inner work first or else the change will not be sustainable.

• Portion Control for Your Money. Divide up your household income in 3 easy portions. 🅐 priority ~ your essentials. What can't you live without? How much do these things add up to? How much of your household income is dedicated to your essentials? Now go back & reconsider your essentials... 🅑 Saving some money Emergency savings - have you got 3 months worth of the above N° in a high interest easy access savings account? Start with what you can, let it grow over time. Just start. Get back into the weeds, look through a macro lens of your outgoings. It might only be £9 for Amazon Prime BUT that and the other 5 little things are suddenly £50 a month. And there is your emergency fund sorted. Every financial advisor will ask you what your budget is - I speak to many and the vast majority of their clients of varying levels of wealth simply don't know. Sleep walking through your financial life has to draw to a natural close otherwise when you do look back & see all those missed opportunities, all that money that was frittered away you'll kick yourself. Especially when your season of life changes & you know that it will. Do you still have some debt? How long is it going to take to clear it? Do you crave that feeling of liberation when you don't owe anyone anything? It's like floating on air. 🅒 Spending some money What you have leftover is all yours to enjoy! I bet you start to examine every purchase now more carefully. Do you REALLY want the thing? Have it if you do, don't if you don't. The dopamine hit is short lived. You know this by now. Teenagers bleeding you dry? Extend your knowledge of financial wellbeing to them, it will be one of the most valuable thing you teach them. Maybe that will create it's own ripple effect.

You can see my short demonstration of red wine spiked water in the last 10 mins of the video to show you how to leverage these 3 areas.

I know, I used up actual red wine in the making of this just for you 😁

So if you want something that will help you to portion out your income EASILY, enable you to forward plan the next several months & enable you to make great use of your banking app to easily keep tabs on how it's all working out for you, download this now:

Monthly Budget Template - using the 50,30,20 budgeting principles

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Insta live link - please do connect with Tracey she has a wonderfully calming way of talking & her meno money café is a weekly community you can get involved in on her channel:

Thank you for reading, don't forget to like, share leave a comment if you found it useful.

Love from

Lucy x