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Being prepared in our finances can empower us because it impacts all of the areas of our life. Knowing this simple fact led me to put together a five phase journey based on my own experience with finances and the experiences of those I’ve helped along the way. My hope is that this framework will show you the path to financial freedom.
Knowing where you are at and which direction you’re heading in is vital to moving towards where you ultimately want your end destination to be. These are the five phases we went through. If you can identify which of the behavioral phases you are in, you’ll also be able to identify the steps you need to take to move forward on your journey.
Wondering which phase you are in? Check out my 5 behavioral phases of the finance journey!
Phase 1 – Denial
This is where most people begin their financial journey. When my husband and I were first married, we were definitely in denial about our finances. We thought we had all of the money in the world and we were spending on credit like there was no tomorrow. We racked up debt on over 11 credit cards. Since we could afford the minimum payments on them, we thought we were fine. You know the motto, “Buy now, pay later”? That was us. Trust me, we sure did pay later!
We were in denial that we couldn’t really afford these things. We were in denial that we had a spending problem.
Phase 2 – Avoidance
In this phase, you start to recognize that you have a spending problem, but you’re doing things to avoid the issue because you don’t want to deal with it. But, at the end of every month, you need to come up with money to pay the bills and you’re noticing that your credit cards are maxed out.
For us, we had our 11 credit cards, and we found ourselves signing up for new credit cards each month with 0% interest rates. Then, we would transfer our balance from one credit card with a high interest rate to this new low interest card. Essentially, we were just moving our problems around – not solving them.
This process took care of some of the fees, but it didn’t solve the actual problem – which was our spending. We knew there was a problem, but we were avoiding it. We didn’t want to address it.
Phase 3 – Frustration
Eventually, if you are stuck in the denial or avoidance phases for long enough, you will start to get frustrated with your lifestyle. Living paycheck-to-paycheck, being tired every month of not knowing where all of your money is going, and having those arguments every month with your spouse or partner about money are just so frustrating.
That level of frustration at not knowing where your money is going, being disorganized with your finances, and over spending will start to build up and catch up to you. For myself and my husband we were in the avoidance and frustration phases for a long time. We finally decided enough was enough and we didn’t want to be stressed out and frustrated anymore. This led us into the next phase.
Phase 4 – Exploring
Once you’ve decided that you’ve had enough of the stress and frustration, you’ll begin to explore your options. We knew we needed to do something so we started to look at our situation and considered getting outside help. We took a good hard look at our lives and began to think about what it is that we wanted for our future.
Whether or not you do this yourself with all of the resources out there, you ask family and friends for tips and suggestions, or you get professional help, it’s important to find a solution to the problem you are having and begin to work on the issues. And this slowly moves you towards the final phase – the place where we all want to be!
Phase 5 – Control
The final stage brings us confidence and control. This is where we all hope to end up with peace of mind and stress free living. This is what we all want for our lives and our families.
Ask yourself – which phase are you in now? This might sound crazy, but if you are in the frustration phase, this is a great place to be! Here’s why: If you are frustrated, you’re likely ready to take action and make a change.
Now that you’ve identified which of the behavioral phases you’re at, it’s time to make a plan to move you along on your journey. Lucky for you, I can help with that! Let’s set a time for us to chat about how we can get you in control of your finances!
Part of being a good parent is teaching your kids to be self-sufficient and responsible. And part of that means doing your own laundry. Getting my kids to do their own laundry has been a huge time saver for us! The earlier you can get this routine implemented with your own kids, the easier it will be for you and your family.
Don’t Push Your Kids – But Don’t Wait Too Long Either!
Please remember, every child is different and develops at a different pace. But that being said, overall, kids are more capable of doing things on their own than we give them credit for. (Let’s face it—if they can operate a smart phone or video game system, they can do their own laundry!)
The problem is that we either subconsciously don’t want them to be independent or we think that it will just be quicker and easier if we do it ourselves instead of taking the time to teach them how to do it.
The Best Way to Teach Laundry Responsibility To Your Kids
The best way to do all of this is to introduce laundry to them in phases. When they’re younger, get them involved in the laundry process with you. Let them see you sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting the clothes away. Be sure to explain what you’re doing as you go so they can understand it.
Teach Kids in Phases All the Parts of Laundering
As your kids get older, you can let them join you in doing different parts of the laundry. This can include simple tasks like sorting their own clothes out into a pile to fold or have them fold something simple with you like shorts or small towels.
The idea is that eventually, over time, they will become used to all the different processes and (with a little supervision in the beginning) you can let them do each part of the laundry process on their own.
The phases my kids went through when they were learning to do laundry:
Phase 1 — Put their folded clothes away
Phase 2 — Fold their own clothes + Phase 1
Phase 3 — Take their clothes out of the dryer + Phase 2 + Phase 1
Phase 4 — Take their clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer + Phase 3 + Phase 2 + Phase 1
Phase 5 — Put their dirty clothes into the washer + Phased 4 + Phase 3 + Phase 2 + Phase 1
Phase 6 — Put detergent and fabric softener in and start the washing machine + Phase 5 + Phase 4 + Phase 3 + Phase 2 + Phase 1
A Little Investment of Time, Pays Off Eventually
I think I started my kids on this process when they were 5 and 7, although I definitely could have involved them in it a lot earlier. Now they are 8 and 10 and they’re doing their entire laundry on their own. (Up until last week, my oldest was taking care of measuring out the detergent. But now, the 8-year-old wants to learn how to pour out the detergent, so he’s getting there!)
It is SOOOOO worth it to take that extra time and effort to train the kids on these processes. I know sometimes it’s much quicker to just do it yourself. But in the long run, your kids will learn how to be more self-sufficient and you won’t regret the decision to teach them when they are young.
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Struggle with staying on top of your bills and budgeting?
Do you stress out and dread when the 1st of the month rolls around?
Tired of living paycheck to paycheck?
Have constant arguments with your spouse around the family finances?
Have no clue on how to even get in control of your financial life?
Download this FREE Monthly Budgeting Action Plan, which includes Worksheets with step by step instructions on guiding you exactly on what you need to do to set up your own family budgeting plan that works for you and your family.
Struggle with staying on top of your bills and budgeting?
Do you stress out and dread when the 1st of the month rolls around?
Tired of living paycheck to paycheck?
Have constant arguments with your spouse around the family finances?
Have no clue on how to even get in control of your financial life?
Download this FREE Monthly Budgeting Action Plan, which includes Worksheets with step by step instructions on guiding you exactly on what you need to do to set up your own family budgeting plan that works for you and your family.
Do you struggle with getting your kids to clean up their room?
Are you ready for your kids to be more responsible?
Would you like your kids to be able to manage their time better?
Ready for a simple way to teach your kids good money management habits?
Download this FREE Family Chore and Money System Action Guide. It includes worksheets with step by step instructions on guiding you exactly what you need to do to set up your own chore, schedule and money management plans.
Being prepared in our finances can empower us because it impacts all of the areas of our life. Knowing this simple fact led me to put together a five phase journey based on my own experience with finances and the experiences of those I’ve helped along the way. My hope is that this framework will show you the path to financial freedom.
