15 Financial Self-Care Tips To Master Your Money

We all know how important self-care is, but have you ever thought about self-care when it comes to your money habits?

This is what we’re learning more about today – financial self-care… what it means and how we can practice self-care in a way that relieves financial anxiety and helps us become financially sound.

I talk a lot about the different types of self-care. The ones I’ve always focused on are emotional and physical health, as well as intellectual, spiritual, and social practices. 

Self-care has been a big part of my personal development. So, now I’m excited about uncovering financial self-care and sharing those details with you.   

What is Financial Self-care?

Financial self-care falls under the umbrella of ‘intellectual self-care’ – one of the different types of self-care I mentioned above.

With self-care in general we can define it as intentionally looking after your physical and mental health with a variety of practices (physical exercise, meditation, having a bubble bath, spending time in nature, learning new things, eating healthy, etc).

Financial self-care is similar – intentionally taking action with practices to look after your money. These practices will help your financial quality of life today, leading to longer-term financial stability and success.

As we know poor money management can cause a lot of problems in life and it can spiral out of control.

So, financial self-care focuses on simple habits you can adopt to make smart money choices, alleviating future worry.

How To Practice Financial Self-Care: 15 Ideas You Can Start Today!

Here are some great ways you can start focusing on your financial wellness so you can create a financial self-care routine to help you reach your important life goals.

1. It’s Okay To Treat Yourself

Even when saving or paying off debt it’s completely okay to treat yourself once in a while – as this will keep you going. Think of this as a little reward.

Treat yourself to:

• Spring flowers
• A day off to look after yourself
• Buy a latte – check out this fun article to check out: Just buy the f***ing latte
• A book that will help you practice other forms of self-care
• Whatever else that will help you stay on track with your financial goals

2. Understand Your Money Mindset

Our money mindset often stems from our childhoods. It can impact:

• Financial decisions you make
• How much you make
• How and if you save
• How you spend money
• Whether you invest, etc

For example: If you grew up in a house with parents who always had debt and were living paycheck to paycheck, you may have a money scarcity mindset.

This may make you spend money as soon as you get your hands on it – or never spend money because you’re scared you’ll lose it.

Both of these scenarios can lead to guilt and an uncomfortable feeling about money.

On the other hand, if you grew up in a household with a family that spends wisely, talks about investing, and teaches you from a young age how to manage money, you’ll have more of an abundant money mindset.

This can lead to positive money habits such as having an emergency fund, saving for retirement and making smart investments.

So, think about what your money mindset might be.

Ask yourself:

• When you make a purchase, how do you feel right after?
• When your spouse brings up the topic of money are you open to talking, or do you avoid it like the plague?
• Do you know where your money is going each month?
• Do you feel like you’ll never have enough money?

These questions will get you started so you can start thinking about how money makes you feel.

3. Know Where Your Money Is Going

One of the best ways to improve your finances and reduce financial stress is to be fully aware of where your money is going.

This includes regular monthly expenses, savings, debt repayment, and extras.

To do this, look at your checking and savings accounts. See how much is going to the following categories:

• Restaurants, take-out and delivery services
• Clothes
• Entertainment
• Home expenses (food, rent/mortgage, utilities)
• Personal (salons, gym memberships, subscriptions, etc), 
• Saving
• Investing
• Debt repayment (especially credit cards)

Once you know where your money is going you can take control of your finances… make decisions on how to improve your spending habits, your monthly savings plan, and overall money management.

4. Set Financial Goals

Having financial goals helps you focus on what’s most important when it comes to your money.

It also helps keep you motivated (as you move closer to reaching your financial goals) and gives you a sense of purpose.

When it comes to setting financial goals, think of short-term goals and long-term goals.

Short-term Financial Goals (to help your current self)

• Creating a budget
• Paying off your credit card balances
• Setting up an emergency fund account (and contributing to it)
• Saving for vacation
• Down payment for a house or car
• Home repairs

Long-term Financial Goals (to help your future self)

• Paying off your mortgage
• Leaving your 9-5 and starting a business
• Retiring by 55
• Buying a second property
• Saving for your kid’s education

5. Share Your Money Goals with Friends & Family

When you share some of your money goals with those who are closest to you, it becomes so much easier to stick to them. 

This becomes important when friends and family invite you out or want to get together.

They may want to go for dinner and drinks, but you can recommend other ways to spend time together…

• A walk in the park
• Picnic
• Potluck at your house
• Meet for coffee instead of dinner
• A board game night

Sharing your goals will make it more comfortable to say no to something, but yes to something else that aligns with your financial situation.

6. Set Up Automatic Savings

When you set up automatic transfers to your savings bank account, you are actively putting money aside for your financial goals every month.

If you haven’t done this before, start small for a few months by adding an amount you feel really comfortable removing from your account on payday each month. For example, $200 a month ($2400/year).

Once you do this for a few months, see if you can increase the amount you put aside – perhaps to $350 a month ($4200/year).

When you set up automatic transfers on payday, it’s almost like the money was never in your account.

This is a great money hack, as you won’t miss this money, and you’ll be saving when you don’t even realize it.

7. Get Rid of Debt

Debt is something that weighs heavily on your shoulders and until it’s gone it will feel harder to live the life you truly want. Therefore, make debt repayment one of your top financial goals so you can breathe a little easier.

Talk to your bank about how they can help you eliminate debt in the smartest way possible (loan consolidation, low/no interest credit card options, etc).

8. Learn About Money

As with any topic, as we learn about something, we can make better decisions about it.

So, improve your financial literacy by learning about money and your personal finances…

• Read money books (You Are A Badass At Making Money, Think and Grow Rich) 
• Listen to money podcasts (DIY Money, The Side Hustle Show)
• Access online resources (Investing Basics for Millennials, Clever Girl Finance)
• Talk to your bank
• Meet with a financial advisor

9. Don’t ‘Keep Up with the Joneses’

As defined by Merriam-Webster, ‘Keep up with the Joneses’ means…“To show that one is as good as other people by getting what they have and doing what they do.”

As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy” and this is ever so true when it comes to money.

This comparison trap can lead to a money disaster, resulting in debt from high-interest credit cards and loans. This can also lead to serious mental health concerns.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, debt can make you feel hopeless, and out of control with nothing you can do about it, guilty, depressed, and anxious. 

This is reason enough to not keep up with your friends or family when it comes to spending and investing habits. 

How much money you spend on what you wear, where you vacation, or the size of your home does not define your worth. If people have a problem with this, they aren’t for you.

10. Financially Invest In Yourself

When it comes to good financial health, saving money is good, but spending money on your education and professional growth is always a solid investment.

When you invest in yourself, you’re able to:

• Ask for more money
• Get promotions
• And even start your own business more successfully

To decide how to financially invest in yourself, think about what your current career/professional goal is.

For example, when I started blogging I made the decision to take the courses required to make money (Pinterest and SEO courses). 

For my consulting business, I wanted to begin offering new services apart from marketing, so I took an amazing web development course that tripled my income. 🙂

So often the small investment you put in is paid off tenfold.

Related: 30 Ways To Invest in Yourself in Different Areas of Life

11. Don’t Spend Money On Things You Don’t Love or Need

If you’ve spent money on something that doesn’t bring you joy or isn’t something you need, what’s the point?

Well, you might not realize it, but when we do some online shopping we get a dopamine release. 

The dopamine release is in anticipation of the reward, not the reward itself. 

In other words, because we have to wait for the product we purchased to arrive, we get that dopamine boost.

The boost doesn’t come when the product is received – it’s all about the anticipation of that package coming.

To save some money and stop buying things we don’t need, let’s find some other ways to increase dopamine, such as:

• Going for a walk around the block
• A good night’s sleep
• Getting some sunlight
• Meditation
• Listening to music

12. Have an Emergency Fund

This is so important for financial well-being as it will give you peace of mind that things will be taken care of financially if problems arise (job loss, medical bills, unexpected home repairs, vet visits).

Start by setting up an emergency fund in a dedicated high-interest savings account. This will enable you to make some money from your savings. 

Note: As with the point mentioned in tip 6, I recommend setting up automatic savings to your bank account so you can seamlessly save without much thought.

13. Meet with a Financial Planner

When it comes to managing your money and saving enough for retirement a certified financial planner can guide you to making the best possible investment decisions.

Aim to meet with them at least 2x a year to review your investments and talk about ways to optimize your funds.

14. Celebrate Your Financial Wins

Once you start putting these self-care strategies in place, give yourself a pat on the back when you reach a goal or milestone. Thinking of a reward in advance could also help as an incentive.

This can be anything from sharing your wins with loved ones (so they give you that gold star) to treating yourself to a small gift.

15. Do What Feels Good

A big part of self-care is following your intuition and doing what feels good for you. This can also be applied to financial self-care. 

Now, I’m not saying go on a massive shopping splurge, as I bet this won’t feel so good if your main financial goal is to stop spending.

However, let’s say you had a financial goal of saving $5000 in a year for your emergency fund and you decide to reward yourself with $100 on a new outfit. I say go for it! This is great as this was a plan and you are doing what feels good to you.

Money, after all, is also about enjoying what it gives you. Even though saving, investing, and debt repayment are hugely important, enjoying money is also a great thing.

Final Thoughts

I hope these practical ways of practicing financial self-care make you rethink self-care in a way that can help with your financial security and financial success.

As a reminder, self-care is about looking after yourself, and money is a huge part of this. If your money is in disarray, there’s a good chance your mind is too. 

Financial self-care means you are looking after your financial future long-term goals) by creating new habits that will also serve you in the short term.

Here’s to taking care of your finances so you can have a healthy, worry-free financial life you’ll enjoy.