8 Tips To Improve Your Money Mindset

Today the lovely Mel from Mel’s Money Mindset is here to talk over 8 tips to try and help you approve your own money mindset. 

If you’ve ever struggled to get out of debt, been reluctant to ask your boss for a pay rise or tried to start an online business – and failed, you will hopefully realise that it’s your money mindset that needs some work, and all the tips and strategies to earn more (or save more) will only go so far, if your mindset is sabotaging your goals.

Our negative beliefs about money work against us in many ways, and we’re all different, so when we go for goals that involve money, we all have different inner blocks that will stop us from achieving our goals.

If you are a high earner and are fine at creating wealth, you clearly have an abundance mindset, but do you have blocks that make you believe that you have to work very hard and very long hours to get that level of income?

For example, do you deny yourself your allocated holiday allowance, stay in the office long after everyone else has left, or feel reluctant to switch off when you are not at work?

These blocks mean that although your bank account may be full, your family life and possibly even your personal health will suffer.

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “worked himself (or herself) into the grave” these people had negative money beliefs.

Needing to work hard to earn money IS a limiting belief.

On the other end of the scale there are people who seem to struggle all of their lives to earn enough money just to pay their basic bills. Again, there is usually an inner block that needs to be addressed, rather than just simply trying to get a better paying job.

If you don’t work on the inner blocks that are keeping you from achieving your goals, it will be so much harder to achieve them.

I’m always fascinated about stories of people who have obvious money blocks such as the man in the UK that worked hard to build a successful business from scratch and sold it at a huge profit, only to lose every single penny and end up poorer than when he started.

He was featured in the national news because he didn’t just do this once, he did exactly the same thing a second time, built another business and as soon as the profits started to come in, he lost it all.
As soon as I read this story, it was obvious to me that he had very serious inner blocks about money (things like “money makes you unhappy”) but of course the article chose to focus on him being unlucky.

Without working on his limiting beliefs, he can start 20 businesses and he will never be any better off than before.

Our inner programmes will do exactly what they are pre-programmed to do, and if he believes that money is evil or it will make him unhappy – subconsciously he will want to get rid of every bit of cash in his bank account.

How do I know? Because I’ve had to overcome numerous money blocks of my own and until I did, I just kept repeating the same patterns.

It was like banging my head on a wall, complaining that it hurts, then banging it again!

Are you hiding any of these limiting beliefs?

If you have ever heard yourself say anything negative about money, it is very likely that you are, and without working on them, you will never truly have financial freedom.

Finish this sentence:

“I’d love to have more money, but…”

Or think about your current annual income, triple it, and finish this sentence:

“I will never earn this amount of money because…”

Questions like this are a simple way of figuring out if you have negative beliefs about money.

Here are 9 ways to improve your money mindset:

#1 Forgive your past.

We are all born completely equal when it comes to our beliefs about money. Kings are born not knowing that they are rich, babies born into poverty don’t realise that they are poor.

Even before we can speak and understand the world around us, the adults in our lives start brainwashing us with THEIR money beliefs, usually negative ones.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees”  “We can’t afford it”  “Money is the root of all evil”

Your parents may have been poor, but it doesn’t mean that you have to be.

Think about all of the times during your childhood the adults around you spoke about money.

Let go of all of their negative stories, phrases and beliefs. Their story is not your story.

#2 Gratitude.

Be grateful for every penny that you receive and that includes money that you find at home, in the car or at work.

Some people haven’t got a clue what goes in or out of their bank account, but if you acknowledge and are grateful for the pennies in your life, you are much more likely to acknowledge and be grateful for the pounds.

Helping you to focus on money in such a positive way, is a great way to change your mindset about money and develop an abundance mindset.

#3 Declutter.

We need to make space for new things in our life, and that includes money.

As well as having a financial declutter every 6 months or so (cancelling old subscriptions and changing to the best rates of mortgage, utilities or insurance policies for example) you should also be making space for any money goals that you have.

For example if you want to make £500 per month from a side hustle, add that into your budget to show that this is what you expect and really think about how you will use the money when you do start to earn it.

#4 Speak yourself rich.

Think about the way you talk about money. Instead of dismissing things that you want or need by saying “I can’t afford it”.

Ask yourself “HOW can I afford it?” this will make you reconsider your budget and maybe you’ll be able to move things around so that you can find the cash needed.

Or if there really is no spare cash available, give yourself a deadline and commit to buying it later “I will buy it on the 31st”. Then figure out what you need to do to make that happen.

#5 Figure out your fear of money. 

Your outer financial situation is a reflection of the beliefs you are holding inside and nothing is truer than when it comes to our fears around money.

Whether it is being scared there will not be enough, being anxious when paying the bills, needing the security of money in the bank and being scared to spend it, or feeling like you have to work hard or you will lose everything, your money fears must be addressed.

Only when you face them head on will you be able to have real financial freedom.

#6 Go on an emotional spending diet.

If you pull out the credit card whenever you are stressed, sad or angry, you need to find an alternative outlet for your negative emotions.

Putting all of this negativity into a spending spree is a disaster waiting to happen.

My partner got into a ton of debt doing exactly this. His habit of spending on his credit card whenever he was bored or stressed got completely out of hand when his dad died.

It took him years to pay off the debt and he regretted his crazy spending spree (he bought FOUR DVD players!). It didn’t make him feel better about his loss, it just briefly distracted him.

Don’t let it get to that point and try to find another way to deal with stress.

Watch a movie, call a friend for a chat, go out for a long dog walk or a picnic with the family. Do anything that doesn’t involve spending money unnecessarily.

#7 Give money a break.

Money is not evil. It is completely neutral and it is only our own baggage and limiting beliefs that make people think it is evil.

Your actions determine if you are good or bad, not your bank balance.

Also, you don’t have to ‘deserve’ money to have it or earn it. I recently wrote an article called how to earn money doing nothing which gives 5 examples of how to earn extra income without actually doing anything.

If this isn’t proof that earning money doesn’t have to be hard, you don’t have to be clever and you don’t have to ‘deserve’ it, I don’t know what is.

So there you go, 3 limiting beliefs completely dispelled in one article.  NEXT!

#8 Connect with positive money messages. 

When we believe something strongly, we tend to hang out with people of the same mindset, so if you have strong negative beliefs about money, it’s likely that you have friends and colleagues that also talk or think about money in a negative way.

If you ever hope to change your mindset about money, you need to surround yourself with some positive money vibes.

I’m not suggesting that you ditch your friends, just add in lots of positive influences so that you are not constantly surrounded by negativity when it comes to money.

Hang out with friends or family that speak about money in a positive way, listen to some Ted Talks or podcasts, find some money coaches, blogs or videos about money (I highly recommend Denise Duffield-Thomas and Margerat M Lynch)  or try a mixture of all of these things.

You can never have too many positive vibes about money.

If you are ready to face your money fears and want a simple way to change your money mindset and erase your limiting beliefs about money, I have a Money Mindset Worksheet that you can download for free.

It’s time to let go of your old money stories and create some new ones.

About The Author:

Mel Trudgett lives in the UK on the beautiful Jurassic Coast, with her partner, 2 daughters and their very hairy, but adorable dog, Lola. She set up www.melsmoneymindset.com with the aim of helping people to change how they think and feel about money. She also gives practical tips on how to make money from home and how to save money.

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