If nothing else, 2020 was a year of extremes. And those extremes affected each person/family differently. From not able to work at all, to mandatory overtime. From no income at all, to extra income (from all that overtime!). From tons of free time on their hands, to business as usual and then some.
I count myself very fortunate to have a job that carried on through the pandemic, so no loss of income. And since many of my normal events and responsibilities were cancelled, I had extra time on my hands too. It wasn’t until I looked back over the year that I realized how well I had filled that extra time.
As I organized and tallied up all my income and expenses from my coaching business, I realized I spent almost exactly what I took in for 2020. Almost all of it was education expense, which was a huge departure from previous years. I started (and completed) my RRCA Level II run coaching certification, took a 3-month nutrition course for female athletes and joined a life coaching membership group.
I didn’t head into last year with grand plans to tackle this much learning, but when the opportunities presented themselves, I jumped at them, learned/grew so much and loved every minute of it. Now I’m excited to look back at our personal finances and see where we put our money. Lots in house renovations I’m sure!
As we make plans for the year ahead, I think it’s a great practice to take a look back and “follow the money” and see where it went last year. We vote with our money whether that’s adding to our 401K accounts or running up huge entertainment tabs every weekend. Does our vote make us feel good about our decisions and our future or is it convicting?
The good news is that information is power and, in this case, we have the ability to change our vote any time. Think about what we’d like our spending to look like at the end of 2021. Imagine how that would make us feel. Decide what action(s) we will take to get there. And take the first step…And the second step…