Money Mindset Matters

How you think about money directly impacts what you do with it. Our experiences growing up combined with life as it is now can determine if we are more likely to want to save or impulse buy.

I grew up in a heavily religious household, my mum stayed at home and did the cooking, cleaning, sewing, running all 5 kids to everything etc. Dad worked for the government and did the outdoor stuff (plus made sure we, the kids, did our chores). We had a good house, got to play sports, had wonderful communities in both cities we lived in etc.

Money was openly discussed, including with uncles who owned businesses (it still is). My parents were more conservative in terms of investing and business because they had us young and there was more pressure on them to be sensible, reliable etc I feel.

As a result, I was conservative when I was younger but I knew how to do a budget, how to maximise my superannuation, the benefits of compound interest etc.

With my mother passing away at 37 (I was 15) and Dad remarrying, the expenses they faced as a blended family with 9 kids, my views on money took a turn.

Life is short and can be expensive. So I wanted to balance budgeting with living life my way.

I didn't get to do that until I divorced at 27 and even then, it took years in an expensive custody battle, trialling lots of side hustles and various other things before we were finally free to do as we wish.

It took a bit of work on my part, changing my beliefs around money and learning more but it was worth it.

My kids and I have travelled extensively because I found ways for us to get paid to travel and learned tips to get it for free or super cheap.

Whenever we've needed money, we've found ways to make it happen and so my kids have a more relaxed view on money and are keen to get into investing and doing more now they are older.

Here are some of my tips to change your mindset:

Have a Motivation Wall

I share the details of my motivation wall here. It's something I have done for years and when I have one, I am much more focused, motivated and my whole family seems to do better with money.

Instead of a scarcity mindset, I have an abundance mindset when I have visual reminders like this.

Abundance Meetings

Instead of budget meetings which feel restrictive, we have abundance meetings. Money is discussed, we review our expenses and income but also plan for our big goals and see how we are tracking.

We make it fun instead of stressful and even if we don't have enough right now for whatever we are planning, we brainstorm ideas and trust that we can generate extra to make it happen.

The Law of Attraction

Whether you believe in it or not, I've found when I am focused on abundance and increasing my income, I find more opportunities and money flows. When I am stressed, holding tight to every bit of money that comes in, money seems to dry up.

I talk more about manifesting money in this article.

A lot of it comes down to believing in yourself, being open to opportunities and being prepared. "Luck is where opportunity meets preparation." ~ Seneca

Develop Positive Habits

Our habits can make or break us. Often we don't realise how damaging some of our small habits can be or how it adds up over time. Check out 12 habits to improve your health, wealth and lifestyle for some of my favourites.

Have a Plan or a Goal

How can you achieve anything if you don't know what you are trying to achieve or why?

If you want to save money, why do you want to save it? What are you saving for? Try one of these 9 savings challenges to help keep you motivated.

Check out how to achieve big financial goals and how to set and achieve goals for tips on making it happen.

Lastly, read 25 ways to improve your finances in 2025.

How To Get Your $125 Bonus From ING

If you are a new customer of ING you can get $125 for opening an everyday account with them by doing the following steps:

Open an everyday account, put the promo code CNW116 in the promo box (you must use the code to get the $125 bonus), and complete all the steps below in the first month.
Deposit $1,000 into the account such as your income or Centrelink payments
Make 5 settled transactions
Open a Savings Maximiser (current interest rate is 5.5%)
Deposit any amount into the Savings Maximiser

Then you get your $125 the following month when the promotion is running. Promotion periods vary. The current promotion runs until 31 March 2025.

What I Am Reading

If you want to improve your relationship with money, check out these books and look up the authors as most have podcasts and socials you can follow for more information and motivation.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know. It's about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money-investing, personal finance, and business decisions is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do.

But in the real world people don't make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life's most important topics.

You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth. Learn how to save your money with one of the world's most exciting self help authors, Jen Scincero

Lucky B*tch: A Guide For Exceptional Women To Create Outrageous Success by Denise Duffield-Thomas. Can you learn to be lucky? Self-made millionaire Denise Duffield-Thomas not only believes this is possible, she knows it's possible. Here, she shows how you can do the same.

Unleash Your Inner Money Babe: Uplevel your money mindset and manifest $1,000 in 21 days by Kathrin Zenkina

Rich As F*ck by Amanda Frances. In Rich As F*ck, Amanda Frances demystifies the topic of money, cracking the code of financial liberation and abundance. Once you finally see money for what it is and realize your power over your finances, life will never be the same. It’s time you know the truth about money. It’s time for you to have more money than you know what to do with. This is your blueprint.

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