Financial Responsibility Is Self-Care
Financial Responsibility Is Self-Care
6 Ways to Treat Yourself (and Your Wallet) This Week
by Mike Brassfield Senior Writer Updated July 14, 202
In times like these, we could all use a little self-care. Things like getting a massage, maintaining good sleeping habits, eating a vegetable or two, curling up with a good book and sticking with a somewhat regular workout could do us all some good.
Ah, but what about financial self-care? We’re always being reminded to take care of our mental, emotional and physical health. But what about your financial health?
We all need that too, because we’re all financially stressed. For example, a survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that a whopping nine in 10 Americans say the COVID-19 crisis is causing stress on their personal finances.
Financial self-care is about lowering your financial stress level by jettisoning bad habits and taking control of your money. With that in mind, we’ve got six strategies for setting yourself up for financial success:
1. Treat Yourself — and Earn Money Back
Start getting money back whenever you buy groceries. A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and hundreds of other items.
Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. You can use receipts from grocery stores, convenience stores, drugstores, liquor stores and more.
For your efforts, you’ll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart. You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something.
2. Set Goals with the Budget for People Who Hate Budgets
Part of financial self-care is building new and better habits — like sticking to a budget. Don’t want to budget? Try the budget for people who hate budgets.
The 50/30/20 method for budgeting is one of the simplest ways to get your spending in check. No 100-line spreadsheets or major lifestyle changes required.
Here’s how it works: Take your total after-tax income each month, and divide it in half. That’s your essentials budget (50%). Take the rest, and divide it into personal spending (30%) and financial goals (20%).
Let’s break it down:
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