I’m a mum of three kids who are 13, 10 and one, and my family is no different from the many other families in Ireland navigating the current financial climate.
We started our budgeting journey in 2018, when my husband and I were hit by the realisation that we had to make a change.
That year we had gone on a few holidays, had a lovely big credit-card bill and realised that we would never get the keys for our own home if we didn’t change up our financial circumstances. The rental shortage had hit, there were very few places available in our area and we were worried — it was now or never.
Over the next year, we made changes to our finances, overhauled our way of thinking and took control of our money. We had decided to try a ‘low-spend’ year and, during that period, we cleared that credit-card bill and saved over €15,000 towards our house deposit. By October of that year we had the keys for our own home in our hands. Since then, we have become completely debt- free – apart from our mortgage – and continue to use the same principles and habits to change our family’s financial future.
I started sharing and documenting my family’s journey on social media in mid-December 2021. It started out as an anonymous account. I was on a career break after having my youngest and we were down to a single income. I guess making things public helped with accountability, but I had also been following a few American financial pages and, as we had been on a financial journey ourselves in 2018, I liked the idea of sharing tips to help families like mine. Over time I shared more and started to show my face, and from there it just grew.
Hearing stories of families like mine and followers just like me clearing debt, going on holidays that they saved for and getting the keys for their first homes has been the most rewarding thing. I love to hear your wins – they are such a boost, and they can be a great way of picking yourself up when you are struggling. There’s something about hearing about even the smallest win that is just so motivating.
A journey is never all plain sailing. There are twists and turns and little bumps in the road – but knowing that others are taking the same road makes the journey less lonely, and hearing that someone has taken that first step also reminds you of how far you have come.
I share many of my tips and tricks online, but I wanted there to be a place that contained everything you need: the tools and the tips to improve your finances and change your future. My new book ( Caz Mooney’s Budgeting Planner) will contain your journey.
I know you may be stressed and feeling worried about money. Before we started our journey, we were the same, living paycheque to paycheque, worried about how we were going to afford school uniforms, struggling to afford fuel for the car, burdened by our debt. However, I want you to make a promise to yourself now: that you will start this journey, stay consistent and give it your all for the next few months.I can guarantee that you’ll notice an improvement in your finances.
Money mentality
When you think about money, what are the three words that come to mind?
When I was growing up, friends and family didn’t talk about money. It was something that was shameful, taboo, almost. If you were doing well financially, it would be seen as bragging to tell people that; and if you were struggling, you were just to say that you were ‘grand’ and brush it under the rug. I would see a neighbour driving a nice car and wonder how they had afforded it; I would hear about someone being promoted and assume they were now earning great money.
Imagine if, instead, people were more open about their finances. Maybe that neighbour bought that car on finance, an impulse purchase that they now regret. Perhaps that promotion came with more money but longer working hours and, so, a larger childcare cost.
One thing that I found interesting is that the more I started opening up about my family’s finances, the more others opened up to me about theirs. I was able to learn from other people’s struggles — and be motivated by their success.
I think it is important to release the feelings of guilt and shame that we may have around money. Personally, I feel that the best way to begin doing this is to become familiar with your debt and to no longer brush it under the carpet — the unknown is always scarier. Instead, you are going to communicate with those who are also affected and start working towards paying it off.
When you write down your initial debt figures, your starting numbers, take a moment to look at them — this is the last time that you will see those numbers. It can be emotionally difficult to discover the true amount of debt that you have to pay, but it’s such an important step on your journey. You should include your partner, if involved, as talking about finances and sharing this information will help you both to be on the same page.
You are moving from a fixed mindset and towards a growth mindset. With a fixed mindset, you may struggle with change or struggle to look at your situation from a different point of view. A growth mindset, however, is one in which you are ready to learn and to adapt. Your financial situation has already happened; it is how you deal with that situation that matters. This is no small change to make, and it can be hard to shake off your shame, guilt and stress, but as you continue along this journey, month by month, it will get easier and easier. It’s time to change the way you think about money. Your money is no longer going to control you, you’re going to control it.
The big picture
The three main areas that we’re going to look at are savings, debt and budgeting.
You are going to start your savings journey immediately. The first goal that I recommend you work towards is your emergency fund. I know you will have other goals that you want to get started on, perhaps more exciting ones — but a sudden, unexpected cost could really set back your overall progress, so this will be your safety net in case of that.
Next up, let’s look at any debt that you have. If you are starting your budgeting journey with debt, you’re far from the only one.
We started off this way ourselves and clearing our debt has been a massive part of our journey so far. It’s the step I would advise that you try to take as soon as you have saved your emergency fund; there’s little point in building up further savings if you’re paying interest on a mountain of debt. In the long run, it’s better to prioritise this at the start, even if you feel like you’re just sending your money straight back out the door.
But imagine what you’ll be able to do with your money once you aren’t putting it towards debt. Imagine the peace of mind that freedom from debt will bring. Both debt and savings are linked by budgeting; learning to budget your income is the tool that will help you to save and to clear your debt. If debt and savings are things that you can have, budgeting is your course of action, the plan where you give your money a job. It’s the key to turning around your financial situation.
Structuring your goals
It can be hard to know when to start when you set out to overhaul your finances. How do you know which goals to work towards first? How do you know where to send your extra income?
First things first: you’ll need to learn how to budget. This is a crucial step, as it gives you the necessary information about what money you can put towards your financial goals. Your budget will be the plan, the roadmap to helping you work on your other goals.
Of these, your first goal absolutely must be to save an emergency fund. This is vital, as it’s unfortunately an inevitable fact of life that something will crop up, an expense that you didn’t plan for, something that would knock your progress. Again, I’ll return to this later on, but about €1,000 would suit most budgets as a solid emergency fund. You can always increase this fund once you’ve paid off your debt, with many people choosing to save enough to cover a few months’ expenses — not your income, but the bare bones.
Your next goal should be to clear your debt —you might be tempted to head straight for this step and skip saving your emergency fund, but your progress will all be for nothing if you don’t protect your budget in case of emergencies.
The total number may seem overwhelming to start with, but there are different ways of tackling your debt, and we can find the method that works for you. Plus, once you start this habit, you’ll never have to see that overwhelming number again!
After becoming debt-free, or if you had no debt to begin with, your next step is to look at what other things you would like to save towards, for example, a house deposit, wedding, house renovations, a new car ... or, of course, expanding that faithful emergency fund.
What happens if you have to use your emergency fund, or at least part of it? Well, then you must pause your debt pay-off or saving and go back to the first step. You must save that emergency fund back up before you continue. And what about saving for birthdays, Christmas, a holiday next year and other future expenses? These expenses that you can plan for are called sinking funds, and you will save towards them from the beginning. It’s important to reduce the financial stress that these often-large expenses will have on your budget by setting aside a little each month towards them.
Staying motivated
Setting financial goals is so important in terms of motivation. Without knowing what you are working towards, in detail, it will be so much more difficult to keep going. These goals must be important to you, otherwise the potential reward won’t stop you from being tempted to overspend. I suggest breaking your long-term goals into manageable chunks and monthly goals also. It is such a great feeling at the end of the month to be able to tick off those goals.
Tell friends and family what you’re doing. Try to set aside any feelings of awkwardness around discussing money or cutting back. We are living through a cost-of-living crisis so if ever there was a time for it to be entirely understandable for someone to want to get a handle on their finances, this is it. And having friends and family to cheer you on will really help to keep you accountable.
It’s also helpful to think about where you want to be in the future. It is important to look further down the line than just the year ahead. Our primary motivation, for example, was to get the keys to our own home. I visualised those keys in my hand, and the day they were handed to me was the most surreal moment.
Even within a strict budget, be sure to make room for the things that are important to you. Set aside money to spend on yourself and for everyone else in your house. If your budget is too strict, you are unlikely to stick to it. It’s just like dieting: when your diet is too restrictive, you won’t be able to keep it up. If it is important to you to go for coffee with friends every week, then do that. Or if you like to have a takeaway every Friday evening for family movie night, go for it! Yes, you would probably reach your financial goals more quickly if you put all of your income beyond essentials towards those goals but you would struggle to stick to such a strict budget for any length of time. I would rather that your budget was manageable, and that you were still able to enjoy the things that are important to your family and yourself.
Above all, take a moment to celebrate your wins. The size of your celebration may depend on the goal, and the length of time it took to reach it, but it is important to acknowledge every single win along your journey, because each win brings you closer to the biggest win. Some of our celebrations in the past have included getting a takeaway with family, going to Kids Club in the cinema or even driving to the beach (a novelty, given we live in the midlands!). So treat yourself to acknowledge all you’ve already achieved — and then pause for a second and think how proud you’ll be when you and your family reach that ultimate goal.
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