This post was sponsored, and paid for, by SunTrust. All opinions are my own.
Money. Why is it so hard to talk about? Why is it this hush, hush thing that we keep hidden and never have open conversations about? Talking about money can be taboo, but that has to change to move from financial stress to confidence. This was the catalyst for SunTrust starting The onUp Movement nearly three years ago.
Financial confidence is something that I strive for every day, and my journey with saving money, sharing money, and spending money is one I’m really proud of.
Ever since I was younger, my family has been teaching us about money. About how to manage it and save it and how important it is to give back no matter how much we’re making. We called it: Share, Save, Spend. We had a beloved advisor who really helped us to develop these habits around money and I strive to do it in my own family now.
A YouTube video just went live about how Kyle and I have done this lately, but in case you didn’t see it here’s a run-down and some of my tips and tricks.
So, let’s start with SAVING, since this is in the forefront of my mind lately because we just bought a house!! Saving is huge, and it’s something I was not always great at. What really helps me with saving today is to have a goal in mind. An exact number really helps me. I cannot even begin to tell you what having a savings account, with even a little bit in it did for me. It freed my mind, allowed me to be creative and took the fear of the “what if” away. It is CRITICAL. When we bought our house, I was able to put over 40% down just because of how real I got with my savings. Also, since we were buying during the holidays I had to think of what I needed to save for holiday expenses. Usually I started the holiday season without budgeting. However, knowing how much I was putting down on my house, I had to be sure I didn’t overspend during the holiday. I actually used this really awesome calculator here https://onupmovement.suntrust.com/tools/holiday-calculator/?cid=IF%7q4Mallory and it helped me get that number right. It also takes those unexpected expenses into account like travel etc.
Here are some shots of our empty house. Up next is saving buy furniture for our home in January. We now have double the space, and Kyle and I both came from smaller spaces before this one so we don’t have a lot of furniture. I’m so excited to move in!
Now, let’s talk SPEND. I will admit that I am a spender. I used to be a lot bigger of a spender than I am now. Now I splurge on what I call life things…things for Ford, things for our home and experiences. Being that we are in the business we are in, the holidays are crazy. Putting together everything from gift guides to Vlogmas and just the typical craziness of the holidays, we had to take a step back and make a plan this year. It was really important to us that Ford’s first Christmas not to be all about work and creating content so we made a decision to take a trip. We just got home from the most incredible trip to Vail! It really enabled us to take a step back and enjoy this time as a family. These are the types of things I like to spend on these days. In order to do these types of things you have to budget. I am not a fan of going on a trip and being so tight you can’t splurge on dinners and lift tickets and all the extras. I have done my budget a million different ways in the past, and I really like having a worksheet or some sort of spreadsheet to fill out. Here’s a great downloadable budget worksheet that you can use to get you started https://onupmovement.suntrust.com/live-your-dreams/holidays/holiday-budget-tool/?cid=IF%7q4Mallory
Here are some photos from our trip!
And last, but definitely not least, let’s talk SHARE. It’s been called so many different things in the past, the hero’s journey, to whom much is given of much is required, philanthropy, whatever you want to call it it’s such an amazing thing when you start giving back. Another thing that was huge in my family growing up was sharing. Whether you have more than enough or not much at all, it’s an amazing thing when you can share in any way. Sometimes all I could afford to share was my time, and that’s an amazing thing to be able to share. Then later I was able to share money, which is also great. I now use my influence to share. Being in the position I’m in as an influencer, I am able to use my platform to share a lot of information. This holiday I chose to bring in some other influencers to shine a light on sharing. We packed lunches for hundreds of kids in our local Nashville community one day and we had the best time doing this. Here are some shots of that and a short video as well.
I’m also helping to plan a huge charity event in Nashville for the homeless. More to come on this event later.
So that’s a little run down on how I share, save and spend my way to my goals in life. Thanks so much for reading and for following along.
And here is the link to the YouTube video here.
