One day, I did the math and figured that I could save a nice chunk of change if I paid off my student loan and eliminated a few other recurring expenses. With laser-focused intensity, I got rid of my student loan, refinanced my home (twice) and got rid of a bunch of other on-going expenses. In the end, I was certain that I'd have a lot of money left over for discretionary spending. In actually, the opposite happened.
Instead of having a lot of money left over to play around with, it seemed like the money was nowhere to be found. Perhaps it was absorbed by unexpected expenses that showed up out of nowhere. But I have another theory about what exactly happened....
I mentioned in the past that I am a recovered cheapskate. Many years ago, I was obsessed with spending as little money as possible. Everything was deemed "too expensive" and I rarely thought about how to leverage my income to create increase. Then, one day, I was introduced to the Law of Attraction and the world of creating greater abundance.
It took years to shake off my scarcity mindset. But once I did, my income exploded. I lived and moved as if there was no ceiling to how much I could earn. Even though I was far from being a millionaire, I felt like that reality was just around the corner.
One of the obvious outcomes of maintaining an abundance mindset is an increase in monthly expenses. It's to be expected. But, for some reason, seeing how much money was going out each month scared me. I completely ignored the fact that each month, I was able to pay my credit card in full. Focusing on the growing number triggered the scarcity troll living inside me.
Once I realized what happened, I quickly started to shift my way of thinking. It's only been a short while and I'm already seeing the positive impacts. So let's talk about how to avoid falling into the trap of a scarcity mindset while paying down debt and getting your finances in order.
Was the price a little higher than if I ordered off the dollar menu at another place?
Yes.
Was the price of my order high enough to impact my financial situation?
No.
But there I was, telling myself that this order of food was unreasonable. In doing so, I was sending a clear message to myself about the affordability of my order. Back when I first made the commitment to escape the scarcity mindset, I maintained a rule to NEVER react to the price of ANYTHING. If I could afford it, I'd purchase. If purchasing the item affected my financial situation, I would pass. But I made no judgment on whether the item was "overpriced" because overpriced to one person is affordable to another. Breaking this cardinal rule over nuggets and waffle fries was the last straw! I had to change my mindset.
Now that I've reinstituted my "no complaining over price rule." I've moved on to another strategy I use to stimulate abundance....stepping out in faith.
I'll give you an example. When I first launched my brand, I had to deal with a lot of fluctuation in how my business performed. Some months were decent, other months had me wondering if the business was going to make it. When it got really slow, I would sometimes take an "abundance action" to signify that I believed in the future growth of my finances. An example of this was when I placed a large order of inventory even though sales had dipped. This can be a risky move if not done with the right mindset but it's worked for me time and time again. It requires a great deal of faith and belief that circumstances are fluid and can be altered to fit what you desire.
Another tactic I believe in to stimulate abundance is to pay for purchases/services that need to be done. For instance, if you have to repair your car or home (and you have the money) get it done. Keeping the money in savings while watching your current situation deteriorate creates incongruency. In the case of my student loans, I'd have negative feelings every time the bill came in even though I had the money to pay it. Currently, I have a tire that needs servicing. Again, all I have to do is get it repaired/replaced but instead, I was putting it off while repeating silently how expensive tires are. Once the tire is fixed, it frees up my mind to focus on thoughts that adds value.
To further enhance my abundance thinking, I need to immerse myself in the "possibility of abundance." Basically, this means exposing my mind to the idea that abundance is normal and highly accessible. How does one do that? There are lots of ways to do this. Before launching my business full time, I would watch hours (upon hours) of videos of people who earned six figures in their first year of business. It didn't take long for me to believe that it was actually normal for people to earn that amount. I'm convinced that this is why I've been able to be self-employed for this long.
Another thing that influenced my scarcity thinking was the fact that I removed nearly all lifestyle related spending from my life. From past experience, I know that lifestyle experiences motivate me to work harder and to attract more abundance. While I was paying off my debt, I didn't treat myself to any of that. This is another example of incongruency because my original intention was to lower my expenses in hopes of expanding my lifestyle. But instead of upgrading my life, I constricted my spending. Soon my earning potential started to slow down which perpetuated the scarcity cycle. But once, I incorporated a few "feel good" elements back into my life, things started to shift in the right direction. Don't get me wrong, I didn't go spending more than I should. But I needed to amplify the feelings of abundance as I traveled the journey of reducing unwanted expenses.
Lastly, it's important to always stay grounded in the fact that abundance already exists in our lives. Each day, I'm taking a little time to be grateful for what I've already been given. Thankful for the love of my family and so on. There's so much to be thankful for. Instead of focusing on solely on how much you're spending to eliminate debt, think about all the times in your life when money seemed to be coming in effortlessly and try to replicate that. If you have to pay down debts, do it! But don't let the situation cause you to adopt a limited way of thinking. Continue to expand in your abundance mindset no matter where you are financially.
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