I didn’t realise that I fell into the ‘poor’ category until I was in my second year of college where not only did I get my bus pass paid for but I was also given a foodcard from college each week so I could afford to eat at college. This wasn’t something I asked for, they just looked at my family situation and deemed me eligible. Honestly this really shaped my future.

At the start of 2019 I had very little dollars to my name. infact I basically had no money. Wed just payed off all out debt and had set a saving plan in place to work on saving for our bond before our lease ran out. When suddenly we were hit with a curve ball and suddenly had no money and no home.

And now, amongst two people in a year and a half we’ve gone from 0dollars to seeing the commar behind numbers.
Now ive been a little bit obsessed with watching financial youtubers giving tips online and I thought I would share my favourites.

Ive talked before about opening a savings account with another bank and I strongly stand by this to the point where I have 2. A joint savings, and a single savings. I was finding having my saving linked to my current account it made it too easy to sneakily transfer back and forth and I just always had a rainy day fund and not a savings fund. Now I have both. Look around and choose a dedicated savings account with high interest if you put in a certain amount(that you can afford) and don’t withdraw anything each month.
This also links to my second favourite tip.

Pay yourself first. Although I would always transfer to savings I didn’t have the mentality of paying myself first. Changing the wording to this really changed my mindset and its helped me with budgeting. I now know which money is paying myself money and which money is available to spend. And paying it into my account I don’t check regularly helps it build up too.

My third tip would be living below your means. No matter what you’re earning, live below. That doesn’t mean you have to be cheap, but budget, budget below what you can afford. This is a great way to live for if anything does pop up. I often have car problems and its nice knowing its okay if I have to fix something. With Covid still dominating most of the world and job security still not 100% living below your means leaves you’re prepared for if there are any cut backs in your line of work. Just because your wage might increase doesn’t necessarily mean you have to increase your outgoings to match.

I do believe when you grow up in a financially poor family it really shapes your outlook on life. It has definitely made me want to be financially okay and focus on money a lot more. And I am thankful for that as I got life skills school never taught me all from watching my mother track her money each month. I am lucky I am starting off my savings young to prepare me for the future. But I also need to have emergency money because I am 12,000 miles away from all my family and if anything happens I need the funds to fly back.

Let me know if you have any good financially tips to share as you know I love reading about them!