How I stopped living paycheck to paycheck

By Elena Blanco. Finance expert and Right Riches for You facilitator Elena Blanco on how to stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Just two years ago, finance expert Elena Blanco lived under some difficult circumstances and was living paycheck to paycheck.

A single mum, with a mortgage, car loan and credit card debt, Elena was stressed, overwhelmed, and spending her money as fast as she earned it.

She earned a good salary, but spent it as fast as she received it, and was living in constant fear of losing her home.

Fast forward two years and Elena has multiple income streams, owns her home outright, has paid off her debts, built a generous savings account and feels financially secure for the first time in her life.

Today, she facilitates Right Riches for You workshops to help other people do the same.

The first step, she says, is always to identify how your relationship with money is problematic.

“Instead of using money to create a life that I loved and felt safe in, I was using money in an attempt to get people to love me,” said Ms Blanco.

“I would do this by buying things I didn’t need, paying the way of friends with lower paying jobs and lending money to family that would never come back.”   

Here are six more principles Elena uses with clients wanting to redefine their relationship with money for financial freedom:  

Know what you really want in your life

Know what you actually truly want in your life, not what you think you want, which could be a big house that is really about keeping up with the Jones’. It’s possible the things you think you want or need are not even your own. If the need or want is not truly your own, you will resist and sabotage the end goal. When you identify the things that you truly want, you will not resist having it and they will be yours.  

Know how much the life you truly want will cost

Don’t create a budget based on your income to work out what you can afford, figure out how much your desired life will cost instead and then start asking the following question: what can I create to receive the money I require to live? 

Commit to paying off all your debt     

Debt you’re not paying is simply a mortgage on your future. Debt keeps you a servant to the person or organisation that lent you the money. Choose the amount of time you will take to pay it off and do it.

Create multiple income streams

Sometimes we think a job is the only way to receive money. There are, however, many other ways to create income. We can get involved in money earning side projects on the weekends, property investments, portfolio of shares. Your whole life is your business, not just your job.   

Identify the things that are fun and easy for you – they will make you money

Ask yourself how to get paid for the things you love doing. “If you make the meanest apple pie in the world, start telling people that you now sell it,” said Ms Blanco.

Start a ‘10 per cent’ bank account

Transfer 10 per cent of every payment you receive into this bank account then never, ever spend it. This habit helps you to get used to having money. We think that the important part is spending money, but actually it’s the having money that changes your whole sense of self and security.