Poverty mindset is one of the biggest downers some of us face in our lives. When we’re stressed about money, we’re stressed about everything. Whether it’s not knowing how you’ll pay the rent or if you can put food on the table or if you just can’t see a way to ever justify spending money on yourself for pure pleasure, it’s all stressful.

Back in my early 20s I was completely broke, living in a shitbox of an apartment, an illegal apartment that is, dying of the heat in the summer and freezing my ass off in the winter because the $200 a month rent for a place with no stove, no AC and no heat was all I could afford.

I had a job. I worked 40 hours a week making somewhere around $10 an hour as an office assistant for a cleaning service. There would be days on occasion where I would end up leaving the office to help a team clean a larger house or help when a team fell behind. I started to love those days because that meant tips, which meant the extra $20 could pay for a night out over the weekend.

I lived very much in a poverty mindset back then. I dreaded paying bills. More times than I care to admit I wouldn’t pay them or I’d just tossed out credit cards bills altogether. “There’s no way I can pay this, so let’s just act like it doesn’t exit.” That’s what I often told myself.

Paying bills, paying rent, even buying gas for my car were all things that I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach about because it meant my already sad bank account was going to be even sadder.

Could I have gotten a second job? Sure, if I was willing to work day and night, but I wasn’t. That was my choice. I borrowed money from family a little here and there but eventually I wasn’t able to do that any more and there was only so much I could do to squeeze the money I had.

My money mindset didn’t change until years later, but I can look back now and see that because of the poverty mindset I was wallowing in, I made matters far worse for myself. Some of these things were a result of how I saw my parents deal with money as I was growing up but much of it was because I just didn’t know how to handle where I was financially.

Years later I learned 3 big tricks that changed my way of dealing with money. I shifted completely from poverty mindset to a money abundant mindset which allowed me to attract more money, more financial freedom, more financial opportunities and more peace when it came to money issues.

Know this about mindset – what you believe about something influences your thoughts which influences your actions and in turn creates your results. But at the same time our results are largely responsible for influencing our beliefs. So if we start with working to change our thoughts we start in the best place to make change. What we think we become.

 

1. Pay Bills With Gratitude

Nobody actually likes paying bills, but we all have to do it. Instead of grumbling about having to do it, pay each bill with gratitude. Have thanks that you’re able to make even small or partial payments on a bill. Be grateful when you have to reach out to a company to get an extension and you receive it. Honor that extension by fulfilling your end of the bargain and making the agreed upon payment by the agreed upon date.  The gratitude here is focused around the fact that you either have the money to make full or small payments or you have the ability to get people to work with you.

By now most of us are paying our bills online, but if you still mail in payments for things you can dab the corners of your envelopes with a magical oil like Money Return To Me to see your bank account become replenished or Blessing Oil for gratitude {or a combination of the two}. If you’re paying your bills online you can dress your hands with the oil before your fingers hit the keys. As you’re paying your bills say a little blessing like “Thank you, Divine Spirit, for the ability to make this payment. May I be blessed and my money return to me ten fold.”

 

2. Watch Your Self-Talk

The way we talk to ourselves in our own heads, or how we even casually talk about ourselves to others can have a huge impact on our lives without our realizing it. We hear all the time that we need to be careful about how we let our Ego run wild in our head but there’s more to it than that. When we’re in poverty mindset mode we do it constantly without realizing it.

Watch what you say and how you say it, in your head and out loud. Cut out phrases like “I’m broke“, “I can’t afford it“, “I’ll never be able to pay for that/afford that“, and so on. Any time you catch yourself saying something like this either to someone else or in your head to yourself visualize a red circle with a line through it, the universal “no” symbol.  Then turn the phrase around to something more positive. For instance change “I’m broke” to “I don’t have money for this right now, but I will in the future.”

 

3. Spend Money To Receive Money

This might sound sort of counter-intuitive but it is actually a huge step toward financial freedom. When we are in a poverty mindset we often hold on to every penny we get and sort of hoard it. Even if we could spend even an extra $5 on ourselves for something we find enjoyable we don’t because we’re so worried about where we’ll get that $5 from again. This sends a message energetically to the Universe that you don’t want to spend money so there isn’t any need for you to have more than you already have. There is no need for an increase in your financial flow if you’re not interested in spending it. It sounds a little strange, I know, but this is a fear-based way to make financial decisions and it creates and perpetuates an energy of fear around money which pushes away positive financial flow.

Know your numbers for the week or the money and see where you can do something for yourself at least once a month where you spend a little money out of a place of joy and excitement. There is a huge difference in the energy of paying for something because it’s something that you’re excited for and that will bring you pleasure vs paying bills and taking care of a financial responsibility. Learn to feel that difference and then make a point to create a connection to this energy more often than the fear based energy you have around money. When you let the Universe know that you aren’t afraid of using and spending money, it opens up financial flow for you.

 

While I don’t consider this last bit of advice a real tip for getting out of poverty mindset it’s super important anyway. Take action.

It doesn’t matter where you are financially…whether you’re living in a shelter because you have nothing or you’re bummed that you still can’t afford a pair of Louboutins, everyone has a money issue to tackle at some point. Nothing is going to happen until you start taking action in some form.

Dealing with your mindset is just the first step. You have to take time to do the numbers work too. Cut back on things that you don’t really care that much about to make room for money to go to things you do care about. For some people that might mean getting rid of their cable and putting that couple hundred dollars each month into a bank account to save for a family vacation later in the year.

 

You Might Like This…

:heavy_exclamation_mark: Check out this post about how to make a money jar to add a little magical boost to your switch from poverty mindset to money abundant mindset.

:heavy_exclamation_mark: Also be sure to check out my new ebook Slow Like Honey that’s out now. This ebook is based on the sweetening magic workshop I taught back in September. It will guide you through how to create honey jars, sugar jars, sugar boxes and sugared candles for turning almost any situation around into your favor. Even though this magic is most commonly thought of as a form of love magic it works great for all kinds of things, even money!

 

Do you have questions about how to turn around a poverty mindset? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments!

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