Did you know that if your back hurts it’s advisable to strengthen your abs? Did you also know that if you did 1,000 crunches a day you’d still be left with flab and back pain?<\/p>\n
Perhaps your answers are: “No.” “No again.” And “what does this have to do with my financial fitness?!”
\nHang with me for a minute.<\/p>\n
The pain in your back is decreased the stronger your abs are. That’s because abs help hold up your body weight. (I learned this through my years as a former gymnast and current work as a workers compensation attorney.) So you might think that some crunches would do the trick. You’d be about half right. While crunches make your abs stronger they don’t reduce excess body weight. And excess body weight is usually a cause of back pain or at least a contributing factor. Here’s the bottom line: In order to alleviate back pain one needs to lose excess weight AND strengthen their abs. Make sense?<\/p>\n
If you understand the connection between losing excess weight, strengthening abs, and easing back pain then you’ll also understand why you need to clean out your closet in addition to strengthening your good financial habits if you want to be financially fit. (Wow that was a mouthful but good job – you made it through \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
Here’s the point (finally):\u00a0Financial fitness can not be achieved by strengthening good habits only. You’ve got to lose the excess stuff in your drawers, closets, purses, cars, and homes.<\/p>\n
Let’s make sure you get this whether or not you understand my back pain example: Clutter weighs you down and makes holding up your money harder; it makes your financial situation more painful. You definitely need to develop strong financial habits — we’ve been sending you tips on that and will teach you more in our workshops – but you’ll also need to let go of the things and habits that harm your finances.<\/p>\n
Here’s why you need to clear out the clutter:<\/strong><\/p>\n – It helps you feel like you’re making a fresh start – It allows you to see (and hopefully appreciate) what you already have<\/p>\n – It removes anything that no longer serves you and which sucks energy from you<\/p>\n – It makes it easier to take care of what you value – It keeps you from wasting money<\/p>\n – It supports your organization skills in other areas of your life (like your finances!)<\/p>\n – It tells the universe that you’re available to receive (this is a BIG one that we talk\u00a0 about more in Your Relationship with Money) Here’s how we recommend you do it:<\/strong><\/p>\n And here are some tips to getting it done and having fun while you’re at it:<\/strong><\/p>\n By your clutter-free side, P.S. As if I didn’t give you enough to do already, please remember to vote today. Even if you’ll be looking at the candidates and the propositions for the first time at the polls. Political apathy is harmful to our collective financial fitness!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that if your back hurts it’s advisable to strengthen your abs? Did you also know that if you did 1,000 crunches a day you’d still be left…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-quote","6":"category-news","7":"post_format-post-format-quote"},"yoast_head":"\n
\n– It reduces the stress and chaos in your surroundings<\/p>\n
\n– It reduces feelings of overwhelm and makes decision-making easier<\/p>\n
\nTrust us on this one — you will feel lighter and more peaceful<\/p>\n\n
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\nChelsea (and Olivia too!)<\/p>\n