Your Relationship With Money and How To Change It | Ep. 2

Welcome to Money Talk With Tiff, a podcast where we discuss everything money from tips and tricks to current events, follow me on my journey to become debt-free and meet other cool people along the way. I am your host, Tiffany Grant now let’s talk money. 

I want to talk about something extremely personal. And that’s relationships with money. Everybody’s experiences with money and their role models with money are different from person to person. So a little bit about how I got interested in money. Growing up, I didn’t really have solid financial role models. Everybody in my family is a spender.

So, I had to learn how to be a saver, rather than following the same path as everyone else. Everyone in my immediate family loves to spend money, loves to buy things, loves to use credit cards and growing up in that environment, you know, I loved it as a kid, because I’m like, Oh, I can get this, I can get that. If something were on TV I wanted, my grandma would be like, Oh, yeah, I’ll get it for you and it was awesome. But as I got older, I realized how that type of behavior can be very detrimental to your finances. 

So as an example, when I got older, and around the 2008-2009 financial crisis, you know, my family had to file bankruptcy. A lot of my immediate family members had to file bankruptcy. It was because their spending wasn’t under control, credit cards were maxed out, or over the max, multiple credit cards, I mean, stacks of credit cards, and going through that period made me realize this is not the life I want. So I was petrified of having a credit card.

I did not want one. I did not want to see one. Anytime they asked me in the store, I immediately went to defensive mode. No, I don’t want one. No, no, no! Because it was a traumatic experience, I felt like, and I think a lot of people can relate that the 2008-2009 financial crisis was big, and being a child at that time, it was very impressionable upon me. 

So, you know, fast forward, when it came time for me to get a credit card. First of all, I really didn’t want to, but I realized that to have credit, you have to get some type of credit. That’s just how it works. So when I got my first credit card, I didn’t want to use it. Like, I’m like, Oh, I got a credit card so the credit bureaus will automatically boost my score. No, that’s not how it works, you have to actually use it. So you know, I started off doing like $30 on gas here and there and paying it off altogether.

Like the day after I got the gas, I would pay it off. Because I just did not want to carry a balance, I did not see why I should pay interest on a purchase and lose more money. So I’m really paying more than the $30 in gas if I carry a balance from month to month. And so that’s how I use my credit cards because I just didn’t want to go through the same situations that I saw everybody else. 

And then also the immediate family that I grew up with, they were not, you know, deal shoppers, sales shoppers, coupon shoppers, they just didn’t have time for that is what they would say. And I’m like, you know, there has to be a better way. So like I alluded to in the first episode, I thought the concept of coupons was fascinating. I mean, it’s a piece of paper, but it’s worth money.

So why throw that money away, if it’s something that you’re going to buy anyway. So that’s why I started couponing at a very young age. As soon as I had to start buying things on my own, which was at like, 16, I started couponing because I’m like, I can make my money go a lot further. Then, you know, this little $7 an hour CVS job, I gotta make this money stretch. So that’s when I got into that habit. 

But I feel like you can take two routes in life, you either follow what you’ve seen growing up, or you become so traumatized that you take the opposite direction. I think I fall into the second camp. But it’s very easy, and actually, it’s more typical for you to fall into the first camp. So to change your trajectory and your kids’ trajectory, you have to be the one to make the change.

You have to be the one to say, I’m not letting this continue. This is not continuing with my generation. This is not continuing with any generations after me, this is what I want to do differently. And that’s when you have that lightbulb moment, and you’re like, darn everything that I’ve ever believed about money isn’t right. And the only way you can get to that point is if you learn more about it. So you know, just soak in all the knowledge you can. 

Try to take the emotions out of money, because a lot of people, you know, they’re spenders or savers, and it’s based on their emotions. So you get stressed out, you’re like, oh, I need some retail therapy, you know, and I’m not gonna lie. Sometimes I feel that way. Like, hey, if I can just go shopping, I’ll feel a little better. But then you have to rein it in and say, am I going to be better?

Am I going to feel better for the moment, or am I going to feel better later on? So, usually what happens with chronic spenders is that they’ll go shop and get that retail therapy, and then they feel even worse once they get the credit card bill.

So you definitely have to find your balance and what works for one person may not work for somebody else it’s entirely up to you on how you get your money under control. But definitely look at how your emotions play a part. Look at how your environment plays a role. Look at how your family plays a role. And that’s the first step, awareness. So hopefully that helps you, and I’ll see you on the next episode. 

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