Mary Drennen is #goodwithmoney
The Wealth Edit has kicked off its Good with Money Challenge, where, from June 1 to August 15, participants will aim to save $5,000 – and learn useful savings tips in the process. Throughout these 75 days, we’re featuring women who are #goodwithmoney – hopefully they’ll inspire you through their tips and tricks to realize that you are also good with money and, like the rest of us, getting better every day.
I’ve always been one of those that operates my personal finances on intuition. When I got remarried seven years ago, my financial guru husband could never figure out why or how I operated this way. It just worked for me. What I mean by intuition is this: I was always keenly aware of what I was bringing in and what was going out. I never spent more than I had, and I was very, very on top of my personal finances – not on a dollars and cents basis or keeping a tight spreadsheet, but just based off my intuition.
Fast forward seven years: We now have six kids together – many, many more household expenses than I had when it was simply me and my daughter. Much more to manage, and intuition wasn’t cutting the mustard. During COVID, I really took control over my portion of our personal finances and dialed in our spending habits. In fact, I would say the last 12 months have been the most impactful to our family’s bottom line.
Here’s my big money hack (and this applies to personal finance – not business). If you do not have the CASH to pay for a _______ (new car, expensive vacation, handbag, etc.), you need to buy a different (car, vacation, handbag) that you can afford and pay for fully at the time of purchase.
Mary Drennen
