What Financial Baggage do you Bring to Your Family?

By  //  October 23, 2021

Managing debt is quite tough and needs skills to overcome shortcomings and liabilities. Like parenting style, every person has different money management skills. According to the search, money is the basis of all problems and conflicts.

So, it’s vital to manage money for a better life. In simple words, it’s the secret of living a happy and content marriage and relationship life. I know you have checked many budgeting and financial apps for proper planning. But if you feel that you are still unable to catch up, you have financial baggage. If you already don’t know about this term, then here we are going to break down this idea: 

What is financial baggage?

If you are dealing with a financial breakdown and money-related problems are hurting, you term it as FINANCIAL BAGGAGE. But the situation of financial baggage doesn’t primarily apply to money-related issues.

So, it means the problems in this situation are related to mental reasoning; according to the mental health policy institute report, mental health affects the money spending ability. The institute ran a survey where they experimented on 5500 people. 

However, 72% of the participants said that their money-related problems are linked with mental issues. Apart from this, 93% of people stated, their mental problems lead to poor spending habits. So, the results of the survey indicated there is a link between financial baggage and spending habits. Thus, if you want to improve your financial situation, then improve your current mental health. Here are a few tips that will help to improve the baggage. 

Set your spending habits: 

The first and foremost thing is to set your spending habits and identify any bad habits. Bad spending habits are the main things that lead to financial instability and financial baggage. So, if you want to move ahead, then categorize your spending and eliminate bad habits. Moreover, it would help if you remembered that everything is doable. 

Replace your habits with something good: 

If you want to set up your bad habits, it’s vital to replace them with good ones. If you think that your spending needs are still there, you can spend money on the most important thing. Apart from this, you also have an option to replace the bad habits with healthy ones. For instance, replace money spending habits with book reading or by joining a book club. So, it would help if you learn how to control different parts of your life in a good way. Once you successfully design habits, you are ready to handle every aspect of the mental problem. 

Keep the record when you break bad habits: 

Once you are breaking the bad financial habits, you are ready to come out of the financial baggage. For instance, when you are in a bad mood and want to buy a dress, you go to a book club instead. So, do remember that you are breaking a vicious circle of bad financial habits. Apart from this, keep looking for long-term goals where you can ditch bad habits. 

What are different types of financial baggage? Financial baggage that you bring to your family:

If we look at the relationships, then each one brings financial baggage. However, this situation can crush the marriage, and we have seen the divorce of couples due to this reason. If you want to deal with the situation better, let’s start with the basic types of baggage. 

Childhood baggage: 

The childhood of every kid is different in its ways. But with the childhood baggage, we can assess the parenting style and many other things. Every parent wants to raise a child differently, but we know this isn’t possible for all kids. According to the stats, about 6.6 million kids deal with mental abuse, sexual and mental harassment, leading to childhood baggage.

Ultimately, childhood baggage brings mental and financial instability in adulthood. If the spouse is going through any condition, you can adopt the following things to improve the situation. 

Learn to listen carefully Try to be supportive
Always keep the communication open Develop trustworthy relationship
Give your kid time, and care Support your child with patience

But communication is the crucial thing that gives a new life to your relationship, whether with kids. If you can’t sort out something, then it’s better to contact a counselor. 

Financial baggage: 

The other primary type of baggage is the financial one that can crush marriage. So, you face this situation when you deal with the inability to manage finances. We have seen many couples who ended up in divorce due to daily living expenses. So, you can improve this situation by collecting the financial baggage. The central conflict is between the demands and needs.

Thus, in this situation, you can take learning classes to handle the problem together. Here are the following skills that you can learn by taking classes: 

Spending habits Investment habits
Stewardship Goal setting
Ability to overcome struggles

It depends on your financial situation how hard you will have to try to achieve the purpose. So, stay honest with your spouse and identify who is a money saver from the couple. 

Relationship baggage: 

We all know that emotional scars are real, and it could be hard to overcome the situation. The relationship baggage could be of any type, like scars of a past relationship, marriage, or previous mistreatment. So, it’s hard to survive, and you find the way behind spending money.

Thus, if you want to improve this situation, then take any of these actions: 

 Discuss feelings of each other 

Keep the financial track by using an invoice generator 

Always be consistent 

Communicate with each other 

Do small things that make your spouse happy and content 

The critical thing is that you should stay trustworthy in marriage and share the responsibility. It’s the best way to move forward selflessly without feeling the burden of financial baggage.

Here are the following ways to take weddings and debts hand in hand: 

Combine finances after marriage Set a budget for date nights Set up an emergency fund
Avoid blame game Appreciate the efforts of another person Don’t give up

So, it’s always wise to work after proper planning because it’s the only way to manage finances. Moreover, remember you don’t need millions of dollars to have a memorable and beautiful life.