I’ve been working as a freelancer for over 3 years now. As much as I love being my own boss it definitely comes with its ups and downs. Seeing your blog grow makes you hungry for success. One of the ways to determine how well are you doing is tracking your monthly income. It’s so satisfying to see the numbers grow over the years. Even though I’m now making more money freelancing than I ever made working for someone else, I still can’t say I feel 100% comfortable about my finances…

Last month tax season hit me painfully and I learned the hard way that I must make peace with my financial situation sooner than later. I still feel so mad about the situation I put myself into and I promised myself to do everything I can to never go through this again. Not knowing where your money goes is stressful. Wouldn’t you be more satisfied with your life if you actually knew your numbers right? Well, I would! I also knew I just had to stop feeling like a failure simply because I have to set myself a budget.

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Today, I would like to talk about the ways I’m trying to put my financial life in order and feel excited about it.

I’M PUTTING MY NUMBERS DOWN. THIS TIME FOR REAL

There’s something so powerful about tracking your numbers. Seeing how much I made, how much I spent and how much I own makes me feel peaceful as I typically see that I can easily put 30-40% of my income for savings. It also shows me all the unnecessary purchases I’ve made during the month.

Read: How to Establish Steady Income as a Freelancer?

I SET FINANCIAL GOALS FOR MYSELF

I believe in setting up challenges for myself every day, so I have a clear reason to keep doing my best and grow further. I & the boy set ourselves a goal for the upcoming spring to finally start working on a very exciting project which requires for us to save up before we get things going. This works as a reminder that there are more important things than another pair of shoes in my life.

I LEARNED TO ACCEPT MY SITUATION

I have weeks when I’m swamped with orders and I have downtimes too. I realised that spending my weekend online shopping when I had a great week financially is definitely not the way to celebrate. I understood that in order to keep my finances on track I have to determine and accept my financial situation. As a freelancer, I simply cannot know 100% when the next downtime is coming my way and I have to prepare myself for it. I set aside 30% of my income for taxes, I put 30% towards savings and always try to leave at least 10% to save up some pocket money. This simply allows me to sleep better at night.

I LEARNED TO SLOW DOWN AND APPRECIATE HOW FAR HAVE I COME

It’s so hard to realise this when you feel like you haven’t accomplished all of your goals, but it’s important to sit down, pour yourself a glass of wine and remember where you & your business were 5 years ago. I personally was always broke, working in retail and living from paycheck to paycheck. I now allow myself to travel, eat out and still have money left for savings. When I see how far I’ve come it makes it easier for me to relax and see the growth without pushing myself too hard.

Read: 5 tips on getting started as a freelancer.

I GOT OBSESSED WITH MINIMAL LIFESTYLE IDEA

Now I’m not talking about all white outfits and interiors. What I mean is I actually learned to adopt minimalism in the way I see life. Sometimes we tend to forget that what we have is more than enough and we don’t need more stuff in our already overstocked lives. Embracing minimal lifestyle helps me appreciate non-material things in my day to day and think twice before I make a purchase.

Read: How I’m Embracing a More Minimal Life

I NOW RELY ON VARIOUS STREAMS OF INCOME

It’s easy to stress yourself out when your business is based on one project or service. I used to rely on my design website only for most of my freelance career. By monetising my blog I now have at least 3 different streams of income which calms me down when one of them is working slower than usual. I’m bringing even more digital products to my blog very soon and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Read: How Exactly I Make Money Blogging?

Hope you enjoyed this post, folks!

Let me know what are you most struggling with when it comes to making peace with your financial situation?