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This episode is all about what Marie Kondo can teach us about money, and as the name of this implies, I want to start with a little excerpt from Marie Kondo’s website. She says:

Why Tidy?

“Tidying is a powerful tool, but it’s not the destination. The true goal of tidying is to clear away clutter so you can live the life you want. When you put your house in order using the KonMari Method™, you have no choice but to listen to your inner voice – because the question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life. When you reassess your belongings and organize your home, you set the stage for a huge transformation. This is the magic of tidying!” End quote.”

Marie Kondo is a girl after my own heart. I freaking love this quote from her because this philosophy translates so beautifully to tidying up our finances and to getting our financial house in order. Hear me out…

Marie has 6 rules for tidying:

Rule 1: Commit yourself to tidying up

If we apply this to money, if we are not generating the revenue that we want in our business, if we are not keeping track of our business cash flow or if our personal finances feel like a hot mess right now, then if in order to reach a certain revenue goal or create more order in our financial lives it really begins with a decision to do so.

The Latin origin of the word decide itself actually means ‘to cut off’, it means to cut off any other alternatives, in other words to commit fully and completely and wholeheartedly to getting your finances in order. And on this podcast I’ll be talking ALOT about both business and personal finances because how we manage one is how we manage the other. Our personal finances are in lock step with our business finances my friend. So if you find that you’re not really managing one of them well, then chances are pretty high that you’re probably not managing the other one well either. 

Rule 2: Imagine your ideal lifestyle

For rule 2 she says Imagine your ideal lifestyle. I love this part because I truly truly believe that everything begins at the level of a thought and imagining something is really a form of creative thinking. What I just said there about thoughts I could probably talk about ad nauseum for days, and I just might some day; however I’ll leave it there for now so that I stay on track with what I want to cover here today.

Said in a different way, everything in our reality, the health of our business, the health of our finances, grew out of a thought. Think about it, no pun intended, but we wouldn’t have a business if we didn’t first think about starting one, we wouldn’t have a million dollars in the bank or maybe only little money in the bank if we didn’t first think the thoughts that led to us taking specific actions that led to that result.

And so, if you can imagine the business you really want to have and the lifestyle you really want to have, not just a “yeah that’d be nice, it might be nice to have that some day”. I mean start imagining having what you really want and taking daily action on the actual specific tasks that will move the needle. Because our thoughts lead to our emotions and our emotions cause our behaviours and our behaviours become our habits. Our thoughts and imagination are so powerful, use them to help you create the business and life you desire. 

Rule 3: Finish discarding first

Ok so I feel like there are two camps of people when it comes to discarding things – those who hold onto things because they just might need that thing one day ‘someday maybe’ and those who clear out ruthlessly and then wish they had held on to that random cable that they now need because some day actually happened. I am 1000% in the ruthless camp, I love a good clear out and I regularly do them. But jokes aside here when it comes to money, what we want to discard is our limiting beliefs about money and business, our limiting stories that don’t serve us.

To allow more abundance, more money, more clients, more sales, more profit, more business growth into our lives, we must first make room for it.

How can we receive more if we don’t have the space to actually hold it? How can we grow if we don’t remove what’s holding us down?

So my question to you today and this is something you can journal on later if you want, is what beliefs might be keeping you stuck? Or feeling overwhelmed or playing small somehow? What beliefs keep you repeating the same financial behaviours? When we become aware of them we can start to let them go.

You know how I said in rule 2 that our thoughts lead to our emotions which cause our behaviours, and our behaviours become our habits? Well guess what leads to our thoughts…our beliefs! Oftentimes our money beliefs are wired into us from a very young age by well meaning parents or caretakers who said things like “money doesn’t grow on trees, we can’t afford that, rich people are greedy, you have to work really hard for your money”, and so on and so on. As kids we absorb these beliefs and we accept them without even realising it. But when we become aware of them, we can begin the process of letting them go and replacing them with new and better ones.

Change your beliefs and you’ll change your life! That’s the TLDR version of rule number 3 – finish discarding first.     

Rule 4: Tidy by category, not by location

Ok rule 4 this one is quick and easy and applies to categorising expenses and income. If you’re using Xero or Quickbooks or something similar, make sure you’re categorising your expenses properly. This will give you a much clearer picture of the financial health of your business in the long run. If you offer more than one type of photography, for example you offer wedding photography and family photography as well as actual products like prints and albums, it’ll be helpful if you categorise your revenue to reflect those different sources too.

At the end of the quarter or the year you will clearly see which of your offerings are generating the most revenue and it might even reveal that you’re spending a lot of time on an offering that isn’t really generating revenue for you. It can help you make data driven decisions when you categorise things correctly. And if you’re unsure in any way or find the bookkeeping software confusing, you can have a one-on-one consult with a bookkeeper who’s experienced in your particular software who can show you, or better yet hire someone to do your bookkeeping for you.

Rule 5: Follow the right order

To me following the right order when it comes to business and money means paying myself a profit FIRST from every single job. And that’s because I plan for it and I have a cashflow system that allows me to do this. Then, following that step a percentage goes to operating expenses, my own wages and tax. It’s alot more indepth than what I can go into on this episode, but just know that paying yourself a profit first is not only possible but in my opinion it’s essential to building a profitable business. I will absolutely dive into this more on future episodes.

Rule 6: Ask yourself if it sparks joy

Another thing that Marie Kondo says that I love is that the KonMari method is not about perfectionism. She says it’s not about a perfectly tidy home but a life that sparks joy for you. She goes on to say “No two tidying festivals will look the same, and no two homes will feel the same after tidying. That’s because the KonMari Method emphasizes keeping the focus on yourself — exploring your values, priorities and happiness — rather than following a rigid set of tidying requirements.”  

Firstly I love that she calls it a tidying festival, that she can take something that someone might think sounds like the most tedious, boring, mundane thing they could possibly do with their time and she turns it into a festival. All she’s done there is choose a different lens through which she looks at tidying. And that is how I approach budgeting.

Now I know that budgeting can be a really controversial topic for some, some people hate the very idea of it, they find it restrictive or rigid or boring or impossible to stick to. I personally happen to enjoy budgeting, it really does work for my life though I don’t call it a budget I see it as a plan more than anything. I actually called it my aligned money plan for a long time, though lately I’ve changed to calling it my Wealth Dashboard to encompass all that it does. Ramit Sethi wrote the book I Will Teach You To Be Rich calls it a Conscious Spending Plan which I love.

Because that’s all a budget is, it’s a plan to help us spend intentionally – a plan for how I’m going to spend, save and invest.

When I follow my plan and I’m being intentional with my money, it sparks a huge amount of joy for me, because it means I’m spending in alignment with my values and I’m being less impulsive or wasteful. It makes me feel empowered, like I’m in control of my money – I’m the boss of it and that brings me joy! 

So in the words of Marie Kondo, life truly begins only after you have put your house in order. Amen Marie Kondo. I’ll apply that to my financial house too!

Resources Mentioned:

• Marie Kondo: www.konmari.com
• My personal Wealth Dashboard