23 May Money-Woke Chronicles: Mastering Financial Awareness

Let’s face it, the majority of us are terrible with money (admitting it is half the battle). Add a splash of recession and a sprinkle of the worst housing market in recent history, and we find ourselves in a generation WHO AINT GOT NOTHIN’ and carry astronomical debt. But have we just accepted this fortune for ourselves? The majority of us are yearning for a place to call our own or in some cases are following #Blackgirlluxury Tiktok and are manifesting a summer in Italy and a house in Monaco. Looks easy, doesn’t it? Just one brilliant idea, and boom—we’re rolling in cash, we think to ourselves at 2 a.m. while dreading the 9-5 grind the next morning. Well, truth be told, wealth is built over time through discipline—a hard pill to swallow. So, who can we blame for our financial woes? Inflation? Politicians? Our bad boss who will never promote us? Everyone but our terrible spending habits, bad money management and scarcity mentality is what we choose to blame whenever our terrible money habits are EXPOSED. 

If this is you, have some f***in’ decorum and fix the problem! “Get your f***ing ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days” as Kim said. So, let’s work towards clearing our overgrown debt and building wealth to achieve financial freedom. Remember, it’s all about sacrifice. We want more than just a good meal and a cute bag. At 30-something, we were destined for greatness and decided to sacrifice a bit more to get a lot more. Sacrifice looks different to us, I’m(Deqa) single as a dolla bill and Edil is a wife and mom of two. While our lives are completely different, our goals are quite similar. We want a luxurious life without paying anything for it. Just kidding, but in all seriousness, we realized we need to hold each other accountable, especially when it comes to our spending habits.

 A quote by Steve Martin, captures this sentiment. 

 “I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too.” 

How many times have we bought gasoline-powered turtleneck sweaters and convinced ourselves we needed them? It’s pathetic. In some way, we are all guilty of purchasing ridiculous things we don’t need. But here’s the reality: part of adulting is having responsibilities, being accountable for our actions, and doing the right thing—often the hard thing. It’s time to face the consequences of our spending habits and embrace the necessary changes to achieve financial stability.

We started our money making mindshift by cracking the whip on each other and reminding each other to have some f***ing docurum when we want to purchase something outrageous. Following the whip, we started to change what we consume to aid our “money flow within me mindstate”.  Sounds ridiculous but the things you consume will eventually consume you. We swamped music for money, podcasts, TV for self help and wealth building books and we changed what we talk about, changing our own limiting beliefs around money. 

In the coming weeks we are going to breakdown how you can master the money game and get your sh*t together by: scrutinizing your expenses like a financial detective, unleash your entrepreneurial spirit and monetize your passions, budget mindfully in alignment with your values, level up your financial literacy game, and build a badass emergency fund for ultimate financial resilience.

We challenge you to show up for yourself and follow us while we keep it jiggy with you and let you know how we’re doing. Be sure to hit our site every Monday for more “Cloth Talk” where we deep dive on how we are going to achieve our goals now that we have accepted we got sh*t to do.