We have never been budget-rific sort of people, always spending less than we have and saving for a rainy day, but never really knowing WHAT and WHERE our money went, outside of the required payments.

During the month of October I was invited to take part in the #CentsAbility Challenge with Manulife. I entered into it thinking, we are already pretty Centsable. . . we don’t really NEED to watch our spending.

Or do we?

We always seem to have enough money to do whatever we want to do, or perhaps we have adjusted what we want to do to how much we have automatically?  Needless to say, having a better relationship between our goals and dreams and our budget is needed. Not because we are missing out, or struggling with debt, but just because transparent relationships are usually healthier than ones that aren’t.

We took this month to make money part of our conversation.  We talked about our earnings, and our spending.  We worked together to put money aside so that the hubby could attend a conference in the coming month, something that was always on his list, but never realized and always put as a last priority.

We took advantage of sale days, and made wiser choices when it came to putting food on the table.  We put fresh eggs out in the farm stand, rain or shine, even when we felt like skipping a day.

We didn’t focus on earning more, or spending less, but on paying attention to what we were doing.  We kept track and recorded and started setting benchmarks for how we want our relationship with money to be.

Because for us, money has always been a kind of uncomfortable topic of conversation.  We don’t share how much we make (or spend) or save. It is put into a box with religion and sex, tucked away for whispered conversations, only when needed.

And it shouldn’t be awkward. And it shouldn’t be uncomfortable, especially between me and the hubby.

Feeling comfortable and secure it what we have will allow us to feel more comfortable and secure TALKING about it.  To be aware of how many eggs are in our basket (and how many baskets we have!)

Not only that, but to know how many eggs we are expecting, what % of those eggs might break before we can use them and how many eggs we should store away for the winter to keep the family fed.

And by eggs, I mean dollars.

So what did I learn from the #CentsAbility challenge?

I learned that we are still doing ok, but that by paying better attention to what we are DOING and what we WANT to be doing we can fit a few dreams into our financial plan.  That by changing the way we treat money today we can achieve more tomorrow, and in the long term.

My #CentsAbility challenge isn’t over, in fact we are going to make #CentsAbility part of our lifestyle now and start giving our budget the time it deserves. Participating in this challenge made me realize how important my relationship with money needs to be, and how I had not been giving it the time it deserves.

What about you?  What is your relationship with money like?  How can you change it for it to be a healthier experience?