I just had the best call!
A coaching client was telling me how excited she was about her life.
“OMG – You are not going to believe this!”
She couldn’t get the words out fast enough.
I could actually feel the happiness and excitement in her voice and…
I was covered in goosebumps just listening to her.
It’s a complete turnaround from when we first started working together…
She felt pretty stupid about how her money picture looked.
She felt stuck in a job she wasn’t sure she even wanted, but she stayed because of money.
She was exhausted by all the hours she worked, and she had no money to show for it!
Her trust in herself was at an all-time low.
Her self-esteem was taking a hit because her finances were a mess:
No savings.
Credit card debt.
A hefty mortgage.
Which didn’t make sense at all.
She’s an executive at a large company and makes great money.
But she had no idea where it was going.
She didn’t think she was living extravagantly and didn’t feel like she was splurging.
But…she was doing all the time?
Spending on a whim, thinking it would make her feel better.
So I asked her to try one simple thing:
Go back and track her spending.
Not to budget.
Not to cut things out.
Just to see clearly.
Every dollar. One month.
Two weeks later, she emailed me with the subject line:
“Holy crap.”
She’d spent thousands on “little things” that didn’t seem like much—online carts, cute sale items, even some duplicates of what she already owned.
So I asked her to get curious about just one category of spending: clothing.
That’s when the big Aha came.
She realized every item of clothing was tied to a feeling:
— The dress after a tough client call
— The shoes after scrolling Instagram and feeling left out of the cool club
— The jacket she didn’t need (hello, overflowing closet)—a reward for a productive week
It wasn’t about fashion like she thought it was…
It was about soothing.
Her emotional system had learned: click, spend, relief, breathe.
If she wanted to build real wealth (and she did)…
Her spending needed to become intentional, not a knee-jerk reaction to whatever emotion she was trying to manage.
So we got to work building strategies:
Before spending: ask, Is this a want or a need? If it’s a need, do I need it now?
Journal through the urge to splurge—what’s this really about?
5-minute walks between meetings (especially the stressful ones)
Post-it Notes with reminders of her dream life—taped everywhere
Then we started saving what she wasn’t spending.
Now, six months later, here’s what I heard on our call:
✨ I negotiated a new position in the company – I work less and get paid more!
✨ “I have an emergency fund—and my debt is almost gone!”
✨ “I booked a solo trip to Portugal and it’s paid for!”
That’s where my goosebumps came in.
Wow.
And best of all?
She doesn’t just feel powerful with money – her whole life has changed.
Because that eye-opening exercise—tracking her spending—was never about budgeting.
It was about self-awareness, emotional clarity, and reclaiming her financial power.
Her money became her hero.
Her ally.
Her BFF.
And now it’s helping her step fully into a dream life—and she feels AH-mazing.
If you’ve been disheartened by your money and finances…
If you’re scared to even look?
Start small.
Look anyway.
It’s not about cutting back.
It’s about paying attention.
Tracking your spending shows you your patterns, without judgment.
It helps you tap into what makes you tick.
Because learning more about how you operate around money is the key to feeling good in your own skin, and living a life that lights you up.
Sometimes the very thing we’re avoiding…
Is the key to the peace we’re chasing.
