LWL09. Managing Money
CHECK-IN – Maximum time 20 minutes.
Mindfulness: Let’s take a break from what you have been doing, breathe deeply, relax and recharge.
Step 1: Find a comfortable seated position with both feet grounded on the floor. Put a hand on your stomach. Close your eyes.
Step 2: Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Notice your thoughts and feelings and any tensions in your body.
Step 3: As you inhale and exhale, breathe deeply so your belly fills and empties with air. The hand on your stomach helps you practice belly – not chest breathing.
Step 4: For the next two minutes make breathing in and out your only focus. Let your thoughts come and go without trying to control them. If you find an area of tension in your body, relax it and let the tension go.
Step 5: At the end of the two minutes slowly open your eyes. Gently bring your presence back to your surroundings.
Our purpose: This We Recover Together group has come together because each of us wants to be our “best self”. As a group we will work together, learn from each other and give each other support. We will combine our faith, courage and ideas to help each other. To create a safe place for honest sharing of our lived experience we use appropriate language and behavior. We are empathetic, nonjudgmental, genuine, warm, steer clear of confrontation and imposing our own solutions. We encourage hope and compassion for all. We want to reframe and energize our family/CSOs connection into a “therapeutic alliance” that leads to progress and healing for everyone. There is a lot we can learn from one another.
Gratitude: Taking time every day to be grateful can help our health, relationships, emotions and happiness. What is something you are grateful for this week? (Everyone in group shares.)
Review “How Are We Doing?” worksheet. (Led by loved one with behavioral health disorder.)
· Past week’s recovery activities.
· Goals for next week.
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SKILL FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING section – Maximum time 20 minutes
Discuss: How did you benefit from working on the commitments from our last meeting?
Think: Has ignorance or carelessness about my financial situation made life difficult? How would life be better if I was more thoughtful with my money?
Money plays a critical role in our lives. Managing money includes things such as income, debt and savings as well as understanding of financial processes and resources. Many people report they worry about money more than their own health, careers or love life. We may want to avoid tracking expenses or looking at our bank accounts. Carelessly using credit cards or other consumer credit can quickly lead us into debt. Sometimes we assume that someone else is responsible for managing “the money”, when family’s finances are everyone’s responsibility. Trying to transfer that shared responsibility onto others will only push us further into financial trouble.
Keeping track of expenses, making a budget, and sticking to it are important skills to have in order to be finically responsible and independent. When we are in debt to creditors, family members or friends it can feel like our time is spent working just to repay them. Learning how to improve your financial situation now will help you feel prepared to handle potentially stressful financial situations in the future.
Everyone’s financial situation is different. The most important point to remember is that managing finances, like any other part of recovery, is an individual process that does not occur immediately. We can be proactive learning about and developing money-managing strategies to help improve our finances. Four ways to change how we use our money are listed below. While we're reading, think about the good things that could happen in our lives if we followed these four ways.
A. Work hard and smart to make money.
B. Give back, donate to a good charitable or religious cause.
C. Pay ourselves, save.
D. Spend less money than we get and avoid debt.
Discuss: As a group let's talk about some of the good ideas, we have to live these four ways.
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The first step to managing our money better is to know how we are using it. Completing the “Weekly Spending Patterns Worksheet” is a good beginning to helping understand our spending patterns.
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COMMIT & CELEBRATE section
Commitments. This week I will:
· Complete the “Spending Patterns Worksheet”, write down what I spend each day this week.
· Work with other group members on my finances.
· Reinforce and celebrate recovery by sharing a pleasant recreational activity with members of my family/CSOs group. (See “Celebrate Recovery Handout” for ideas.) __________________________________________________________________
Benefits from keeping commitments:
· Understand why and what you spend money on.
· Sharing pleasant recreational activities helps keep us close and can become a buffer for negative interactions that can be part of any relationship.
Watch: Lyric video. (Video that reinforces this week’s topic.)
WEEKLY SPENDING PATTERNS WORKSHEET
The first step to using our money better is to know how you are using it. Completing the table below will help understand your spending patterns.
Step 1: Choosing from these financial categories write down what you spent on a daily basis -- Housing, Transportation, Food, Utilities, Insurance, Medical & Healthcare, Saving, Investing, & Debt Payments, Personal Spending, Recreation & Entertainment, Miscellaneous.
Step 2: Look at how you spent your money this week. Circle where you think you spent too much.
Step 3: Draw a "star" next to the things you can spend less money on in the coming week.
Category | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
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