21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money

What does the beginning of a new year mean to you? For many, it’s a welcome event. January 1st represents a blank page, a fresh start, a new chapter, a…(insert your preferred metaphor here).

But for others, the start of a new year serves as a reminder of goals unmet, changes unmade, and a continuation of overwhelm and disappointment.

The difference between those two perspectives? Hope. The person looking forward to the new year has hope for what they want to accomplish, while the person dreading January 1st has lost hope.

Hope is Powerful

The name of this blog is Hope+Cents for a reason. I believe in the power of hope—the power of both its presence and its absence.

I sincerely believe that if you want to make significant and lasting change—if you’re going to do anything big—hope must be involved. (And to be clear, when I say “hope,” I’m not talking about wishing. I’m talking about believing, trusting, and expecting that your outcome will come to fruition.)

You must believe firmly and deeply that the change you want to see is possible—that things can and will be different.

When I was stuck in my financial mess and overwhelmed by $74,000 of consumer debt, it was a lack of hope that kept me there (and drove me deeper into my mess) for years. I thought there was no way out—that I would just always be in debt. I felt defeated. I did not have hope.

And the result of that hopelessness was inaction. I did nothing about my situation for a loooong time…so much wasted time.

But hope was also the catalyst that jump-started my getting out of debt. I started believing that paying off the debt was possible. And having that hope fueled my debt-free journey. It kept me going for the two years it took to pay off the $74,000.

Don’t underestimate the power of hope.

But enough about me (if you’d like to read more about my debt-free journey, you can do that here). This is about you.

Could You Use Some Hope?

As we enter the new year, do you feel hopeless about your finances or another area of your life?

I recognize that the word “hopeless” is strong. It may conjure up images of someone dragging along, head down, tattered clothes, literally looking hopeless. But hopelessness is not always so extreme. Hopelessness can sound like:

• “I guess I’ll have this debt forever.”
• “There’s no way I’m going to get out of this mess.”
• “I’ll always be ________.”
• “There’s no point in trying.”
• “It’s not going to work.”
• “I’ve tried that before.”
• “I’ll never make enough.”
• “It would take a miracle…”

If you’ve thought or said these or similar statements, you’re a little low on hope. And when hope is absent, you don’t act. Or worse—you make decisions that sabotage your progress. But, when you operate with a sense of hope, you feel energized. You believe you can accomplish things.

Hope On its Own is Not Enough

Of course, hope alone will get you nowhere. You can’t hope your way out of debt or hope your way to retirement. You can’t use hope as a downpayment on a home.

A sense of hope must be backed up with clear action that will point you toward the change you want to see. Likewise, action without hope isn’t productive.

Hope and action support each other.

Jumpstart Your Year with 21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money

So, I’d like to help you start this year off on a note of hope. I invite you to join me for 21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money.

Over the next three weeks, I will offer a daily blog post designed to encourage you and give you hope so you can take control of your money. Each post will have a practical action step for you to complete.

You can check back here daily, or sign up to be emailed when each post goes live.

A crucial part of 21 Days of Hope+Help for Your Money is the action steps because again, hopelessness can cause you to freeze, to do nothing, to resign to the thought that you can’t change. But hoping without action is just wishing.

Most of the action steps will be quick moves you can make immediately, while a few may require a little more time and effort. Some of the steps are directly related to managing your money, while others address mindset, habits, and your life in general. Of course, we won’t cover every single thing regarding money—because well, that’s just not possible. But the idea is to help you establish or firm up your foundation for managing your money.

Depending on where you are on your financial journey, you may have already completed a particular action step. If that’s the case, take the opportunity to assess and perhaps tweak what you have already done.

My goal at the end of these three weeks is that you feel uplifted and empowered to take control of your money. I don’t know exactly where you are financially, but I do remember what it felt like to be without hope and to do nothing as a result. And I want to help you break free from that. I want to give you reason to have hope about your finances and life.

Are You In?

Regardless of the state of your finances and regardless of what your financial goals are, why not start off the year on a note of hope?

If things are going well, and you could use some motivation to keep you going, or if you feel overwhelmed, and sometimes think your goals are out of reach, join me.

We’ll begin tomorrow with Day 1. Before we get going, though, comment below, or tweet me to let me know you’re in! And, if you’d like some company over the next 21 days or you know someone who could benefit from 21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money, share this post with them.

Again, you can check back here on the blog daily for that day’s post or sign up to be emailed when each post goes live.

Let’s start this year off on a note of positivity and action!

Go to Day 1

Are you in? Let me know in the comments below!