How many times have you set a goal and not stuck with it? I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all dropped the ball more than once before. When you don’t have any accountability, it’s easy to not follow through. It helps to have accountability to yourself and someone else.
Have you written down your six-month financial goal yet? Having it written down creates a sort of accountbilty to yourself. If it’s not written down, it’s just a wish or a hope.
If you didn’t actually write down your goal, I’ll give you a second chance. You can write it down on a note card and put it in your wallet, on your computer monitor, on your fridge, on your mirror, or wherever you will see it and be inspired by it.
Now that you’ve written down your goal, we will take it a step further. Telling someone about your goal will solidify your goal even further. We all feel more committed to a goal when we have told others about it.
You don’t need to make a public announcement, but choosing a person or two to hold you accountable to your goals will increase your success in achieving them.
Having a buddy or accountability partner goes beyond just having someone hold you accountable to your goals. A good partner will be more than just a taskmaster checking in on your progress. Your buddy, if you find a good one, will encourage you each step of the way.
Buddies in the Same Boat
A few times in my life I have felt motivated to run, not because someone was chasing me, but for fun! One time Mike and I even competed in a triathlon (swimming and biking are more fun than running). The best training partners are the ones who run alongside you and train with you. You both have similar goals so you training together just makes sense. Not only is there accountability, motivation, and encouragement, but it’s just more fun.
Finding a buddy who’s in the same boat is a great option for financial goals too. Do you know someone who is also trying to be more frugal and has set lofty financial goals too? Could you both benefit from one another’s encouragement and camaraderie? You don’t have to share every financial detail with your buddy, just enough about your goals and commitments that you can support and help one another, as well as celebrate one another’s success.
Spouses can be the Best or the Worst
Sometimes a spouse makes a great accountability partner. While your weaknesses and strengths are different, your overall goals (financial and otherwise) should be well-aligned. You are each privy to all the ins and outs of your shared finances, which is convenient. You both benefit from successfully accomplishing your goals. Hopefully you have learned to work together as a team. If you are both on board with revamping your spending and saving habits and making the necessary changes to reach your goals, then your spouse might make a great accountability partner.
In other cases, closeness can make it too easy to not be your best. For example, if my husband and I have a 6 am date to go running, I might complain that I’m tired and try to talk him out of it when the alarm goes off at 5:45. Depending on how tired he is, I might be successful.
On the other hand, if I am meeting a friend to run at 6 am, you better believe I’ll drag my tired self out of bed anyway so I don’t let her down.
It may be too easy to justify breaking your goals to your spouse. And of course, if your spouse is not on board with the proposed changes, he or she wouldn’t be a great accountability partner.
Invite a Friend
I love that so many of you are sharing your commitments and progress in the comments, on social media, and via emails. I feel a great sense of community and support among you. Having a real-life, in-person buddy will add another dimension of support in addition to what you can find online.
Throughout the rest of the month, I’ll encourage you to share your progress and commitments with your accountability partner. It would be great to have a buddy who was following along and accepting the same challenges. If you’ve got a friend who you think might benefit from a Frugal Fresh Start, invite them to follow along and be your buddy.
Day 4 Challenge
Find someone to participate in the Frugal Fresh Start Challenge with you–your spouse, a relative, a friend, or a co-worker. If you can’t find someone to join the challenge with you, at least find someone you can share your goal and your progress with, a buddy to encourage you and keep you honest along the way. We all have lofty goals and will need support and encouragement not just this month, but until we reach those goals!
Such a wise post! Having run many many marathons and having trained with many accountability partners I can only confirm what you say. In my case my wife is tougher that Chuck Norris so I never talked her out of a 20 mile training run. But I definitely tried! Nothing better/worse than being married to Chuck Norris.
Stephanie reading this in 2019,
I think having an accountability buddy is a massive boost on achieving goal. I agree with you that if it is not a written goal it is more like a hope or wish. The goal has to be written.
I use accountability partner every week to make sure that I am on track and getting things done. Not just the busy work, actual work that are important.
I didnt tell my husband signed up for this challenge only because I forgot until I got the Day 1 email. I told him that day and was very excited about it. He was excited too because he has the same financial goals as I do (paying off our debt). We met with a financial advisor a few months ago to get us set up on the right track and he uses YNAB as well. I also told him the things I have given up for the month of January and he is very supportive. Im excited to be a team to become more financially independent!
That’s so exciting Samantha! Being a “team” with your husband is the best! 🙂
Getting re-setup in Mint showed that we have spent an obscene amount of money the last few months on food – both groceries and eating out. =( So I set what I believe is quite a high budget and added a bit on, but it’s still quite a lot lower than what we spent each month recently. From here on, we’ll pay close attention to make sure we don’t go over our budget number. Any amount left in the budget at the end of the month goes to a vacation fund. Once we get a nice chunk, we’ll start planning a cruise. (We took one about 5 years ago, for our 20th anniversary. It was our first cruise, and our first vacation of any kind in over 10 years. We haven’t been able to go away since, and really really want to!) Talked to hubby and he’s in, so we’re partners in the game. =) YaY!
Tracking your spending is a real eye-opener! A cruise sounds like some great motivation to get spending down!
Stephanie –
Here is my written down goal – I want my husband and I to be accountable this year. Our last two years have been hell (he was diagnosed with MS, my grandmother died, I got laid off from my job) and due to the enormous stress, we let everything but the absolutely urgent slip. Now that we are recovering, he has a year and a half left in pharmacy school and I want to tackle the things we let slip through the cracks. I want us to get through this year in a better financial place and do the best we can.
Thank you for your blog, it makes me feel so much less alone and that there are others out there struggling too! (And that we can do it!)
Oh that sounds like a really rough year Rach! I think the goal to be accountable and to be in a better place is a good one. You can do it! 🙂
I’m afraid the internet is my accountability partner — I started my blog in large part because I didn’t want to talk about money with my IRL friends in the level of nutty detail I wanted to go into. 🙂 The good news is that it’s actually worked; I feel very motivated to meet my goals when I know I’m going to be writing about them.
Being accountable on the internet has worked well for use too. It has curbed my spending sometimes, by not wanting to have to report that spending here.
My husband and I will start spending together but it’s usually me who spends and him asking how much is left and if he can buy something. We have decided to give each of us a $20/ month no questions asked spending money to be saved, used whatever when ever we feel like. All other purchases need to be discussed and agreed upon like the $300 I spent on Amazon this month already and told him after. This is usually not a problem for bills, groceries, etc but the extra money disappears so quickly. I was also going to invite a friend so I have some outside accountability as well.
Having your own personal spending money is a great idea and having it limited to $20 will give freedom but not break the budget. Talking about other purchases beforehand and having good communication is so important.
My wife is frugal but is pained when I try to talk to her about the finances. She is a great partner for fitness & food though.
That’s great that she’s frugal! 🙂
My husband makes for a great accountability partner for our finances, but not for fitness and eating better.
So true, for me too.
🙂 You can’t have it all, right?! I think when it comes to fitness and food, I am the slacker partner!