I don’t know about you, but the end of the summer is always a bit of a bittersweet moment for me. The (somewhat) sweet and lazy days of summer, peppered with kids’ chaos, traveling snafus and fridges emptying at the speed of the light, quickly give room to bitter and busier days, along with more intense work, business and school schedules. What it also spells for many, if not most working women and moms, is a serious financial wake-up call.
As a result, most working women and moms find themselves running on empty at the end of the summer, needing to financially recover for the last three months of pay cuts, expensive vacations and outrageous childcare and camp options. Here are a few tips and strategies that may help in the process, and lay the foundation for future financial balance and success:
Pause to reflect and realign financially
Reflect and Reevaluate Your Financial Goals
Before going into panic mode or jumping into financial recovery mode, pause and take some time for reflection and realignment around your summer spending and financial goals:
What were the financial goals you set at the beginning of the year, if any?
Did your summer spending get out of control during your vacation?
Or did you manage to stick to your budget?
What is your financial vision going forward?
Assessing your finances against your goals will not only help you understand where you are financially; it will also help you understand your spending habits and identify areas for improvement.
2.Realign Your Budget for Success
Now that you’ve reflected on your spending and your goals, it’s time to get into financial realignment mode:
What discretionary expenses can be trimmed down?
Can the reduced expenses be allocated towards your financial goals, to build an emergency fund, pay off debt, or investing?
Building a budget will help guide your recovery journey and realign yourself financially. Tools like Mint, YNAB (You Need A Budget), and PocketGuard empower you to track your expenses, set financial goals, and monitor your progress. These apps sync with your bank accounts, categorize your spending, and provide insights into areas where you can cut back. This approach allows you to regain control of your finances and allocate funds towards recovery.
3. Navigate Work-Life Integration during the back-to-school season
Effectively integrating your career and family life is crucial for both your family and personal well-being and your financial well-being. This is where the back-to-school season is a great opportunity to create a structured routine that allows you to manage your work commitments, be present with your family and reduce your expenses through better planning and time management.
Take financial action!
4. Strategically tackle your debt!
TransUnion’s 2023 Spring and Summer 2023 Travel Report shows 57% of survey respondents planned to use credit card debt to travel. If you’re among those who accumulated debt over the summer, it’s time to take action:
Prioritize paying off high-interest debt to save money in the long run.
Consider consolidating your debt!
Negotiate with creditors to make your debt more manageable.
Freeing yourself from debt is one of the most important steps you can take towards thriving financially.
5. Explore New Income Streams!
It’s one thing to tackle your debt and cut expenses as part of realigning your budget. It’s also about increasing your income through diversifying your income streams. As a working woman and mom, tapping into your formal and informal skills is invaluable, from freelancing, consulting, or starting a side hustle.
6. Revamp Your Savings Strategy
As summer fades, it’s an ideal time to revisit your savings strategy:
Have a clear purpose for your savings so you can motivate to continue setting money aside.
Consider setting up automatic transfers to your savings accounts to make saving a habit.
Create specific savings goals, whether it’s for a family vacation, education funds, or retirement.
Grow forward!
7. Invest in Your Financial Education
Financial education will not only allow you to get out of the summer financial pit you may be in. It will also help you empower yourself to grow your financial wealth:
Take advantage of resources such as online courses, books, and workshops to enhance your financial literacy. Websites like Udemy, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning provide a range of courses suitable for various skill levels. Equipping yourself with the knowledge and tools to make informed financial decisions is an integral part of post-summer financial recovery.
Learn about investments, savings vehicles, and tax strategies will help you make informed decisions that align with your long-term goals.
8. Cultivate mindfulness and self-care.
Financial recovery can be a journey of ups and downs. Practicing mindfulness and self-care is essential to maintaining a positive mindset throughout the process. Engage in activities that bring you joy and reduce stress, whether it’s yoga, meditation, or spending quality time with loved ones.
9. Network and Support
Connect with other working women and moms who are also on the path to financial thriving. Join online communities, attend networking events, and share your experiences. The support and insights you gain from like-minded individuals can be invaluable in staying motivated and accountable.
All in all, transitioning from vacation vibes to financial thrive might seem intimidating and impossible to achieve. However, with the right strategies and mindset, you can make significant strides towards your financial goals. Remember, post-summer financial recovery is a journey, and each step you take brings you closer to a more secure and empowered future as a successful working woman and mom.
Now your turn, what strategies are you using to recover financially from the summer months?
In this episode, I discuss the rampamt anxiety working moms experience before and during the back-to-season, and share a back-to-school system to help alleviate the pressure.
Listen in for tips and tricks to beat the back-to-school guilt and exhaustion, and replace these with a more or less peaceful transition!
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to this week’s episode! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please share it by using the social media at the bottom of this post!
Also, leave me a review for the TCS podcast on Apple Podcasts !
For many, if not most working women and moms, back-to-school is quite the stressful time. New schedules to coordinate, childcare to secure, administrative duties to take care of, all the while juggling the rest of their commitments because life doesn’t stop because school is back in session. If anything, the intense post-summer rhythm ends up taking a toll on working women and moms, affecting their mental and physical well-being, as well as their careers and even personal relationships…This is especially more acute when working women and moms do not have the necessary support to handle all the related changes, from infrastructure to community support. Not to mention the financial toll that comes with the heightened school-related expenses for parents…
It’s no wonder then that, many working moms and parents in general, dread the back-to-school period. An Indeed survey reveals 84% of mothers and 85% of dads are taken by surprise by the back-to-school challenges. A majority of moms (94%) tend to feel that the chores and childcare are their responsibility, which also puts a strain on marriages and partnerships. In addition, moms also tend to deal with managing the desire to be present during daytime activities at school, welcome the kids home, and take advantage of social opportunities with fellow parents, along with the societal pressure that accompany these. Considering the number of dual-earning households where both parents have to work, this can pose serious problems in terms of coordinating schedules, leading successful careers and having harmony at home.
For many, if not most moms, these pressures directly conflict with getting back to a more intense work and family pace for the last months of the year. This adds itself to the pressure to finish the year well, and successfully meet deadlines and deliverables before the end of the year. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have opened a wider door to remote and flexible work arrangements, increasing the number of women in the workforce, it’s also created increased childcare issues and is burdening women with handling both the home and work front simultaneously.
As such, developing a back-to-school system that works best for each working mom can go a long way towards lessening the frustration, guilt, and even home and work issues that often arise at the end of the summer months. Here are three steps to consider:
Developing a vision and plan for the back-to-school season:
As mentioned earlier, the back-to-school season takes many parents by surprise. The sheer amount of tasks and coordination involved leaves many a working mom especially frazzled and stressed out. One of the main reasons for this is, as many tend to not give thought to it earlier in the summer, they underestimate the breadth of what is involved. If we add to it current childcare shortages, increasing inflation and other societal, political, and economic pressures, the whole thing can end up turning into the perfect parental and family storm.
Hence the need to develop a vision and plan beforehand. This involves starting at least a couple of weeks earlier, considering all individuals involved, including parents and children, but also the communities around, the schools and workplaces involved as well. How do we want the back-to-school season to feel? What errors and mistakes do we want to avoid?
Putting together all the schedules of all individuals and places involved allows to spot and fill in the blanks, that is all those times, commitments and duties that may require assistance and support, and find ways to approach these.
Set up a communication plan:
Very often, especially as working moms, we fail to communicate our needs and expectations, especially during harsh seasons. Being so accustomed to literally doing it all, or doing most of it, has robbed many of the skill to ask for help. As a result, overwhelm, frustration, even burnout ensue, unfortunately leaving us depleted and drained. This is where setting up an effective communication plan is crucial.
This entails communicating personal and professional needs and expectations, as related to scheduling, administrative tasks, school and family events as well as finances to the units that make up our communities, including home, work, schools, and the villages we operate in. Some examples include asking for remote and flexible work arrangements, coordinating schedules with partners and family support, or asking for teachers’ assistance.
Take action!
Last but not least, the last part of this system is to take consistent and dedicated action towards making this back-to-school system work. Change requires preparation and consistent action, and back-to-school changes are no exception. This is where implementing small modifications to personal, professional and family habits come in handy, such as progressively modifying bedtimes and wake-up times or slowly reinforcing daily study habits. Stacking habits, whereby new habits are built upon already existing ones, such as scheduling study time right after breakfast, can also help.
Most importantly, maintain the consistency of small changes over time makes all the difference. Involving the whole family, setting up a rewards system, or regularly motivating everyone can go a long way to keep at it!
All in all, back-to-school, while being a busy time for working moms and working parents/families as a whole, doesn’t need to be a time of struggle, frustration and anxiety. Setting up a solid system based on a strong vision and plan, adequate communication and consistent action can help transform a usually dreaded time of year, into one of successful transition.
What are your tips for a successful back-to-school season?
In this podcast episode, I’m chatting about restructuring our work for a better back-to-work season as working women and moms!
Listen in!
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to this week’s episode! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please share it by using the social media at the bottom of this post!
Also, leave me a review for the TCS podcast on Apple Podcasts !
Get up, take care of the home, go to work, come back home, take care of the home and family, and do it all over again the next day… For many working women and moms, this is the song of dance we’ve been accustomed to for generations. Despite the advances towards gender equality and couple equity, many of which have been adversely affected, some even reversed with the COVID-19 pandemic, the song hasn’t improved much. If anything, its cadence has even increased, cumulating household, caregiving, and childcare responsibilities heaped on the minds, bodies and souls of women all across the US and the world at large. As a result, millions of women have exited the workforce, some due to lack of childcare support, others due to sheer burnout and exhaustion, most due to a virulent and urgent need to rethink and restructure the way of work as we know it…
The reality is, work as we traditionally know it, does not work for women and mothers. It never did…It wasn’t made to, after all. Work as we know it, even as it slowly seeks to morph into a more inclusive environment, was made for men with wives at home to support with the household, caregiving and childcare unpaid labor. Even as society’s advances made it easier for women to enter in and over time remain in the workforce, thanks to the advent of technological advances such as household appliances and childcare facilities, albeit insufficient, lessening the burden on women, significant challenges have and still remain.
While the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for many working women and moms, and society at large, shining the light on the tragic imbalances at the core of couple inequity and the general deepening gender inequality, it was also a signal of impending change. As the structure of work revealed the vulnerability of certain sectors mostly led and staffed by women, it also forcefully made way for more remote and hybrid arrangements. As a result, it’s become obvious that work can, and may well need to be, worked differently; that productivity is not necessarily tied to physical presence, flexibility is a working woman and mom’s ally, and lack of childcare is a crisis in and of itself. These factors, and many others combined, are leading a new discussion and thought leadership on how work should really be structured today to make room for more inclusive, diverse and equitable contributions and leadership.
For many, if not most, working women and moms, a familiar flame of struggle and progress has been re-ignited. It’s the same flame that prompted women to fight for employment outside of the home, to seek to enter careers only reserved to men, and to reject the notion of having to choose between family and career. Today, this familiar flame is seeking to burn bright over the inequalities and inequities still holding women back, and burn down the unfair vestiges of an antiquated childcare, caregiving and work structure.
As working women and moms, it’s also our prerogative to reflect on, discuss and implement the changes, at the micro and macro level, necessary for us to truly get back to work. Not the work we’ve known for decades, with its biases such as the maternal wall bias or performance review biases , ceilings and walls. Not the work that forces us to choose between family and career. Not the work that creates a societal chasm between genders, couples and families. Rather, it’s the work that strengthens us as it strengthens our families, communities and societies that we’re interested in getting back to. The work that recognizes women and moms as the legitimate other working half of society, with all the rights and privileges that entails. The work that is done on purpose, for a purpose, and with a purpose.
While many of these changes are to happen at a structural and foundational level, they also begin at the micro level through each and every one of us and how we choose to structure the work we do and the lives we live. It begins with:
Reflection:
Historically, the traditional structure of work has created a somewhat rigid organization and assignment of responsibilities, privileges and processes. By not making room for flexibility, change and inevitable progress, and upholding the status quo, this traditional structure of work has contributed for a long time to muting the professional aspirations and desires of many a woman. As such, it has also discouraged the natural process of self-reflection that accompanies all human evolution, regardless of gender.
It’s this natural process of self-reflection that prompts us to continuously take the pulse of our own evolution, to ask ourselves what gifts and talents we ought to use for ours and others’ benefits, what capacity we can expand to. Through self-reflection, we can challenge assumptions and status quo, positioning ourselves to create the changes we, and others, need.
When was the last time you made an inventory of your skills, gifts and talents? When was the last time you asked yourself whether you were operating at your full capacity, or stifling your own growth, thus depriving others of its fruits too? When was the last time you wondered what it would take for you to operate on purpose and gain fulfillment in this season of your life?
Planning:
Part of maintaining the status quo is about deliberately not changing or adjusting existing structures. When it comes to work, while many “quick” fixes have been implemented to attempt to remedy gender inequities, from increasing the number of women on boards to various gender-focused diversity initiatives, it’s the structural foundation that has to be addressed. I remember a good friend and colleague telling me years ago: “ The 9-to-5 is an antiquated relic, and will disappear someday”. As we navigate the post-COVID era, with the advent of remote and hybrid work, we’ve come across the realization that the structure of work can (and will) change without major repercussions.
This is where as working women and moms we can begin and continue to think about restructuring the way we work to our benefit, rather than putting up with work that runs opposite to our well-being, sanity and success. Re-imagining the way we work as women and moms entails not just performing a deep self, family and community assessment. It is also about making the often hard decisions required to get back to a different type of work. Some of these may require deciding on a change in schedules, a hybrid work arrangement, or a drastic change in employer or industry altogether.
Making the Change:
Last but not least, getting back to work, albeit this time work that actually works for working women and moms, also requires implementing the necessary changes. Whether drastic changes or minor scheduling adjustments, the reality is, on working women and moms’ obstacle-laced paths, changes, even when critically necessary, constitute yet another obstacle. Add to it the fact that many, if not most changes related to women, from access to certain professions reserved to men to even being allowed to work after having children, were challenging and lengthy to come by, to say the least. As working women and moms stand at the core of the family, the community and the society, any structural change affecting working women and moms also affect the latter.
This is where making a structural work change as working women and moms, such as negotiating flexible work arrangements, creating support networks, and advocating for policy changes, goes further than simply taking on new habits, or even setting systems and processes. Making effective, long-term and significant structural changes to the way we work and live, from changing our schedules to creating the support networks we need, involves:
Putting quality of life first: Determining and focusing on what constitutes our quality of life can help spot and pick the companies and businesses that offer more flexibility and well-being. It can also help in determining what needs to change both on the home and professional front.
Fostering open communication in and outside of home: Open communication requires identifying and addressing the issues we face. For working women and moms, open communication when it comes to our needs whether related to maternity leave or childcare support, can help amplify our voices and bring about much needed change.
Taking a stand and committing to long-term change: Making effective change demands having a long-term vision and commitment to it. What is the vision behind the change that needs to happen in our work and way of life? What is the “why” behind it, to fuel the commitment towards it? Realizing that some of these changes may well take more time than anticipated can also help keep us on track.
Overall, restructuring our work as a working women and moms to gain more purpose and fulfillment will require a similar struggle and progress than the women who have come generations before us. Yet, it’s a struggle and progress that also begins at the individual, family, community and societal level. One that requires reflection, planning and ultimately making the necessary changes.
How are you restructuring the way you work and live as a working woman and/or mom?
