Let's Talk... Money

As I open my lloyds banking app my tummy starts to tighten and the anxiety rises to my chest as the screen loads. My inevitable wait to see minus figures always makes me feel a bit shitty about myself, like how have I got myself into this position? Am I stupid? Not working hard enough? I always feel on the outside, like everyone has discovered the secret to making money and no one is telling me.

I rarely check my bank balance because it is too scary. On some level, I would rather be blissfully unaware about my large overdraft and continue to spend like someone who has married for money.

As the pressure of earning money got too much, me and Kate confided in each other and realised we both felt the same - tired, overworked and underpaid.

These feelings got me and Kate thinking... are we the only ones who have this creeping awful feeling everytime we log on and see our tiny savings pots (read: empty) and minimal bank balances (read: in overdraft). SURELY NOT. This would be incredibly self-centred.

The problem, we deduced, is that no one actually speaks about money. We hear about people buying houses via cliche instagram pictures of them holding up a key against the backdrop of their new front door, with a caption ‘embarking on a new journey’ underneath.

We see people our age driving around in new BMWs, and, if we are being honest we are all thinking HOW THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE THAT??? Whilst also being super supportive of people ‘getting their coin’ or whatever it is the kids are saying these days, of course.

However, what we don’t see is the deposit money from mum and dad. The dad who works at the BMW dealership. The friends of mum and dad who offered little Timmy a big corporate job that pays him a shit load every month. All we see is the output, never the input.

How can we change this? One small step at a time I guess. With the first being me and Kate reading out our bank balances on the podcast. This was temporarily a little humiliating, but soon the dms started to come in thanking us for being so honest. It turns out most people don’t have £10,000 in savings like we originally thought. Most people are in their overdrafts. Most people dread opening their banking apps. It makes me a little sad that this is the state of the world right now. But it makes it a little bit better that we are all in this together. Apart from those people in Capri on yachts drinking champagne, good for them right?

We aren’t jealous at all!!! We like working minimum wage for maximum effort, serving thankless customers their extra hot cappuccinos as you earwig their conversations about getting some winter sun for the good of their skin and mental health. NOT. So, what do we do? Well, things aren’t going to change on their own. We need to become more honest about how we are starting our companies, how we can gain funding and where we should invest.

Things aren’t going to change unless we change them. We may not have any money right now, but we have each other, and I would much rather have earnt my money than been given it through a trust fund... right? It’s probably going to feel better? Right? Well, fingers crossed.

Love from, Lily