There is a lot of financial advice on the internet that sounds simple. Do they actually rewrite your money story though?

Save more. Spend less. Invest earlier. Charge more. Stop buying loaded teas. 

Sure, those things can matter. But most people do not struggle with money because they have never heard of a budget. They struggle because they have an entire story running underneath every financial decision they make.

A story about what money means.
A story about whether they are allowed to have it.
A story about whether money is safe, scarce, shameful, stressful, powerful, or always about to disappear.

That story matters more than most people realize.

Research in the field of financial psychology refers to these beliefs as “money scripts,” which are often unconscious beliefs about money that are shaped by childhood, family systems, culture, trauma, and lived experience. 

One foundational study on money scripts found that certain money belief patterns were significantly correlated with income and net worth. In other words, the way you believe money works can directly influence the way you earn, spend, save, avoid, invest, and build wealth.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also defines financial well-being as something deeper than your bank balance. Their Financial Well-Being Scale measures the extent to which your financial situation and financial capability give you security and freedom of choice. That is important because financial security is not just “Do I have money?” It is also “Do I feel safe, capable, and in control of my financial life?”

That is where your money story comes in.

You can make more money and still feel unsafe. You can have a professional degree and still feel financially powerless. You can know the “right” things to do and still sabotage yourself, avoid your numbers, undercharge, overspend, hoard, panic, or hand your financial power over to someone else.

The bad news is that you have to do the work.

You do not rewrite your money story by buying a cute journal, lighting a candle, and pretending your bank account is not giving you heart palpitations. You rewrite your money story by paying attention to what you believe, how you behave, what you tolerate, and what you keep recreating.

The good news is that you are not helpless. You are completely in control of the next chapter.

You can build evidence that money is safe. You can stop outsourcing your financial power. You can learn to receive, manage, protect, and grow what is already coming to you.

I know because I had to do it.

People assume that because I am a CPA, I must have always had this perfect, polished, emotionally regulated relationship with money. Absolutely not.

I was once in a financially abusive relationship where I had to explain why I spent $2.99 on a gas station Diet Coke, when I could have purchased six for $5.99 at the discount grocery store. I was forced to raid my 401(k) to start various businesses. I handed over my earnings for ventures that were lucrative, but that I ultimately lost during a devastating breakup.

By the time it was over, I was financially crippled, unsure of myself, and questioning whether I would ever reach my dream of owning an accounting firm.

Spoiler: I am now a very successful firm owner.

I got here by doing the work to rewrite the story.

And you can too. Here’s how to rewrite your money story:

1. I tended to the abundance I already had

After everything fell apart, I was obsessed with what I did not have.

The properties I lost. The money I no longer had access to. The loans I had to pay off because they were in my name alone. The opportunities I thought had been taken from me.

The version of my life I thought I was supposed to be living.

Everywhere I looked, I saw lack.

When you are in that state, it is very hard to make powerful financial decisions. Scarcity does not just affect your emotions. Research from Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir found that scarcity consumes mental bandwidth, which makes it harder to plan, problem-solve, and make long-term decisions.

That makes so much sense to me now.

When you are constantly thinking about what you do not have, your brain has little room left to notice what is still available to you. You are not stupid, lazy, or bad with money. You are overwhelmed, and your nervous system is scanning for evidence that you are not safe.

So I started looking for different evidence.

I went on what I can only describe as an abundance treasure hunt. I tore through my home from ceiling to floor. I collected spare coins. I found unused gift cards. I searched for unclaimed property in every state where I had lived or worked.

The result?

Over $2,500.

Money that was just laying around like garbage.

That experience changed something in me. It made me realize I had been so focused on what was gone that I could not even see what was still there.

That is the first step in rewriting your money story: Tend to the abundance you already have.

Look around your house. Check your accounts. Find the gift cards. Search for unclaimed property. Review old subscriptions. Look at the money that is already circulating in your life. Not from a place of desperation, but from a place of stewardship.

The truth is, how you treat your money is how your money will treat you.

If you ignore it, resent it, shame it, or let it leak out everywhere, you cannot be surprised when money feels chaotic. When you start tending to what is already here, even in small ways, you begin to rebuild trust with yourself.

2. I cleaned up the clutter

When I was in lack, everything around me was messy.

Not just emotionally messy. Physically messy.

The purse. The drawers. The papers. The random piles. The broken things I kept meaning to deal with. The clutter that quietly said, “I will handle this later,” over and over and over again.

Then I remembered something my quirky great-grandma used to say, “Whenever you want to make more money, clean out your purse.”

As a teenager, I thought that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.

But hear me out, it works. I feel silly for doubting ol’ grandma Earnestine. 

And no, your purse is not some magical money portal. It works because your external environment often reflects your internal relationship with money.

If your purse is full of old receipts, broken lip gloss, expired coupons, and mystery crumbs, there is a good chance your financial life has some of that same energy. Avoided. Crowded. Unclear. A little chaotic. Maybe technically functioning, but not exactly supportive.

Cleaning up your physical environment gives your brain a different message. It says, “I can be trusted with what I have.”

This does not have to become a full-blown minimalist identity crisis. You do not have to throw out half your house and start wearing linen. Just start somewhere.

Clean out your purse.
Clear the junk drawer.
Throw away broken things.
Recycle the paper pile.
Delete the screenshots you do not need.
Cancel the subscription you forgot about.
Put your financial documents in one place.

Money loves clarity.

And more importantly, you need clarity. You cannot build a secure financial life when your entire environment is screaming “unresolved.”

3. I tracked the abundance coming in every day

One of the most powerful things I did was also one of the simplest.

I created a page in my handwritten journal where I tracked every single thing of value that came into my life.

Not just client payments. Not just big money. Everything.

A free Starbucks drink from 200 stars.
A gift card someone gave me.
Change I found on the ground.
A discount I received.
A client payment.
A refund.
A meal someone bought me.
A resource someone shared.
An opportunity.
A referral.
A moment where money, value, or support came toward me.

I tracked it all.

At first, it felt a little silly. But after a few days, I started to notice something. There was more coming in than I had realized.

And the longer I tracked it, the more abundance seemed to show up.

Now, the skeptic in me wants to be very clear here. I am not saying I manifested a free latte because I wrote down a nickel. What I am saying is that attention changes perception, and perception changes behavior.

When you train yourself to notice value, you stop moving through the world as though nothing is working. You start building evidence that support exists. You become more aware of opportunities. You receive differently. You make decisions from a place of possibility instead of constant panic.

There is research to support the idea that confidence and self-efficacy matter in financial outcomes. Studies on financial self-efficacy show that a person’s belief in their ability to manage money is connected to healthier financial behaviors and financial well-being.

That is what this practice helped me rebuild.

Every day, I was collecting proof that money and value could come to me. Every day, I was practicing gratitude for what arrived. Every day, I was slowly shifting from “I am financially ruined” to “I am rebuilding.”

And eventually, that became true.

Try this for 30 days.

Write down every single thing of value you receive. Do not judge it. Do not decide it is too small to count. Count it all.

When you are rewriting your money story, your brain needs new receipts.

4. I nullified negative thoughts

As a Virgo rising and natural skeptic, positive thinking does not always come easily to me.

I am not the person who can just look in the mirror and say, “I am a money magnet,” while my nervous system is in a full-blown hostage situation. I need something more grounded, active, and immediate.

So when I finally decided I was done letting my negative money thoughts run the show, I bought a rubber bracelet (a hair tie or rubber band can also work). 

Every time I caught myself thinking something negative about money, abundance, myself, or what was possible for me, I snapped the bracelet on my wrist and immediately nullified the thought as a pattern interruptor. I then replaced the thought with its positive opposite. 

If my brain said, “You will never recover from this,” I snapped the bracelet and replaced it with, “I am actively rebuilding my financial life.”

If my brain said, “You are terrible with money,” I snapped the bracelet and replaced it with, “I am learning to trust myself with money again.”

If my brain said, “You lost everything,” I snapped the bracelet and replaced it with, “I still have skills, choices, intelligence, and the ability to create more.”

At first, I had to do it constantly.

Then, over time, the negative thoughts came less and less.

Every once in a while, I still have to do this because #life. But now I can catch the spiral faster. I can interrupt it sooner. I can come back to myself quicker.

That matters because your thoughts become the emotional weather you make decisions in.

If you are constantly telling yourself that you are bad with money, money is never enough, rich people are greedy, success is unsafe, or you will always be behind, those beliefs will shape your choices. Maybe you avoid your numbers. Maybe you undercharge. Maybe you overspend the second money comes in because part of you does not believe it will stay. Maybe you never invest in support because you do not trust yourself to make the money back.

This is not about shaming yourself for having negative thoughts. Especially if you have experienced financial trauma, those thoughts often formed as protection.

Protection can become a prison. At some point, you have to decide which thoughts get to lead.

5. I changed my environment

Your environment will dictate what you see.

The people you spend time with will impact how you see the world. The rooms you sit in will influence what you believe is possible. The conversations you participate in will either expand you or shrink you.

When I was rebuilding, I started small.

I went to bougie coffee shops to work.

I needed to be around people building things, taking meetings, opening laptops, having ideas, moving with purpose. I needed to remind myself that the world was bigger than my pain and that success was still available to me.

Then, slowly, I started changing my social circle.

I spent more time with people who were working toward the same kinds of goals. People who believed growth was possible. People who talked about money with responsibility and possibility, not just fear and resentment. People who did not look at ambition like it was a character flaw.

Let’s face it, if you are constantly surrounded by coworkers, family members, friends, or partners who do not understand abundance, who do not want more, who do not believe more is possible, or who benefit from you staying small, you are going to be constantly reminded why your dreams are unrealistic.

And I do not know about you, but I did not survive everything I survived just to build my life around people committed to misunderstanding my vision.

Talk to people who think it is possible.

Work in places that make you feel expansive.

Follow people who make you feel more powerful, not more inadequate.

Put yourself in rooms where your next level feels normal.

You do not need everyone in your life to understand your goals. But you do need enough evidence around you that your goals are not ridiculous.

Environment is not everything, but it is not nothing.

It is very hard to rewrite your money story while staying surrounded by people and places committed to the old version of you.

The point is not perfection. The point is power.

The fact of the matter is this: you are in control.

Not of every circumstance. Not of every economy. Not of every client, breakup, bill, emergency, or unexpected life event. But you are in control of the story you choose to keep rehearsing.

You are in control of how you tend to what you have.
You are in control of whether you look at your numbers.
You are in control of whether you keep repeating the same patterns.
You are in control of whether you surround yourself with people who expand or diminish you.
You are in control of whether you keep identifying with the version of you who was harmed, or start building evidence for the version of you who is powerful.

That does not mean the work is easy.

It means it is yours.

And this is why money mindset is not some fluffy side quest in my work. It is foundational.

It is why inside my Pocket CFO calendar, we start the month with a money mindset reset. It is why inside my Aligned Money Method Accelerator, we use money mindset journal prompts several times per week. Because yes, I am a CPA. Yes, I care about tax strategy, bookkeeping, cash flow, pricing, profit, and financial systems.

But I am a money mindset expert first and foremost.

I have seen what happens when smart, capable, high-earning women still do not feel safe with money.

That is the real work, and why I do what I do.

I don’t just want to make money. I am actively becoming someone who can receive it, respect it, protect it, grow it, and still feel like herself in the process.

Your money story is not fixed. It is not a life sentence or a draft.

And you are allowed to rewrite it.

Learn more about working together.