increases in income do not always correlate to increases in feelings of fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness, et cetera.

There are many, many interesting data points around how the wealthiest amongst us also often tend to work the longest hours, which is ironic when you consider that one of the most precious and valuable resources that money can allow you to buy is time. But because of the status games that many of the wealthiest tend to get themselves involved with and their main source of validation coming from their professional achievements and their income, it's easy to see how you can get trapped in a cycle of constantly wanting more, in terms of compensation.

It's also easy to see how things like lifestyle inflation can keep people on a hamster wheel, where more money does not actually lead them to live a better life. We've all seen those viral articles about how couples earning $500,000 a year are finding themselves living paycheck to paycheck because their spending habits are meeting or sometimes exceeding that insanely high income. And I can guarantee you that people in those positions would not describe themselves as feeling rich, not only because they're constantly behind the eight ball in terms of their own tastes and, quote unquote, "needs," but because they're also only comparing themselves to other high earners.

Now, don't get me wrong. These high earners who may be working extremely high hours or have super high lifestyle inflation that prevents them from enjoying their income are still way more privileged than someone who's struggling with money. And no one needs to be playing the world's smallest violin because someone living in a gated community feels like they're not wealthy because their next door neighbor has a slightly bigger McMansion.

But the reported levels of dissatisfaction amongst the wealthy-- and we did a whole video on this, which I'll link you to with the description-- does go to show that being rich on paper does not always equate to feeling rich. And feeling rich is a little bit of a nebulous concept. But I would personally define it as a few things.

You feel generally safe and secure in terms of your finances. For example, you know that, if an unexpected expense comes up, you're able to handle it. You feel that you have enough time and resources to dedicate energy to the things in life that make you feel happy, fulfilled, seen, part of a community.

You exist in a space that feels warm and welcoming to you. And you generally feel as if you have a level of control over your day-to-day. Now, there are a lot of different factors that can contribute to that feeling of being rich.

And as my parents always used to say, even when we were at our poorest-- and we were very poor when I was a little kid-- we still always felt rich because we had a lot of those things, even if we didn't have all of them. I want to talk in this video about how we can create some of that feeling of being rich, really at any income. So without further ado, let's get into them.

Number one is keeping your home consistently clean. One of the big components in feeling rich is feeling calm and free of chaos. And whether you realize it or not, the state of your home environment actually has a huge, huge impact on that.

Yes, psychologically, that is demonstrated. Especially now when most of us are spending more time than usual at home, making sure your environment is one that contributes to your overall well-being is incredibly important to being in the right frame of mind. So here are some quick tips for keeping it primed.

One 20 minute daily cleaning and tidying ritual-- institute a 20-minute daily ritual in which you vacuum clean any surfaces, put away any items that are out of place, wash any loose dishes, et cetera. You can do this morning or night, depending on your scheduling needs. A weekly deep clean-- deep cleaning your home weekly will supplement your daily ritual and ensure that everything in your home feels fresh.

Always do the dishes before bed. To create abundance of space, always do the dishes, especially right before you go to bed. Waking up to that mess is just the wrong way to start your morning.

So when I'm cooking a meal, I actually do all the dishes and the clean-up before I eat so that, when I'm done eating, everything's already clean Lastly, regularly bathing and grooming your pet if you have one-- our furry friends deserve to be cleaned and groomed regularly. So do not wait until your pet starts to smell to give them a bath. This will also prevent them from inadvertently damaging any of your furniture by the transferal of their dirt and grime.

Your pets deserve to be clean and fresh, too. And walking around with a well-groomed pup, how rich? Number two is avoid clutter.

One of those rich feelings is having that abundance of space and organization. And nothing can make you feel less on top of your game than looking around at a bunch of crap that you don't even need and you don't even know where it's supposed to go. But that goes beyond just the daily routine of keeping things clean.

You need to also dedicate space to reducing the clutter in your life. And no, that doesn't require going full on minimalist. But it should be part of your practice.

So how do you reduce clutter? You make your bed right when you get up. And it will be over before you know it.

And yes, there are many studies demonstrating that this has enormous benefits throughout your entire life. I am someone who always hated making her bed. And trust me when I say that I make it every morning now.

And it's really had a positive ripple effect. Next, organize your refrigerator, utility closet, and wardrobe. Organize these spaces so that the items that you use the most are most accessible and the items you use the least are towards the back.

You can also level this out by organizing by category. For instance, in the refrigerator, you can designate different shelves or areas for different types of food-- i.e. all the leftovers on one shelf, sauces and spreads are together, et cetera. Third, have a home for everything.

Every item in your home should have a designated place so that exactly where that item is. When you're done using an item, always pull it back where it belongs. even something as simple as having a little shelf or key rings right by the door so everything can have its proper place has enormous benefits. Lastly, take care of your cable management cables, wires, chargers, extension cords all of that stuff can create a feeling of unnecessary clutter.

So investing in a couple of cable management boxes and power strips and intentionally organizing all of your cables so they're neat and tidy will always make you feel a little bit more on top of your game, as well as reduce redundancy because, speaking as someone who is somehow like eight f-ing iPhone chargers, I wish I had just known where my one iPhone charger was at all times. Number three, fully stock your home supplies before you need them. Name me a better feeling than being like, oh no, I'm about to run out of paper towels.

And then you open up your little closet, or pantry, or area where you keep your paper towels and, [VOCALIZING] there's like eight rolls of paper towels in there because you thought ahead. I never used to be the person who would buy in bulk for these sort of items because I just weirdly was like, why am I going to buy eight rolls of toilet paper? I won't need those for years.

Surprise, surprise. You need toilet paper a lot more than you think. Things like toilet paper, Ziploc bags, paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo-- always having a backup before you need it and never being in a place where you need something and don't have it is not just great for avoiding those unnecessary trips to the store, which can end up costing you in the long run, it's also great for that abundant feeling.

You feel so put together. You feel like you're taken care of. You feel like you're on top of your game.

Part of feeling rich is having what you need when you need it. And there are so many little moments throughout the day where you can create that feeling for yourself. So making sure that you're stocking up on the things you always need ahead of time is an easy way to recreate that feeling.

Number four, find a color scheme that works for all areas of your life. Now, I'm not one of those people who believes in that crazy '70s trend about you have autumn colors or whatever those color things were that had-- I don't know if they had astrological significance. Or whatever it was, maybe for like your complexion.

Point being, I don't put that much stock into what color should have meaning for you in your life. But for most of us, there are undeniably colors that, for example, in our wardrobe, we feel good in, we look good in. There are colors in our home that calm us down, that help us sleep, that make us feel at home.

Curating a color palette that makes you feel good every day, both in what you put on your body and what you live in, is an easy way to take the things you already have, such as your living space or your wardrobe, and make it work for you beyond just the utilitarian. I often tell people that one of the easiest things that everyone has access to, in terms of their living space, is simply painting a wall. It suddenly transforms the space because not only does it now have a color that you actually love rather than whatever happened to be in the place when you moved in, it suddenly feels so much more intentional.

And nothing looks richer than an intentional space. And beyond that, having a wardrobe in a palette that makes you feel powerful and capable is something that's going to radiate throughout your entire presence. We all know how we feel when we're wearing something that doesn't quite suit us or that doesn't feel good for us.

And there's really no reason to do it. I've always known that red is just not my power color. And yet, several times over the past few years, I've bought myself a red item of clothing.

Every time, it was a mistake. Never again am I buying red. If you watch this show, you know my colors are like gray, navy blue, black, camel, taupe, beige, a little bit of green here and there.

But point being, mama knows her color palette. And she stays within it. And I always feel better.

Number five is make time for a hobby. Part of feeling rich is feeling proud of how you spend that time because you're spending it intentionally. There is nothing wrong with watching television.

I watched a five-hour marathon of The Real Housewives of New York City the other day because I couldn't watch it while I was out of the country. And trust me, every moment of that was worth it. But you don't want to be in the kind of situation where most nights you come home from work-- or I guess, you finish work, if you're working at home these days.

You turn on the TV. And several hours later, you're pulling yourself off the couch to go to bed. And you don't even know where that time went.

In order to feel like you have an abundance of time, that time must be allocated intentionally. You must be selecting things you want to do with that time and using it accordingly, rather than letting the time overwhelm you. And while some hobbies might be a little bit limited because of the current pandemic, not only are there plenty of hobbies that you can still engage in right now-- both in person and digitally-- there are also other things that you can dedicate some of your time to that will feel infinitely more productive and intelligent.

For example, you might want to join some mastermind groups with other people in your industry. You might want to start an online course to learn a new skill you've been putting off, or even set up some kind of accountability group with people in your life for a goal you've been meaning to reach that they might share. I do regular workouts via Zoom with a small group of gals online.

And it's, in my opinion, kind of even better than working out in the studio. The point is, whatever the hobby, making sure that you select it based on what you want to be doing and you dedicate a regular amount of time to it can go a long way to making you feel like you have ownership over your time. Number six, find small ways to feel financially empowered.

In order to stay afloat, we all need to get control over our money. We need to understand it. We need to be intentional with it.

And we need to have an understanding of the choices we're making because, for most of us, money is finite. So that skill is just necessary. But even for people who might, for example, come into a lot of money, having a lot of it doesn't automatically mean understanding it or having control over it.

Many people with money can often feel behind the eight ball because they're simply terrible at managing it or not paying attention to it. The feeling of richness doesn't come from just having endless piles of cash. It comes from feeling in control of your money.

So here are a few small tasks to help you feel more in control and, therefore, more empowered with your money. Set up a regular financial check-in, either just with yourself or with a buddy if you're looking to keep yourselves accountable, where you really go over all the ins and outs of your finances and check in on where you are with regards to your bigger goals. Come up with a realistic budget.

Having a budget is always going to be the key to staying ahead of your money and feeling like you have control over it. If you don't currently have a budget you're operating on or if your budget is out of date, give it a refresh. Work on building up your emergency fund.

We can't say it enough here at TFD. But without an emergency fund, it is going to be extremely difficult to get ahead of your finances. Having an emergency fund that you know you can tap into whenever you need it is going to give you an enormous boost in your day-to-day confidence and sense of security.

Come up with a debt repayment plan. If you're currently paying the minimum, if you don't know how much you owe, if you're behind on your payments, if anything, about your debt repayment is not tailored to your needs, your money, and your goals, you need to get in charge of your debt repayment. Especially with all of the deferments being offered right now due to COVID, you need to be checking in on your debt repayment plan if you have it.

Lastly, have a money conversation with your partner. Whether or not you live with your partner-- provided you have a partner, of course-- you need to be open with money about them. Money is not just dollars.

It is your goals. It's your plan for the future. It's your priorities.

It's your values. Talking about money with your partner is not a taboo topic. It's a key to feeling stable and fulfilled in your relationship.

Number seven is routines, routines, routines. Similar to the way that budgets make us feel in control of our money, routines make us feel in control of our time. Think about all of the little daily tasks that end up eating a ton of your time over the course of a week.

How many of them could possibly be grouped together to be more efficient? How many of them could you probably eliminate? How many of them could you maybe even outsource?

Is there some kind of routine that you could implement to free up more time, add a little bit more joy to your life, kill two birds with one stone? I'm not saying that every single moment of your life has to be planned. But getting used to routines, and structure, and planning out your day in a way that's efficient and intuitive will end up invariably freeing up a lot more time over, let's say, the course of a year.

And as I mentioned earlier, one of most important qualities of feeling rich is feeling intentional and empowered with your time. You never want to feel like you're constantly chasing after the things you need to do or having to dash out a dozen times because you constantly forget to do things when you're already out. I'm a huge believer in using tools, like your Google Calendar or even a physical planner, in order to really map out your days, both professionally and personally.

But whatever the tool that works for you, creating routines and grouping things together in ways that make sense is about setting a structure over your time so that you dictate your day, not the other way around. Number eight, remember that it is OK to treat yourself. One underrated quality, to me, in any good budget is a specific part of your budget that is dedicated to whatever you want to do with it.

It's money that's not earmarked for any specific category. But it is accounted for, so you always know that, if you are spending within that amount, you can afford it. But it's really the amount of money that you're letting yourself surprise yourself with.

You could stop for an impromptu lunch. You could take yourself to see a movie. You could buy yourself a book on a whim.

Basically, knowing that there is a space within your budget that is allocated to treating yourself as you want to is going to give you that feeling of, hey, if I really want something, I know I can afford it, obviously within reason. And it also allows you to enjoy that item without feeling guilt because it's going above and beyond your budget. Even in the most stringent budgets, there needs to be that little amount allocated.

Even just $25 a month can make a huge difference. And especially if you were on something like, let's say, an aggressive debt repayment plan, having built-in treat yourself moments is a key item to helping keep you motivated in the long term. Life needs to have some frivolity and some excess.

Planning for that is the way to gain ownership of it because you're never going to force yourself to completely eliminate it. Number nine is practice gratitude. Now, this is something that I often struggle with in my own life because I'm someone who, as I've mentioned before, has a habit of living in a projected future and therefore often doesn't feel all that grounded in what's happening right now.

But as this year has essentially robbed us of the concept of a future, I've had to get a lot more acquainted with the idea of living in the present. And part of that is being incredibly grateful for what you have at the moment. I spoke earlier about the tendency amongst the wealthy to be in limited social groups that self-compare.

And that's very true when it comes to the concept of gratitude. If you make a million a year but feel constantly envious of your neighbor who makes $5 million a year, you're not going to feel rich. However, if you make not even a tenth of that but you have enough money to cover your needs, you're able to save a bit, and you're able to spare up some time for the things that you love to do, you're going to feel infinitely more satisfied and, in many ways, more rich than that person.

So how do you work on getting to a place where you're more cognizant and appreciative of what you have? You incorporate a gratitude practice into your everyday routine the way you would, let's say, a workout. In a journal, or your calendar, or even a notes app, take the time everyday to write down one thing that you're grateful for and why you're grateful for it because it's not just about appreciating the things in your life that are bringing you fulfillment.

It's about connecting with why those things are fulfilling for you because maybe by more deeply interrogating why certain things are bringing us more joy, more fulfillment, more security, we'll be more cognizant about seeking out more of those things. And by forcing ourselves to take stock of what we have, we're also less likely to constantly be impulse-spending on things to give us what we don't. Going on a temporary shopping freeze, for example, to shop your own closet for a season doesn't just force you to save money.

It also forces you to become more creative and more grateful with the things that you already have. I did a one-month challenge once where I had to wear outfits from my own closet that I'd never assembled in that way before. And I was pretty surprised at how new all of my items felt when I was simply using them in a different combination than I usually did.

I went from feeling bored with my wardrobe to feeling grateful for it. And there are so many ways to integrate that into your daily life. At the end of the day, feeling rich is above all about feeling intentional.

You have control over things. You're deliberate about things. You have a sense of security.

You have a sense of calm. Things have their place. You have your place.

And you're grateful for what you have. Obviously, this is going to be very inaccessible if you are struggling financially on a day-to-day basis and not able to meet your basic needs. But just because you're meeting those basic needs doesn't necessarily mean you're going to take that extra step into feeling rich.

Incorporating a more deliberate and more mindful practice into everything you do, not just your money, is a huge part of getting from A to B. And as I mentioned, this video is sponsored by Fidelity Investments. And they are here to help you reach your savings goals.

And if you're looking for an easy way to finally start investing what you save, check out Fidelity. So as always, guys, thank you for watching. And don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and to come back every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for new and awesome videos.

Goodbye.