Shelley Young shares six habits that actually changed her finances, starting from £12-per-hour nanny work. She treats money as time, protects her productive hours, saves for her future self, and redefines luxury as ease instead of expensive things. The core shift: ask for more, bet on yourself, and do regular money check-ins.
Between you and me, you need to stop thinking that rich girl habits are buying expensive coffees or having a Pilates membership. I know social media made them look aesthetic and rich, but they're just surface level. The habits that actually changed my money were about protecting my time, my energy, and my standards. I was a nanny working for £12 an hour when this actually clicked. So here are the 6 non-negotiables to not only look rich, but actually become rich and what has actually worked for me along my journey. Number 1, count the hours, not the price. This one completely changed how I spend. I stopped looking at the price as something in pounds, and I started looking at it in hours of my life. When I was a nanny making £12 an hour, a £40 top wasn't £40. It was nearly half the day of my work looking after someone else's children. When you start seeing money as hours, you stop trading them so cheaply. You start asking, is this really worth a piece of my life? And most of the time it isn't. And it's actually when I started spending that money, investing into myself and pouring into myself so I could get out of that situation, to elevate my income and my life, that's when something clicked. And funnily enough, now I've earned the most money I've ever earned, and I actually spend the least on myself, not out of scarcity, but I don't need all the gadgets and the clothes and the accessories I thought I did when I was just trying to fill a void. Now I spend my money on what's going to elevate me and help me become more financially free. Number 2, guard your 2 good hours. I learned to protect my 2 best hours in the day and not waste it on boring tasks and housework and boring admin work because That was draining me. And I think that's quite backwards because a lot of people give the advice of get all the bad stuff out the way so you can focus on the good stuff. But for me, that was draining me because by the time I got to the things that really mattered, the things that moved the needle forward for my life, I was exhausted. So I was working 6 AM till 6 PM as a nanny. I would get home and I would maybe have 2 hours until I was Absolutely done. So I protected the small window I had of real focus and refused to waste it on things like chores and housework. I focused on the 2 best hours that moved the needle forward, and then after that, when I was tired, I could turn my brain off and do some cleaning or do cooking or whatever it was that was kind of like mundane and I could do with my brain off anyway. This really expedited my journey and helped me achieve my goals so much faster. Number three, pay your future self first. I paid my future me first, even when there was barely anything to pay her. My first proper paycheck in sales was £900.50, and even then a little bit of that went away before I spent anything on fun. It almost felt pointless at the time; it was such a small amount. But that habit. Compounded over time, and that habit was the whole point. If you can't save a little bit of what you're making for future you, more money won't fix it. And we're not saying save for a rainy day, we're talking about saving for your education, to invest in yourself again, to move the needle forward. There's no point keeping a big chunk of savings if you're just going to keep it in the bank and let it depreciate. You want to be saving towards future you and what she needs to then expedite. And of course, along With that habit, you need to learn a skill to help you make more money as well. Number 4, I learnt that ease is the real luxury. This one took me a while to get. I used to think luxury was nice things. Now, I know from my own experience that real luxury is ease, not having to think when I went for a food shop or when I wanted to go on holiday or when I wanted to go to a nice dinner with my friends. If I needed a new laptop for work, I didn't have to think about it. I could do it. Luxury isn't always buying expensive bags and jewelry. It's about buying your peace, not having to think about the things that I actually need in life, you know, the normal day-to-day things, not having to think twice so you can actually enjoy yourself and not have to spend double the time counting your money in the bank hoping you can make it work. That to me has been absolutely life-changing. That has allowed me to get out of scarcity mode and actually relax into my feminine and then make more money because of it. Number 5, you're allowed to ask for more. This one took me the longest. I gave myself permission to actually want more and to actually say it out loud. As a woman, we're taught to be grateful, not to make a fuss, kind of shut up and put up. But that quiet politeness is keeping so many women underpaid. The first time I realized that I needed to bet on myself, I paid for training that could barely afford, and I went after a sales role that I wasn't qualified for. I felt greedy. It felt petrifying. But it wasn't. It was the start of everything. It was realizing that I could bet on myself. You're allowed to want a bigger life, and you're allowed to ask for it. And number 6, a money reset. So this isn't a money reset to be in scarcity and count every dollar in your bank account consistently, but what I personally do is I keep an eye on my finances on a regular basis. I want to understand what I have, what I'm working towards, what I can spend to help me achieve my goals. Now, I've always kind of been like this. I've always kept an eye on my money, even when I didn't have much of it, because it allowed me to be in control. Now, I know on the contrary, a lot of people just don't check their bank accounts because they're scared of what they see. And if that's you, there's no judgment. But you have to think, is that really congruent with the woman that you want to be? Is that really congruent to help you achieve your goals? Your goals can't be out of sight and out of mind. You have to have a full overview and the full picture of what's actually going on so you can troubleshoot. Maybe you spent a bit too much money this month and that's not going to help you achieve your goals. Maybe you're not investing in yourself enough and you're too busy saving, and you're actually in a good decision to buy the mentorship that you want to buy, you need to be able to have that check-in with yourself without feeling uncomfortable. I truly did learn all of these lessons so you don't have to. So make sure you really make a note of these and implement them because they will 100% help you achieve your goals so much quicker if you're consistent.
The Girls Buying The Bags Aren't Influencers - This Is What They Actually Do.
