What does a money coach do?

What does a money coach do?

by | Jan 26, 2026 | Money Mindset, The HOW - Practical Stuff

This is what I do, to guide anyone needing some direction and some support so they feel less discombobulated with their household finances.

Get a cup of coffee and take 5 minutes and you’ll see what I’ve got for you, from free support through to my lovely 3 session nurturing experience.

This is my perspective, learned over the course of hundreds of coaching sessions, that regardless of your budget barometer, we all want the same things:

  • A PLACE TO CALL HOME.
  • TO FEEL SAFE, SECURE & CONFIDENT
  • BEING IN CONTROL & HAVING AGENCY OVER SPENDING DECISIONS
  • UNDERSTAND MONEY BETTER, ERGO, TO FEEL MORE COMPETENT
  • TO FEEL NEUTRAL ABOUT PERSONAL FINANCE, USING IT AS A TOOL
  • WHEN THOUGHTS OF “THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS” CREEP IN, KNOWING YOU’RE RIGHT, AND YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CO-CREATE A DIFFERENT FUTURE.

These all sit beautifully within Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This previous blog will take you on that journey

How to Keep Money Peaceful: Managing the Emotional and Practical Layers of Finance

Real life stories this month, and how did my guidance support them?

Two sofa surfing youngsters

Working full time as Keyworkers, in London, with bugger all family, and having a really tough time. These were undoubtedly emotional conversations. *

I listened and asked helpful questions. Feeling moved to tears wishing I could just scoop them up into my care. Listening and encouraging talking is a therapeutic experience, never underestimate your role in listening if you find yourself here.

We discussed how to simplify and prioritise their budgets but mostly they just needed a place they could call home. Their own bathrooms they didn’t need to queue for, their own space to cook dinner in after a long day at work, and that feeling you get that only home provides, no matter how humble it is.

If you know anyone in this situation, a great practical & emotional resource I always signpost to is Turn2Us.org


A father of teenagers in the civil service also struggling.

The decisions he made in good faith a few years ago, now don’t sit well in today’s economy.

This, I think, is where so many of us find ourselves. We might have decided to stay in our homes and extend or renovate rather than upsize. The loan fit our budgets before, but now, not so much. Or maybe we did upsize, maybe we had great jobs that are now gone with redundancy. Oftentimes, great incomes mean more expensive lifestyles and no more savings than the average Joe.

Have you got a resilience fund?

Stripping out the genuinely unnecessary spending and syphoning off what was available to spend after essentials & savings. This money went into a separate account, so that they could visually see where overspending could easily happen when mixed in with all the other money.

And how to involve their teens – we all say we didn’t learn this stuff in school (this is coming to UK curriculums) so why not involve them so that they understand how to make spending decisions?

When you give options, “you can have the trainers or the xbox game” they’ll get it. They probably still won’t like it but hey, neither do we!

Do we really crave everything we can’t have, or do we crave it because we can’t have it?

If you have debt looming uncomfortably, or circling like a kettle of Vultures, I always advise Step Change. They have a layered approach, so if you feel like insolvency is your only option, they may have other other solutions. Offering you breathing space, they work with your creditors. Pass this on.

C-suite professional women realising they’re in different stages of life 

Financially, for different reasons they were living inefficiently.

They’re wanting different things from their lifestyles. Their budgets, long gone from a time before higher tax bracket incomes, now needing a fresh perspective and different levels of organisation. They’ve been so busy, that it’s perpetually taken a back seat.

Capability can exist on paper; capacity depends on real life.

Starting with you is essential. What do you want now? What do you need in the next 3 months? 6 months? Year? 3+ years?

Let’s build your year out. Calendar first, what’s going on & when?

When do your bonuses drop, when do you have events or new hobbies after school for the kids that all need paying at the same time? Not to mention new kits & equipment.

Let’s get your Resilience Fund up and growing. A safety net regulates your nervous system.

Let’s get your monthly fluctuating income & expenses levelled so you always know how much you have to save & spend.

Tax efficiencies – an IFA is your best friend here.

I’ll write a piece soon about how these work in principle, the stark differences between earning £99,000 and £102,000 but please, get independent, individual advice from an FCA regulated professional.

Life circumstances can be very different. Our relationship with money is hugely nuanced.

But when we all want to feel safe, secure, confident & competent with our personal finances; knowing that we’re doing the best for ourselves, that we’re not missing a trick that everyone else seems to know about, we can breathe a sigh of relief.

These few categories I have found, cover most of the start of our transformation:

  1. Our relationship with money, and with our partner / family communication.
  2. Organisation
  3. Habits & Routines
  4. Expectations and Plans for the future
  5. The Practical Application of Proper Budgeting – not unlike a small business cash flow. Home economics at school anyone?

And when you’ve got the basics right, properly cemented in your life’s values, the sexy exciting stuff like investing can take place on solid ground.

I do the less sexy stuff with you.

But I do it well, so that you can move quickly onto the good stuff!

Tell me, please I’d love to know, if I could create more low cost support, what would you love to see?

A – Would a video teaching you how a visualisation technique switches on your prefrontal cortex in your brain, so that your problem solving skills are heightened?

B – Or maybe some training around the dopamine hit you get when overspending? Recognising it and learning how to regulate your nervous system with some really useful practical tools to add in.

C – Something else… surprise me!

I’ll create whatever is the most popular for you, so sign up to my penpal emails and you’ll soon know when they’re ready.

Until next time, toodleloo

Lucy x

My Experience Trying To Learn French 🇫🇷 & Other Things

My Experience Trying To Learn French 🇫🇷 & Other Things

by | Dec 29, 2025 | Money Mindset, The WHY - Psychological Stuff

Duolingo ✅
YouTube ✅ Learn French with Alexa
Funny snippets on Instagram ✅
A vague memory of Tricolore books at school and La Rochelle…

Then I moved to France.

One hour a week with a teacher 🚀
Chatting with French neighbours over apéro 🚀
Little exchanges at the supermarché, boucherie, café 🚀

You can learn a lot on your own: listening, reading, watching & repeating.

But you learn so much more, and far more quickly, when you learn by doing.

By becoming the kind of person who speaks French.
(Alright, Franglais with lots of gesticulating)

And when you’re guided, corrected, and can ask the small niggly questions as they arise? That’s next level learning! That stuff moves you quickly, efficiently & confidently.
And yes, my french companions love correcting me. I’ve surrendered to it completely 😄 We all now say “Very Bon” and “Tres good”!

As Aristotle put it:

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

Our teeny tiny abode.

😁 No this is the chateau of La Rochefoucauld.

Interestingly the descendents of Françoise La Rochefoucauld still live in part of this fairy tale castle. It is in our local town and you can have a tour around here for €10.

You can read more here if you’re keen: https://tourisme.rochefoucauld-perigord.fr/en/destination/la-rochefoucauld-en-angoumois/

Learning new skills isn’t about motivation or intelligence. It’s about practice, context, and support.

Financial Literacy works the same way.

You can read all the blogs.
Watch all the videos.
Save all the posts.
Promise yourself you’ll “sort it properly soon”.

But at some point, the learning has to move from theory into your life.

A reflective question for you

How much time do you currently dedicate to improving your foundational finances?

And how does that actually feel?

Your choices

You can continue alone, scratching things together from blogs (albeit my very helpful ones 😄), second-guessing yourself, and feeling frustrated when it doesn’t seem to resonate with your real life. Getting thoroughly pissed off because you can’t move beyond the developmental level you’re at, with what you’ve got.

Or…

🚀 You can add a little rocket fuel
My guidance. My reassurance. We can create a structure that’s designed for real life, not perfection, but a bloody solid approach to getting you somewhere you want to be.

Me + You = Nourishing Results

Not because you weren’t capable before. But because learning sticks best when you’re not doing it alone.

Why this works

  • I’m not selling “help”, I’m normalising support. It’s like a tiny slice of life coaching, very specific to building your financial foundations. I can’t tell you how many Financial Advisors are thrilled at this service, and how many very wealthy clients haven’t the foggiest about their spending habits. What a waste, can you imagine the missed opportunities to invest better?
  • I’m not criticising self-learning, this has been so important throughout my life, but I am contextualising its limits.
  • You can’t learn to swim by sitting on the side of the pool. You’ve gotta get in. Starting with a noodle & a great teacher, you’ll move beyond the splashing doggy paddle, and your fear of putting your face in the water, waaaaaay faster. The butterfly might take a while, but if it’s that important to you, you’ll get there.

    Every stage of learning has the same route. From beginner, through the disasters of mistakes, making a prat of yourself, through to getting it right on repeat and feeling really confident.
    You can say this whether you’re learning a new language, to drive or to bake cakes.

So, come on in, the water’s fine!

Mentoring, guidance & coaching all rolled into one beautifully bow wrapped package

Why not pop yourself onto my penpal listing so you know what’s occurring and get some inspiration? You can write back too, proper penpals!

Are you on Linkedin? Come say hello & join in.

Money Overwhelm and the Quiet Power of Planning Ahead

Money Overwhelm and the Quiet Power of Planning Ahead

by | Dec 21, 2025 | Budgeting Basics, Money Mindset, Planning and Organisation, The WHY - Psychological Stuff

What Money Overwhelm Really Feels Like

It’s not always a crisis that makes us pause, a quiet nudge about the future can be just as potent.

A daily drip of questions with decision fatigue making it all the more difficult so your answers are “I don’t know” on repeat.

In this 3rd & final chapter of the Disorganised Darcy Diaries, Darcy discovers that calm doesn’t come from having all the answers but from knowing what her next step is.

She was sat at the kitchen table one late afternoon Christmas cards half-written, when she opened her banking app to check something small. Not because she was worried, just because she’d started doing that now. Checking in. Staying present.

That’s when she saw it. An email notification popped up, her mortgage deal was ending in three months.

The number beside it made her blink.

Not catastrophic. But enough to change things. An extra £268 a month for her new mortgage rate would make life more of a challenge. Although she didn’t know exactly what that would mean for her family budget.

Old Darcy would have shut the app immediately. She’d have told herself she’d deal with it after Christmas. Or in the New Year. Or when life felt a bit calmer.

Looking Back Without Blame

She realised this wasn’t just about the mortgage. It was about how she’d been living for years. Reacting, firefighting, hoping things would somehow stay the same if she didn’t poke them too hard.

She thought about how money had always felt like something that happened to her.

Rates changed. Bills went up. Life shifted.

And she adjusted… sort of. Enough to get by. Enough to cope.

But never enough to feel ahead. This wasn’t failure.

It was simply the past playing out without a plan. And it would continue to do so unless she made a change.

Standing in the Present, Clear-Eyed

Darcy opened her notebook, yes an actual paper notebook.

She wrote three headings: Now, Next, Later

Under Now, she wrote what she actually knew. Not guesses, not her fears. Just facts.

  • When the mortgage deal was ending
  • What her current payments were
  • What she roughly spent each month
  • What she’d already improved since starting to pay attention

Under Next, she wrote questions. Not decisions, not yet.

  • What options might I have?
  • What would feel manageable?
  • What would I want to protect?

And under Later, something unexpected happened.

She paused.

Because this was the part she’d never allowed herself before. Most of her plans had gone awry over the years so thinking ahead had become a waste of time.

She pictured herself six months from now.

Not suddenly wealthy, not perfectly organised.

Just… steadier.

Someone who:

  • knew what was coming before it arrived, as best as ever you can.
  • wasn’t emotionally derailed by changes
  • trusted herself to respond calmly
  • had space to enjoy Christmas, birthdays and holidays without a quiet dread humming underneath

She felt something, not excitement exactly, but maybe it was relief. And with it, a realisation.

This wasn’t about a spreadsheet, having more willpower or being “better with money”.

This was about having a process. A way of thinking. A restoration of her values. A rhythm that carried her through change instead of knocking her sideways.

A way of co-creating her life instead of it dragging her along for a ride.

She could do some of this alone, she had already begun.

But she could also see the gaps. The places where she’d hesitate. The moments where she’d want someone to say, “Let’s look at this together.”

How Gentle Financial Planning Creates Calm

That evening, as the Christmas lights flickered on in the window, Darcy felt something settle.

She didn’t need to fix everything before the end of the year. She didn’t need all the answers right now.

But she did need a plan. She had enjoyed creating a few ideas, she felt inspired by her thoughts of what life could look like by the summer. She loved the creative process of writing in her notebook.

For the first time in years, her thinking evolved from planning was restrictive & pointless to it was protective of her time, money & mental wellbeing.

And as she closed her notebook, she thought:

Next year doesn’t have to feel like the last one.

A Kinder Way to Manage Everyday Finances

Let me be your guide to reducing your money overwhelm:

If you’re

  • ready to stop reacting all the time and start planning intentionally
  • craving a clear process, emotional support, and practical structure so it’s not adding to your mental clutter
  • wanting to learn how to navigate changes like mortgage renewals, so that they’re far less overwhelming & far less expensive

💫 You’re ready for your fairy godmother – and you can go to the ball my dear… 💫

Your Fairy Godmother Experience Roadmap, Your Waitlist & Other Goodies

Have yourself, a merry little Christmas and maybe treat yourself to an eGuide:

When You’ve Lost Your Way with Money: A Reset Workbook

When You’ve Lost Your Way with Money: A Reset Workbook

£7.00

A gentle workbook to reset your finances when life’s got messy. Reflect, plan, and take calm, step-by-step action. Perfect for midlife and beyond.

Quick Checkout

ps If you’d like to follow along in almost daily conversations, please come and find me on Linkedin:

How to Feel Calm With Money When Life Admin Feels Overwhelming (UK)

How to Feel Calm With Money When Life Admin Feels Overwhelming (UK)

by | Dec 13, 2025 | Budgeting Basics, Christmas Budgeting and Decluttering, Planning and Organisation

For many women, money stress doesn’t come from big mistakes.
It comes from the quiet build-up of life admin.

Unopened letters.
Renewals that creep up.
Bills that roll over unnoticed.
A constant feeling of being slightly behind.

This is the short story of Darcy, not because she’s unusual, but because she’s familiar.

When Avoidance Feels Safer Than Looking

The envelope sat on the hall table longer than it should have.

White. Windowed. Official-looking. The sort that usually waits for “later”.

Old habits would have told Darcy to open it after dinner. Or tomorrow. Or when she felt more capable.

But something had shifted.

Instead of shame, she felt determination. If things were going to change, she couldn’t keep doing what she’d always done.

So she made a cup of tea and opened it.

It was her bank overdraft.

The interest had quietly increased months ago and she was paying nearly £40 a month just to stand still.

Her first instinct was panic, quickly followed by the familiar question: How did I miss this?

The Problem Wasn’t Her, It Was the System

What Darcy realised next changed everything.

This wasn’t a punishment. It wasn’t because she was “bad with money”. And it certainly wasn’t unusual.

Many financial systems rely on people being busy, tired, and distracted. Auto-renewals, creeping interest, and vague communication are part of the design. For years, Darcy had blamed herself for something that was quietly happening in the background.

Once she understood that, she could respond differently.

Calm Comes From Knowing What to Do Next

Instead of avoiding the admin, Darcy gave it a small, contained place in her day.

One cup of tea.
One decision.
One clear outcome.

She compared bank accounts, asked honest questions about her spending, and switched.

She recouped money.
Secured a better overdraft.
And, for the first time, had a system that helped her see what was going where.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start and that’s when Darcy realised something important:

Feeling calm doesn’t come from force.
It comes from knowing what to do next.

When Confidence Starts to Stick

Later that evening, Darcy noticed something unexpected.

There was no exhaustion. No headache. No need to reward herself for surviving the task.

Instead, she felt steady.

She’d faced something she used to avoid and she’d handled it. And the world hadn’t fallen apart.

Her confidence no longer felt fragile, it felt like something with roots.

A Gentle Reflection

If life admin feels overwhelming right now, ask yourself this:

What one small task could you give a calm, contained moment this week?

Not to fix everything, but to prove to yourself that clarity is possible.

A Soft Invitation

Darcy’s story isn’t about perfection.
It’s about learning to feel safe and supported with money.

If you’d like guidance that blends practical systems with emotional support, without shame or rigidity, The Fairy Godmother Experience opens on January 1st 2026

It’s designed for women and couples who want to move from overwhelm to steadiness, one gentle step at a time.

Everyone on the Waitlist will get a very special gift from me, and priority booking.

Here is your link for the Waitlist > https://subscribepage.io/Waitlist-budgetingandplanning

Here is your link to read a little more about it > https://budgetingandplanning.co.uk/mentoring/

Mentoring
The Fairy Godmother Experience 💫 Your perfect money plan

The Fairy Godmother Experience 💫 Your perfect money plan

by | Nov 28, 2025 | Budgeting Basics, Money Mindset, The HOW - Practical Stuff

A nurturing mentoring journey when you’re ready to move from feeling discombobulated to oh I get it now!

Here’s my invitation to co-create your financial foundations.

For some time now, I’ve been quietly creating something that feels deeply aligned with the women I support and the way I believe money guidance should feel.

Not rushed.
No “You should know this stuff already”
Not difficult to understand or use in real life.

But gentle. Kind. Intentional. And it makes sense.

It also is detail focused on the foundations. Your foundations. For when you need to delve into the nitty gritty details and strip it all back so you can get that starting from fresh feeling.

✨ The Fairy Godmother Experience ✨
Launching 1st January

This is a three phased approach, not just as a quick fix, but as a life skill you carry forward.

On repeat, it supports you to:


• organise your life admin and stop missing important renewals thus overspending
• create a clear lifestyle plan so you move forward with intention rather than letting life drag you along
• know exactly what to spend and save so you feel comfortable and safe
• build purposeful savings that excite you
• develop a calm, confident relationship with money which is where it always starts.

It’s for you if:

  • You put on a brave face but carry a quiet knot of worry most days
  • Or maybe you’re lashing out because you’re stressed up to your eyeballs
  • You keep meaning to get organised but never quite find the headspace or the actual time
  • You feel guilty spending and anxious not knowing what’s leftover. You loathe looking at your bank balance.
  • You tell yourself “it’s not that bad”… but know it could feel so much better, you could be saving so much more.
  • Or maybe, you know it really is in a total mess and you’re as ashamed as you are clueless, with where to start with it all.

It isn’t about perfection.
It isn’t about you becoming the household accountant.
But it is about you getting a sense of being back in charge.

And here’s the important part…

I don’t want to create this experience without you.

I want it to feel like it truly belongs to all the women who will walk through it.

So I’d love to know:
✨ What currently feels hardest about your relationship with money?
✨ Where do you feel most overwhelmed?
✨ What would “calm and confident” actually look like for you?

✨ And what, if I waved a magic wand, would you want to change about your household finances and why?

Your voice matters here. This experience is being shaped with you, not just for you.

I have designed:


Session One – Your Past (Purge & Understand)
Session Two – Your Present (Creating Your Version Of Structure & Clarity)
Session Three – Your Future (Crafting A Gorgeous Plan To Give You Confidence & Direction)

But the magic lies in how you want this journey to feel.

If your heart whispers that this might be the support you’ve been craving for some time, you can join the waitlist here:

And if you feel called to share your thoughts, reflections, or what you deeply want from this space… I would love to read them. Leave a comment below or email: info@budgetingandplanning

We are co-creating something gentle, meaningful and powerful together.

With warmth and a little fairy sparkle,


Lucy x

ps. This current mentoring one hour special will be either evolving into something else, or I will be removing it entirely.

If you would like to book a one off One hour session please do before I make the changes in a couple of weeks.

The Foundation Session

The Foundation Session

THE FOUNDATION SESSION

You are in the right place.

Once your booking is confirmed you will receive a welcome email with everything you need to prepare for our session together, including your 60 Minute Household Money Reset workbook to complete beforehand.

One hour. One clear plan. One giant exhale.

Questions before you book? Drop me a line at info@budgetingandplanning.co.uk or book a free Gentle Hello first.

Lucy x

£85.00
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