Abundance Mindset

Aug 03, 2026

In mid-July, I spotted a post by Jannese Torres that stuck with me. She challenged her Financially Lit Club to come up with $10,000 in thirty days.

Whoa, how the heck are you supposed to do that?!

As Torres explains in the post, “We look for money in multiple places: Recover it. Keep it. Earn it. Invest it.”

In the midst of an unexpected preschool enrollment switch, I was inspired to do my own personal version of this challenge. Here’s how it shook out, and I’m projecting the amounts over a year where applicable:

Recover - $1,212

$745 - negotiated refund of first pre-K tuition payment.
$358 - returned pre-K uniforms for store credit. My children will be wearing solid-colored sweatsuits for the next several years!
$100 - bottle returns, around $8-10 each month. Not a huge amount, but if someone said, “I’d like to pay one of your internet bills and also hand you twenty dollars,” I’d be okay with that.
$6 - other returns.
$2.43 - found some unclaimed property. I’ll take my small coffee from CDbaby, #thankyouverymuch.

Keep -$4,723

$2,500 - made some logistics changes that will save us from aftercare costs over the school year.
$2,000 - contributing the family max ($7,500) to a dependent care reimbursement account will save us a couple grand on taxes, according to Google. The actual amount may be more or less, I just picked a number that was in the middle.
$180 - stopped drinking seltzer for medical reasons. (Bleh.) While this is very boring and zero stars, it should save me around $15/month.
$43 - coupons and discounts.

Earn -$1,370

$1,200 - started a new freelance job that pays up to $100/month.
$150 - worked two afternoons as a circulation assistant at the public library.
$20 - music performance. Plus dinner and a beer!
I haven’t gotten actual money from these yet, but I created four new products for my Teachers Pay Teachers store and set up a book-signing event in October.

Invest -$60

$60 - Came out a little bit ahead at the end of July and put $60 in investment accounts.
Once paychecks for the new school year start coming in, I’ll reevaluate the amounts I’m contributing to my retirement accounts and HSA. I also hope to resume 529 contributions for the kids!

Total: $7,365

A lot of that total came from the goings-on with preschool, which obviously (hopefully!) won’t be happening every month. But what I really like was how Torres’s challenge framed money management. Many times, my first impulse is to CUT. CANCEL. SAVE. How many leftovers can I eat this month?? How long can I stay in my house without spending any money?

Her challenge, however, focused on growing money rather than hoarding it. Instead of feeling like a failure because I bought myself a coffee one time or inevitably went to the grocery store, this lens encouraged me to focus on what I’m creating.

Which just so happens to go right along with the recent Pagan holiday Lughnasadh, the first harvest festival. This sabbat is about abundance, gratitude for the Earth’s gifts, and also about hard work paying off.

Earlier in July, I was feeling pretty down. I had to step back from the everyday annoyances (and some larger challenges) to look at what I’m building. I provide security for my family. I share information to help people grow their own financial foundations. I’m working on improving my health. I share creatively through music and art, even if it’s not at the same pace as it used to be.

This month, I encourage you to do a couple things for your future and your mindset:

Open a Roth IRA if you don’t have one yet, like my awesome friend C. did last week! This is not financial advice, but Fidelity has some great target date index funds that you can set and forget.
Check your state’s unclaimed property list. Who knows what you’ll recover! Hopefully you’ll get a little more than I did lol…
Check out resources from Jannese Torres — some of them are free!
If you’re any type of hustler or creator, check out what Seth Werkheiser is doing. He is a great example of someone who is always connecting people.
Make a list of things you’re building — accomplishments or works in progress. Either way, focus on the positive.

Want to share here? I’d love to know what’s on your “building” list.

Jessie’s Substack

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