I wanted to talk about abundance this June, partly because the astrology of this month apparently agrees with me. This is said to be a wonderful month for manifesting wealth, and I figured there’s no better time to share something I’ve been doing for a couple of years now.
People love to say that money is no object. For most of us, money is very much an object, a heavy and looming one that plants itself right in the middle of every decision we make about our homes. I know this firsthand, because I sat on fixing up my own house for the longest time, and one of the biggest reasons was a plain lack of money.
Why fixing up a home is never really cheap
I’ve been in this industry long enough to tell you straight that fixing up a home is not cheap. You can go the TikTok Shop or Amazon or Temu route, and while I would never tell you to lean on the budget option all the time, even those small purchases add up to a startling figure once you total them.
The real way to keep designing and decorating from devouring your wallet is to take your sweet time, and that comes with its own pros and cons too.
How my money situation shaped every decision about my home
So money is not nothing. It is an important part of making your home look and feel like home to you. I ignored this for years because I assumed I was simply not making enough of an effort with the house.
What I failed to see was that not fixing my financial situation was shaping every decision I made about my space. And the pattern was right in front of me the whole time, because I get plenty of discovery calls from people looking to have their homes renovated. I end up booking only a fraction of these clients into actual paying projects, because home renovations are not cheap and require major investments from any homeowner.
So over the past two to three years, I tried a handful of ways to improve my situation, all so I could finally fix up the one space that means the most to me and the people I love.
The year I earned more...and burned out
Taking on part-time jobs was the first solution.
I landed some wonderful ones, and there was even a year when I earned far more than I ever did as a full-time employee and as the CEO of my own business. But boy, was I burnt out. I eventually had to walk away from a couple of well-paying jobs for the sake of my own health and sanity. The one thing I refused to give up was Gal at Home. This is my pride and joy (right after my kids, of course), and even in the seasons when it wasn’t paying me nearly enough, I loved it more than all my other jobs combined.
So I went looking for other ways to earn that wouldn’t run me into the ground, and I genuinely didn’t believe anything like that existed.
How I stumbled into manifesting abundance
In one of my part-time roles, I edited books written by small-business entrepreneurs based in the UK, and I expected pages about running a company, managing a business, the usual entrepreneurial stuff. Instead, I edited books about manifestation, gratitude lists, neuroscience, and mindset shifts. Being an entrepreneur myself, I got curious as to how these things could lead to business success.
All that reading pulled me into the magical world of crystals, intuition, meditation, visualization, and abundance thinking. It has made me more spiritual than I have ever been, and strangely enough, it helped me understand the religion I used to practice with far more clarity than before, even strengthening my faith in a higher power.
This belief that I didn’t have to rely on my own efforts and willpower alone is actually what finally drew in the abundance I had wanted for so long. That I could exert effort and discipline, and at the same time rely on this faith in the unknown, that forces in the universe could actually help me call in more wealth—for the greater good, and at no harm to anyone.
The tools that shifted my mindset
I leaned on a small handful of practices, and I use all of them to this day. Meditation came first because it was the one that quieted my anxiety down enough to actually believe any of this could work. Visualization exercises came next, where I would picture the life, the income, and the home I wanted with as much detail as I could hold in my head.
I started playing subliminal audio on wealth and manifestation (got an entire library of these tracks from Canny Crystals!) while I worked or fell asleep, which sounded a little silly to me at the beginning. Then it stopped sounding silly once I noticed my own thinking changing. I also leaned into crystals and candle work, which gave the affirmations and manifestations something physical to attach to, so they settled deeper instead of staying as words in my head (this part actually made me understand more clearly why many religious and spiritual practices use rituals).
Gratitude lists became a daily anchor, and there is so much to say about those that I’ll save the whole story for its own post.
And this last one surprised me most, because it was the least mystical of the bunch. Instead of what the financial gurus advise, which is to track budget and expenses, I started tracking my income: as in every peso that came in for that day—whether it’s money paid to me, money that comes into my bank account, or money that I win or find (like in some forgotten pants back pocket, for example).
I also noted down every bit of “blessing” I received for that day, which I assigned a monetary value. A client treating me coffee (₱125). My husband paying for our electric bill instead of me (₱₱₱₱, let’s keep that figure confidential, shall we?). A neighbor sending me a loaf of bread, just because (₱75). Free advice given to me by a mentor I bump into at a party (thousands of ₱₱₱).
I recorded all of those things in my “daily income tracker,” and watching the numbers turned out to be its own kind of manifestation. It rewired my brain to think that I am actually receiving so much abundance, every single day.
And wow, oh wow, my life has been changed forever.
What manifesting abundance did for my home
Going down this path has let me earn more than I ever thought possible, even while holding just one job plus a few freelance projects here and there. I won’t pretend I’m Tech Bro Billionaire-rich, because that is simply the peak of ick.
What I can tell you is that I can now pay for everything we need, indulge in a few small luxuries (usually food, let’s be real), and send a little support to family from time to time. The best part of all is that I can finally spend on my house.
Right now, we are deep in a looong decluttering phase (because this decluttering business does not wrap up in a single weekend, know what I mean?). I keep at it anyway, because I understand now that all of it is making room for more abundance to flow into our lives.
I’ve managed to pull off a few mini projects along the way. We finally patched up all the holes in our bedroom walls and rearranged the furniture in our room and the kids’ rooms. I bought paint and wallpaper samples to test (though that one will have to stay a long-term project, because time is now the thing I need to work on having more of!). Soon, I’ll finally cover up that disgusting apple green paint I once believed would look great in our bedroom.
Now don’t get me wrong: My problems haven’t disappeared. I still move through plenty of ups and downs, and other aspects of my life still need work. Financial management is my next frontier in all of this, because what is the use of earning more if I can’t let the abundance flow naturally and positively, in and out of my life?
Money matters, and there is no shame in wanting it
So the point of all this musing is that money matters. It is so easy to cast money as evil, especially when so many people debase themselves chasing it. And even more so when we watch the world’s billionaires refuse to lift a finger or share a sliver of their wealth to ease world poverty and hunger, choosing instead to fuel more conflict and dehumanization.
But money does make the world go round in the most literal sense. We need some of it to cover our basic needs, and we need it so we don’t spend every day and every week and every month drowning in that where-will-I-find-the-money-for-the-bills-or-even-a-tiny-bit-of-joy anxiety that I know for a fact has made millions of people sick. And yes, we need money to dedicate to the nurturing of our homes.
It took me a couple of years to arrive here and accept it as fact. I’m not telling you I’ve become some materialistic bitch and money fiend. There are still no Balenciagas or Guccis hanging in my closet. But because I finally feel safe and comfortable enough to enjoy my little life with my little family, I feel the abundance overflowing. Don’t we all want that?
Now let me ask you this: Are these ideas and concepts you’re familiar with, or ones you’ve never come across, never really talked about with anyone before?
Would you like me to share more about my abundance manifestation journey and how it has shaped my home improvement journey?
Drop a comment below; I would love to hear what you think.
All photos from the Gal at Home Design Studio library.
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