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The Budget Line Item You’ve Been Missing: Linda Grizely’s MeMoney™ Movement
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Conversations about money tend to orbit around the same directives: spend less, save more, prepare for retirement. Yet for many women, these rules only deepen a cycle of guilt and avoidance. Budgets feel restrictive. Splurges feel shameful. And the pressure to meet everyone else’s needs leaves littl...
Conversations about money tend to orbit around the same directives: spend less, save more, prepare for retirement. Yet for many women, these rules only deepen a cycle of guilt and avoidance. Budgets feel restrictive. Splurges feel shameful. And the pressure to meet everyone else’s needs leaves little room for their own.
Linda Grizely has spent her career studying this disconnect, not just as a financial planner, but as someone who lived it. A single teen mom who later navigated divorce, remarriage, and the challenges of a blended household, she knows what it feels like to work hard, follow the rules, and still feel left behind. Her conclusion is simple but radical: the missing piece in most financial strategies is you.
Grizely’s signature framework, MeMoney™, asks people to do something almost unthinkable in traditional financial planning: add themselves to the budget. Instead of treating personal indulgence as reckless or secondary, she suggests creating a separate line item dedicated entirely to guilt-free spending.
This shift sounds small, but the effect is profound. By setting aside money specifically for yourself, you move from constant self-denial to intentional choice. Spenders learn to prioritize long-term experiences over fleeting purchases. Savers stop punishing themselves for wanting small luxuries. Couples balance uneven dynamics by allocating equal personal funds, regardless of income.
“You can’t build a life you love if the plan you’re following makes you miserable,” Grizely explains.
Financial services often focus on ratios, projections, and technical language. These tools have value, but they rarely address the emotional realities that drive most financial decisions. Many women report feeling judged or misunderstood when they seek help, which only reinforces secrecy and avoidance.
Grizely’s approach acknowledges that money personalities vary, as a spender, saver, risk-taker, avoider, and that none are inherently wrong. The goal is not conformity but awareness. By integrating emotional intelligence into financial planning, she helps people create systems that reflect their personalities rather than erase them.
The concept of MeMoney™ emerged unexpectedly in Grizely’s own marriage. Her husband, a natural spender, underestimated how much he was actually laying out. To bring clarity, she gave him a set allowance for discretionary purchases. Instead of bristling, he felt liberated. With clear limits, he began making better choices, passing on another golf shirt so he could save for a trip that mattered more.
When Grizely mirrored the system for herself, the results surprised her. As someone who often told herself she “couldn’t afford” small pleasures, she found freedom in having money earmarked just for her. She began saying yes to experiences and items she once denied herself. The insight was clear: permission, not restriction, was the missing ingredient in personal finance.
Grizely’s work resonates most strongly with women, though she welcomes anyone who wants to take ownership of their financial lives. She focuses on women because she has seen how often they are taught to prioritize everyone else before themselves, and how deeply that conditioning affects their relationship with money.
Her clients come from a wide range of life stages. Some are rebuilding after divorce, navigating the uncertainty of starting over while longing for stability and peace of mind. Others are mid-career professionals who spent years avoiding the topic of money, only to realize that retirement is closer than they imagined and it is time to catch up. Still others are younger women in seasons of transition, maybe entering the workforce, pivoting careers, or adjusting to marriage, who want to establish healthy financial habits early.
The common thread is readiness. What matters is not how much someone earns but whether they are prepared to view money as a tool for both security and joy.
Grizely’s philosophy reflects a broader cultural shift. Just as mental health, fitness, and mindfulness have become central to wellness, so too should money. She frames budgeting not as punishment but as an act of self-respect.
“Giving yourself permission to spend is as essential as saving for retirement,” she notes. “It tells you that your future matters, but so does your present.”
By aligning financial practices with personal values, her method transforms money from a source of anxiety into a foundation for well-being.
Today, Grizely is channeling her expertise into financial coaching, courses, her podcast, Real Money, Real Life™, and speaking engagements designed to reach those who feel disconnected from their finances. Her larger goal is to spark a cultural reframe: replacing the narrative of shame and scarcity with one of clarity, fairness, and empowerment.
Her guiding belief is that once women stop treating budgeting as a restrictive rulebook and start treating it as a personal wellness practice, they not only regain control but also rediscover joy.
Numbers will always matter in finance. But numbers alone cannot address the emotional currents that determine how we save, spend, and invest. Grizely’s MeMoney™ method offers a different path, and it’s one that balances accountability with freedom and turns permission into power.
The message is simple: you deserve to be part of your own financial plan.
To learn more about Linda or the MeMoney™ method, visit https://www.lindagriz.com/
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