According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, while white women earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, Black women earn just 64 cents. Dasha Kennedy says that for Black women specifically, there are a myriad of reasons for that.
“We are overrepresented in caretaking roles, which we also know are often low-paying roles and we are also still the primary breadwinner in our homes,” Kennedy says. “We are taking care of not only the family in our homes but outside of our homes too, so we’re stretched thin all across the board.”
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Dasha Kennedy is the founder of the Broke Black Girl and a Financial Wellness Board member with National Debt Relief, where she shares her personal journey of overcoming financial struggles and specific advice for Black women because she says, “Black women have a very unique experience when it comes to money, we exist right at the intersection of race and gender.”
This Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, Dasha Kennedy is sharing how she’s pushing back against the gender wage gap and her favorite ways to save money in 2024:
SPEND INTENTIONALLY
One of the first ways Dasha Kennedy is saving money in 2024 is by spending intentionally. When she picks something up at a department store or hovers her finger over the keyboard to click “buy” she asks herself the following three questions: Why am I buying this? What is it going to do for me? Is it something I need?
“Every time something comes out of my account, it has to be with intention,” Kennedy says. “I have to have an answer for everything that comes out of my account. Spending intentionally is me asking these questions before I swipe my card, before I click process payment, or before I send it to the checkout.”
SET SPENDING LIMITS
Dasha Kennedy says as a single mom of two teenage boys and an oldest sibling herself, she’s a master at setting spending limits. She says while it’s easy for her to slip back into the caretaking and nurturing role, she doesn’t want to help someone else if it’s going to hurt her.
“I have set spending limits on everything. I have a limit on how much I’m willing to help my family per month, a limit on how much I’m willing to let my boys spend per month, there’s a limit on everything,” Kennedy says.
She advises that if it’s hard to say no, let the math do the talking. “So if I already have the set amount and I know that that set amount works based off what I have going on, I say ‘This is my limit for the month, this is all that I can do.’”
PAY YOURSELF FIRST
For Dasha Kennedy, paying yourself first isn’t about saving at all; it means taking a chunk of money and reinvesting in yourself.
“It’s me taking something out of my money no matter how small it is to do whatever I want,” Kennedy says. “One month it could look like buying a pair of shoes, one month it could look like me going to the movies and buying whatever I want from the concession stand. But it’s me making sure I take something out for me.”
INVEST IN EXPERIENCES
One of the biggest things Dasha Kennedy is doing to save money in 2024 is collecting experiences, rather than expenses.
“I just started playing tennis,” Kennedy says. “It’s fun and it takes me out of my work. I’m not focused on being a mom in that moment. I’m not focused on work in that moment. I get to really expand and grow and invest in myself experiences that will last me for a lifetime.”
PRIORITIZE SAVINGS
Finally, Dasha Kennedy is saving money in 2024 by prioritizing savings. She has buckets for the things she really wants in life like saving for her boy’s birthday parties or for retirement, and she likes to start small.
“I am a fan of dreaming big but thinking small,” Kennedy says. “So I’m going to think of all of the small things that I can do daily or weekly that lead up to that big dream.”
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