How often do you actually check your bank account or sit down to fill in your budget? Are your finances on autopilot or do you just hope for the best each month? Do you really even have the time to manage your money?
Between working all day, running errands on weekends, having a social life, and taking care of kids/pets, how can one find time to manage money as well? And what aspects should you be managing anyway?
I’ve found that taking the time to sit down and thoroughly go through your finances and get a plan in place helps make it less of an ordeal going forward. Once you set it up, it’s really just maintaining it, which is much easier than starting from scratch.
Manage Your Money Hands Free
To really make managing your finances a breeze, put as much as you can on autopilot. Put recurring expenses on autopay, use a budgeting app that automatically tracks your expenses, and know what your goals are. Automating your finances helps save you time, but you still need to be present enough to monitor what’s going on.
Once a week, go over your budget to make sure you’re staying on track for the month. This doesn’t have to take long, only a few minutes to ensure you’re not overspending and your bills are getting paid. You’re basically just babysitting your money so you don’t find it in the pantry sitting on the floor covered in flour.
Manage Your Money With A Budget
Before you can cruise through your budget with a simple weekly check, you have to actually have one first. If you don’t have a budget or you have one that you haven’t touched in a while, take the time to sit down and flesh one out. I personally love using my budget to manage my money and have tweaked it many times over the years to suit my needs.
If you’re unsure of where to start, The Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting outlines the basics. It’s important to lay out how much income you bring, all of your expenses, every debt you owe, and how much you’ve got sitting in savings. From there, you can figure out which expenses you need to cut (if any), how much extra money you can throw towards your debt, and how much you can allocate to savings. This will help you bring structure to your goals. Speaking of which…
What Are Your Money Goals?
Your money goals, driven by your motivations, will help guide your financial decisions. Finding time to create goals and routinely assess your progress is imperative. To start, write down what your financial goals are for the next month, year, quarter, whatever it may be.
When creating financial goals, make sure they are quantifiable and have a timeline. So don’t just say you want to pay off debt or save for a car, but specify how much and by when. A good goal will look something like “I will save $10,000 this year. I will set aside $833 each month to reach this goal.”
Goals can also include learning more about personal finance (what content will you consume and how often?). This can look like “I will read 1 chapter of a personal finance book each day”. Or it could be setting financial boundaries and holding yourself accountable; “I will cook at home every day instead of eating out”.
What Are Your Financial Boundaries?
On the topic of financial boundaries, let’s delve deeper into what they are and how they can help you manage your money. Financial boundaries are simply boundaries that help hold you to your goals. Setting financial boundaries can be a goal in itself, but typically they act as a support system.
If you struggle to save money, figure out why. Do you impulse shop on Amazon, get fast food every day, or struggle with saying no to family who ask for financial support? Once you identify what the issue (or issues) is, you can put boundaries in place.
So if your problem is sending all your money to Jeff Bezos, consider deleting your account or making it harder to access. You could also make yourself wait a week before buying something to make sure you really want it. It’s also important to identify the deeper issues that may be causing you to spend impulsively. What your boundaries are isn’t as important as ensuring they work for you.
Money Management Mindset
If your mindset isn’t aligned with your goals, it’s going to make adhering to your boundaries even more difficult. It’s one thing to say you want to pay off debt, if your behavior isn’t matching, then it’s likely an issue with your mindset.
Thinking you can’t be financially successful or having a fear of money, or any other limiting belief, whether conscious or unconscious, will only keep you from your goals. While there are always going to be variables you can’t control, you only need to focus on what’s in your power. Everything else is just outside noise that can distract you from your own ability.
Affirm that you can do hard things. Changing your financial future is no easy task (it’s simple, but not always easy). Affirm that you are worth having better finances and being able to live the life you want. You deserve to have financial freedom. And affirm that you are more than your financial situation. Don’t allow your self worth to become tied to how much money or possessions you accrue. You’ll be better for it.