October 2017, I struggled to stick to my budget and that’s coming from a hyper-budgeter. I kept going over my spending budget and having to adjust the next paycheck to accommodate. This was a vicious cycle that I knew I had to break. And after months of tweaking my plan, I had to change my money rules and change my mindset! There are so many rules, theories, and practices with money! Which one is right? Sometimes it is easy to fall into one of those routines without questioning if it works for you! I made the decision to make my money work for me. Here are the steps I took and resources I used to get back on track. Can you relate?
I maintained certain percentage rules and other rules that didn’t work for my income.
Each month I organized my budget into preset categories that didn’t work well for my income. How did that end up? I transferred extra money to my spending account, adjusted budgets mid pay period; breaking money rules my rules.
This was exhausting! Why did I put in work to budget if I was going to change things up? This produced little discipline and self-awareness.
My remedy? Change the initial budget amount or attempt to predetermine spending money. I ended up incorporating a mixture of both that has been working! I found a pattern in my spending and bumped up that budget a bit. Then, I started to pre-plan dinner dates, lunches out, and other spending. I found it easier to budget for “spontaneous” activities.
Before opening a second checking account; I used the same account for everything. Bill payments, spending, and short-term savings. It became complicated to figure out how much “extra” money I had to spend when I had to keep track of pending payments.
For a long time, I thought owning many checking accounts complicated things. Little did I know, it made segmenting my funds easier. This also increased access to my money (as opposed to using a savings).
With my new checking, I transfer my spending money for daily expenses. My primary checking is all for bill payments. Segmenting my funds made life so much easier. Account fees are still a thing, but that’s a small inconvenience for better money management.
My savings were sporadic and in my mind, optional. We’ve all had a time in our lives when savings seemed like an afterthought. Only when we changed our mindset to see it as a given, did it become easier. I’ll admit, it took me until my 24th year on this earth to figure out the right savings plan for me.
I assumed a basic savings account with my bank and monthly deposits would cut it. As long as I kept those consistent, I would rack up the funds I’d need later on. That included an emergency fund, vacations, car maintenance, etc. I put it all in one pot! And why did I do that? Because savings only got one measly line item in the budget. I thought of it as this catch-all money boat for hard times.
Although I caught on to this before October, I didn’t reap the benefits of my changes until recently. I’ve been in love with the Qapital savings app since I found the right workflow for myself. I segment my savings into goals now. For example: my wedding fund, future apartment, and vacations. Each goal has its own pot, divided and recognizable.
This small mental shift and the new app has me excited to see my savings grow and automate the hardest task.