Did you know April is financial literacy month? Yeah, I didn’t either. But since I spend a ton of time thinking about numbers, it is my day job and I run a blog, I thought I’d share some of my favorite tips and tricks for keeping your financial life together like an adult.
Having a budget is something I never did until I was about 25. I knew where my money was going and I didn’t have a ton of expenses. But the older I’ve gotten, the more money I have, the more goals I have, and the more work I have. Keeping track of every single thing is how I keep myself from getting overwhelmed or stressed out over money. Not knowing where your money goes or what you’re saving and working towards causes a ton of unnecessary anxiety. I use a combination of spreadsheets and online tools to keep everything together.
Write Down Every. Single. Expense.
The easiest and most basic way to get started with a budget is to literally write down every single thing you spend money on. This is obviously going to suck at first. It’s kind of depressing and stress-inducing to create evidence of every stupid thing you’re paying for. But it’s like ripping off a band-aid, you just have to do it and it doesn’t hurt as much. I keep a spreadsheet that lists every expense I have for the month, my credit cards, my bank accounts, my savings, my retirement, and it rolls continuously for every day of the year. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty intense. But I know at any given date how much money I will have. This helps me plan for the day-to-day expenses and to plan for an emergency fund.
If you have student loan debt or credit card debt, writing all of those down including the interest rate is one step closer to paying it all off. It helps you set a plan for how much you can realistically pay each month. This also works great if you want to focus on saving money. Having everything in front of me and being able to plan out my financial life lets me feel in control of my money.
Online Tools
There are tons of online tools out there. The number one tool I recommend is Mint.com. Kind of similar to my personal spreadsheet, Mint keeps track of all of your spending. It can sync to your bank accounts, credit cards, assets, etc. It gives you a breakdown of what you’ve spent the most money on and lets you set budgets for yourself. It also lets you set goals like saving for a car or retirement or paying off debt. Mint also has an app so you can track your finances on the go.
This option is great if you don’t want to take the time to maintain a spreadsheet yourself. Sometimes Mint has an issue connecting to store credit cards. I’ve used Mint in the past and couldn’t connect all my credit cards which wasn’t a huge issue, but kind of annoying. Overall anything you use is better than not knowing where your money goes.
Switch to an All-Cash Diet
If you’re like me and love credit card points and miles, this is a hard life to live. I switched to an all-cash diet a few months ago to try it out and see if my mentality around spending changed. And weirdly enough, it totally did. Now my all-cash diet isn’t actual cash, I just use my debit card for everything. My thought being it’s still cash coming straight out of my bank account and not deferred for a month. As someone who loves to shop, but also has major travel goals and would like to retire before 80, managing my spending is key. Going all-cash made me realize how much I don’t need so many little things. More than big purchases I’ve found myself skipping quick runs into Walgreens for three things I probably don’t need.
Live by the 50/20/30 Rule
The 50/20/30 rule has been around a while and is a pretty sound way to lead your financial life. 50% of your earnings should go to needs, 20% to savings, and 30% to wants. Your needs could include a mortgage/rent, living expenses, a car payment, etc. It’s the stuff that you absolutely can’t go without paying each month. When it comes to savings you have some discretion. Most people recommend actually saving 15% of your pay into pre-tax retirement, so you could save 20% after taxes to an emergency fund. Your wants are obviously the things that make life worth living, like Netflix and wine.
Find little ways to cut costs now
Always be looking for little ways to cut down your expenses. For me, it was cutting out Starbucks. This actually kind of came about when I did Whole30. Without the allure of a vanilla syrupy delicious latte on the menu for me, I wasn’t that interested. And then I quickly realized how easy it was to give up wasting 15 minutes stopping into Starbucks a couple of times a week. Then I realized how much money I was saving. Then they changed the rewards program so I would basically never get a free drink again anyway, so it’s been a pretty easy routine to ditch. And I’m much healthier for it. This is a great example of a small expense that builds quickly and how easy it is to cut out.
Seriously, just call AT&T
If you have U-Verse or DirecTV like I do, seriously just call AT&T and ask them how they can cut your bill. I’ve done this every year when my contract is up and every year my bill gets cheaper. The key is to call and talk to cancellations. Then just be super nice about it. Tell them you love your U-Verse, but your contract is almost up and it’s just going to be too expensive and flat out ask them how they can help you. First, no’s are free so even if they can’t help you, it has cost you nothing. But they will help you. I’ve always paid around the same amount for my cable and/or internet and get lots of pre-paid gift cards out of them. As long as I’m patient and nice about it, they are more than willing to see how they can help me. Don’t you feel more inclined to help someone who makes you feel like you’re really helping them out?
More Tips
Taking care of my financial well-being has been a big priority for me the past couple of years and seems to become more important the older I get. If you want more budget tips or ideas for keeping yourself financially on track, I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to adulting better! Follow along on Pinterest and check out my Corporate Life board here with tons of tips.
Have any of your own amazing budget tips or want more details on how I successfully pretend to be a reasonable adult? Leave it in the comments or e-mail me!
