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If I don’t see it, it’s not real. How many people are guilty of thinking this way? That if you don’t check your account and see you only have $20 left, it’s okay to grab brunch with friends, an after-work cocktail, or something else you want but don’t need – like gas and groceries. This means you have a shitty relationship with money and you’ve given it too much power when, in reality, knowledge is power. Here are a few ways I learned to create healthy money habits.
Schedule in a Money Date
Communication is a big factor in creating and sustaining any healthy relationship, including one with money. What helped me was picking a date on the calendar and designating that as my “money date night” with my bank account.
When I started making money blogging, I started using Quickbooks because it just made everything super easy. It’s connected to my cards and bank accounts, so everything pulls in and I just put everything in it’s designated category. I started using it for personal finance as well.
Pay Yourself First
My mother didn’t teach me about money when I was younger, she did start imparting wisdom when I got older though. One thing she told me was that no matter how little she made, she always saved 10% from every check. It’s something I adopted in place of my “I don’t make enough to save” mentality because even while I was feeling I didn’t make enough to save, I would still manage to scrounge up just enough to be a Dollar Menunaire at McDonald’s. If you have enough for that (instead of making pb&j or jazzed up $.10 pack of Ramen every day), you have enough to save 10% from even the smallest of checks with a bit of a priority adjustment.
Use Your Bank’s Healthy Money Habits Features
Banks can be frustrating because they have many fees attached to various things that can throw a wrench in our lives if we’re not managing our money – hello overdraft fees when you forget a bill is coming out, hasn’t posted, but you’ve just swiped your card based on the money you thought was there. Banks also come up with various features because they want to make our lives easier. Things like mobile depositing and especially online bill pay are life changers.
Set your bills up on automatic bill pay to avoid missing out on paying a bill. If it’s a debt I’m hoping to pay off, I’ll set a certain amount to go out that’s higher – like my $377/month car payment that I rounded up to $400. Even if it’s a fluctuating bill, you know the gist of what it’s going to be every month because you’ve already budgeted for it. If the amount comes out lower than what I’ve budgeted, the remaining amount gets sent to savings when I have my next money date night.
What are some things you do to create healthy money habits?
