Drowning in the High Cost of Everything? Here are our not-fast but effective tips for making the most out of your money.
- Julieta Duvall
- Aug 14, 2024
- 3 min read
It took a while but good things aren’t fast. Period.
My last experience in recognizing this was when we got pizza 🍕 from a metal container at the mall vs when I had pizza 🍕 in Rome. Definitely not the same.
Beyond the actual food for me is the experience of it all. I believe money is no different. So here are our tips that have become part of our life as we seek ways to maximize our time together while keeping a roof over our heads.
Where is the money? For years I would get paid, pay the bills and spend without looking at my bank account. Sometimes I would overdraft my account and sometimes not. The truth is that I was afraid to log into the bank account and see that I had no money left. You can’t improve your situation without really knowing your current financial circumstances. So grab your partner or whoever you want to include in this journey (I highly recommend a sounding board but ok if you want to go solo) and start looking at your bank statements. Take note of fees, automatic withdrawals (those are killers) and anything in between. Do this for the last six months and over a period of a few days so you don’t get overwhelmed. As you move along through this process separate your expenses into “necessary” such as your rent/mortgage, utilities, car note and into “optionals” such as memberships that can be cancelled. Now some memberships are non-negotiable like my Spotify premium but we will address that later. For now, you just want to know your expenses.
Minimum Income: Once you have an understanding of how much you are spending it’s time to see if you can afford it. And this can be a bit tricky if you have an income that is variable like mine as a flight attendant but what is the minimum amount that you can bring home 🏠. This amount will be your baseline to decide how to allocate your funds. I love this part because it’s all about prioritizing what’s important to you and your family. We value spending time together so we choose to spend less and not work more. But I’m always open to work more if we are working towards a specific goal. As I said, no right or wrong way to do it just the way that works for you.
You now have combed through your bank statements and figure out your “necessary” and “optional” expenses as well as your minimum monthly income. Let the magic 🪄 begin!!!
3. Net-Zero Budget: This is such a fun part and it’s like a tetris game. You are making the pieces fit together so you can live your life.
From your minimum income start subtracting your necessary expenses and play with the optionals until you have allocated every penny that you bring home. I do a net-zero sheet every time I get paid bcz it helps to see how the current month will go. The month of December will be different than the month of April, so doing this requires building the money muscle 💪! If you know you can make more or have side gigs then have a separate holding tank for those because they are not consistent but can be used to build up savings, vacation or home repairs. You are in control!
This simple process it’s not so simple because we have to face how and where our money goes. And sometimes our spending is rooted into deeper layers of our subconscious. Recently I found out that there are financial therapists that specialize in money matters.
Give some grace to yourself by taking control of your money one day at a time. Our process in building this money muscle hasn’t been fast per say but we have established our priorities and make our money work for us! We continue to grow this very needed aspect of life and I hope this can help you shift your POV.
I’m not a financial coach yet but I can offer some services through my partner Julie Schaible and a campaign of “How Money Works.” I’m currently working towards a way to support others in retirement and how to build wealth.
This post is just a short summary of our experience and the lessons we have learned as we build our Money Muscle ™️. Take a look at the links below to see if this can work for you!
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