Part 1: Does it spark joy? Before you buy..

"How you spend your money is just as important to your financial success as your decision to save or get out of debt."






I think the first step in starting to actively manage your finances is sitting down and writing a budget. Learning good spending habits cannot be done by "winging it." Let's start by looking at your monthly bills, then a transaction statement from a prior month. An easy way to do this is by downloading Mint and connecting your accounts. You need to add together all the categories you find. If you're anything similar to me, food will be your biggest expense.


We need to set a cash limit every month, or better yet, every week. When you do eat out, another possibility to save is by drinking only water. That $5 Starbucks every morning is $25-30 every week, or $100-120 every month and $1200-$1400 every year!


This is self-discipline. It probably won't feel good at first. But I think that having saved up enough to make big or emergency purchases will feel good when you don't have to borrow or finance money!



So, to recap so far -

1. Find your current budget.

2. Modify your current budget.

3. Live on that budget.