Last time I reviewed my budget, my rent had just gone up and summer was in full swing. I had started contributing to my retirement account and was already looking forward to fall—and the fall in price of my energy bill!
Though I’ve been using the percentage budget for most of this year, I certainly haven’t been following it as closely as I would like. I haven’t been saving enough, so right before sitting down to write this I forced myself to transfer 20% of my monthly income, $560, from my checking account to my regular savings account.
I promise I haven’t been spending exorbitant amounts of money on fancy shoes in the traditional Carrie Bradshaw fashion. My main struggle with saving has been waiting until the end of the month to make the transfer, and after my rent went up it got even harder to pull the trigger. Unlike Carrie, I’m calling myself out on my bullshit because no one else will! (Feel free to bully me into saving better, every bit of encouragement helps!)
I’m hoping that transferring my savings at the beginning of the month (right after the first paycheck hits) will hold me more accountable to stick to the budget outlined below:
Another way I’m tricking my brain into wanting to save more is by setting more aggressive goals for my high-yield savings accounts. I’m more motivated to save and meet those goals now that I put them in writing. In order to meet my goal of investing another $2,000 in the new year, I have to stick to saving no less than $560 every month and make more regular transfers to my high-yield savings accounts when my emergency savings are in excess of $10,000.
Most of my recent behavioral block from saving can also be attributed to my general misunderstanding of numbers (the letters of math!) and a fear of not having enough money. But I know that with the budget I’ve created, it’s possible for my money to do all of the things I want it to. I just have to face that reality and allow the numbers to mean little else than their value. As AAII has taught me, having these rules in place means that there’s no room for my emotions in these decisions.
My goal is to get to the point with my budget where I don’t have to think about it. Since I only started budgeting at the beginning of this year, I’ve given myself some wiggle room to start. But now we’re getting serious 😎 so stay tuned to see if I can stay true to my word!