How I Make My Life Easier? By Journal Writing + Budgeting (Mental Health Month Post)
Of all the apps I love to use, two of them that I find myself using daily is my Journal (Journey) and YNAB (Short for You Need a Budget). How does doing these two mundane activities make my life easier?
There are times when I want to talk to people about issues, and then there are times when I want to keep them to myself. Journaling can help take the edge off at times. It’s not the cure-all, but talking with self and recording memories of your thinking can help you spot what’s bothering you. There is literally no rules when writing. My journal entries talk about life with work, relationships and sometimes, just ideas I want to put out to the world, but can’t because they are so abstract, I’m still trying to make sense of them.
Of course, one may wonder why would I keep them in an app? I mean, why not write them down on a book? At least it can’t be hack that way. While it’s true that notebooks are ideal for something like this, I really want a way to write my memories at any time and sadly, there are situations where a notebook can’t come with me, but a phone can. The other problem is, a notebook can get lost or damage, even if I keep it in the safest of places. But besides all that, it’s really a situation where I just want to write when I want to write and it’s much easier to type out something than it is to write for me.
What makes this app different from most of the journal entries is while this is a cloud app, it is tied to your Google Drive account, not some other server. Also, the app is the only way to access the information, as the information on Google Drive is hidden. So, the data is yours as long as you don’t close your Google Drive account (there is an export feature, but only for paid users). Also, you can lock your app access, making it private.
So, I have my tell-all book (to myself, that is) and it helps me mentally clear my mind for the times when I need to get my head on straight.
Financial health and Mental health sometimes go hand-in-hand. Think about it: are there times when you just look at your bank account and you’re stressed because you don’t know where the money went? I see a lot of related memes about money and bank accounts and let me tell you, if you are not learning to budget, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.
Some people only have one checking account and maybe a savings account. I have more than that, which includes a Paypal account, a business account, a few savings accounts (don’t ask), a few checking accounts (again, don’t ask) oh... and a bunch of invoices I issued to clients and I have to track when that money’s coming in. On top of that, I have refunds coming in from stuff that doesn’t work. So, how do I keep track of all that without losing my mind? A budget tracker and in my case, my budget app literally tells me that I need a budget.
So, YNAB helps me by educating me on how to budget for my circumstances. YNAB is more than just a budget software, it’s a team of people that support it and will tell you how to prepare for the future. For a monthly fee (or a yearly fee), you’ll not only get access to software but a team that helps you understand your budget without talking down to you. That’s right, no “you can’t have that coffee” but more like “okay, if you spend money on Starbucks, you better be ready to ask yourself, do you want move money away from savings or other goals, or would you like to use your coffee budget on something cheaper while you’re there?” It makes you think about what you’re spending and when you have to write it down, you’ll have a better outlook on what you can and can’t do.
If you’re about to ask me “why not Mint? Why pay for this?” well, let me tell you why... when you manually input transactions, you can breathe a little easier. Also, you know that you’re putting your data in a company that doesn’t look at your data and while you can do advanced techniques such as linking up your bank account to make it easier to “reconcile your account”, you don’t have really do that.
Having a team to help you with money education can really help ease your mental burden a bit.
Yeah, I understand that this is not “typical” mental health advice, but I feel that if you spend time on yourself with little things like checking on your thoughts by writing them down and making sure your money situation is a-okay, you can focus on bigger things. And when you do this on a daily basis, it will give you a peace of mind.
And on that note, I deserve take-out for writing this post.
Okay, maybe a light snack.
