Happy Money!... I mean MONDAY!
I hope you all had a wonderful day! Erik and I spent the day lounging/wedding/honeymoon planning! I looked up from my laptop a few minutes ago and noticed it’s dark out and I can’t figure out where the day went! I was supposed to write a great blog about financial tips and tricks, but I can’t do that. I mean I could, but I wouldn’t know if they would work or not, I haven’t tried them! I can tell you a bit about the things we’ve put in place to help us reach our tiny house goals, though!
1. A strict budget. I’ve downloaded the mint app (there’s a pc platform as well) and created a budget for everything I have to spend money on each month. Erik and I still finance separately for the most part, so the budget isn’t totally accurate, but it’s a start. My main goal is to get the hang of guarding my money, and knowing where every cent goes. Each purchase should be planned, discussed, and necessary.
2. Rules and Boundaries. Erik and I like food. Like, a lot. In the last month, actually, over $650 dollars left my account for a food related reason. We like to cook, we like to order take out, and we LOVE to try new restaurants. We had to make some rules in regards to our food expenditures! We have now limited ourselves to one takeout order per month. That probably sounds like a lot, but for us it’s a pretty large cut back. We love to spoil each other on dates! Well, not anymore. Dates must be scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance, and activities and dinner must be budgeted for. Dates will be saved for apart from our savings account and expenses. If enough money for the date is not saved in time, the date can be downgraded or postponed. We will only buy dinner at pool league if neither of us has time to cook before hand. In the event that we do eat out, this counts as our one take out purchase. Again, every purchase should be planned!
3. Pretend some money doesn’t exist. I’ve opened a savings account with my bank and set up my direct deposit to immediately deposit $50 from each paycheck. If you’re new to saving, like me, I recommend an account that you cannot withdraw from unless you visit your branch. I chose the fifth third goal setter savings account. It’s actually recommended for children who are learning to save money, but let’s be honest, that’s kind of where we’re at financially. The account yields virtually no interest, so it really is best for those just starting out. Bonus, if you’re a Hilton employee you get a free premium account, so as long as you direct deposit into your checking account there are no account fees! Your savings account is free if you have a checking account with fifth third.
4. Have a clear goal in mind. This can be an actual monetary estimate or a step in your journey. Our first goal is to buy our plot of land, so we’re working on saving enough money that we can put down a deposit on the plot we fall in love with. Our first Monetary goal is a modest $600, enough to pay rent for a month without our primary income.
5. Use your life events to your greatest benefit. We’re getting married in October 2018 (YAY)! We’ve decided to go the non traditional route and use our gofundme page as our registry for engagement, shower, and wedding gifts. We understand that there will be some resistance to this, so traditional gift givers will be given a small registry of tiny house friendly items to choose from! Honestly, when your post wedding plan is a tiny house, asking for STUFF just seems counter productive. Why would we ask for more things when we’re going to have to downsize to fit in our tiny as is? Modern wedding have been leaning towards more convenient, expedited gift options. You can register for your honeymoon, you can register for home decor room by room and new cars, so why wouldn’t we try to register for our new home?
6. Trim the fat. Watch your purchases for a few weeks. Find your spending trends and your impulse buys. I’ve started leaving my card at home for the weekend after I get my paycheck, because that’s when I spend the most. Are you paying for a dollar shave club subscription even though you have piles of razors in a drawer because you don’t use four in a week? Set that 6.00 to go directly into your savings account instead and pause your subscription! Quit smoking recently? Add up how much a week you’d usually spend on tobacco products and put that in an account. When it’s money you’re already throwing away, it’s easier to pretend you don’t have it!
7. Have fun. I’m a big fan of fun challenges. My current favorite is the 5 dollar bill challenge. Now, I don’t generally carry cash so I’ve had to modify it a bit to suit my needs, but the original challenge directs you to put away any five dollar bill you receive for a year. I’ve changed it to be any cash, 5 dollars or less that I get will be put away. This includes attempting to save coins to roll and stash, and taking back pop bottles and saving the bottle return money. Small amounts of money that won’t be missed, but will add up! Each time my cash stash reaches 50 dollars, I’ll deposit that money into my savings account.
8. Don’t rely on bonuses. At my hotel we get a quarterly bonus based on our guest satisfaction surveys. This is a portion of the revenue that my hotel makes, and an average of my hours for the quarter. Basically, the busier we are and the more I work, the bigger my bonus. Instead of using it like normal income or for date nights like we have in the past, the full amount of my bonuses will be deposited into a savings account. Monetary gifts for birthdays and holidays will also be deposited into the savings account.
All in all, I feel like my research has mostly led me to believe that saving money is a very personal, individual thing. Especially when you’re starting from zero. I hope you guys got a couple good ideas from us, and we’ll let you know how all this goes! The main thing we’ve done is be honest with ourselves and admitted that there are areas where we’re living outside of our means. The first thing you should do is find the fat in your expenditures, and trim it. We’ll update you as our strategies change, and as we get closer to our tiny house budget!
Remember, we hope to raise enough money for our tiny house build, and to help others with theirs! Please feel free to check out our gofundme page!
