I spend a fair amount of my time thinking about my personal finances, probably more so than the average young professional. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always been very financially frugal, or perhaps it’s because I’m a financial blogger and it’s both a passion and my side hustle. However, I’m probably not all that different from a lot of young professionals in terms of how I manage my money. I’m certainly not saying that I have it all figured out, but I would like to share a bit on how I manage my money on an ongoing basis. Let’s dive into a day (or so) in the life of YoungMoneyFinance (and Mrs. Money Finance) managing my money! 

Spending

Ah, the fun part of managing money – actually spending it! I do spend money on a fairly regular basis, and on many of the things you probably spend your money on too. Our normal weekly cycle starts on the weekends, when we start meal planning. I find that meal planning is a great way to save money as it not only reduces the temptation to eat out (or as is appropriate during a pandemic; doing take-out or food delivery), but it also reduces temptation to over-buy at the grocery store. We’ve had fun during quarantine trying all sorts of new recipes – ranging from home made biscuits to home made lasagna – really allowing us to branch out and try new things! 

So, typically on Saturdays, we meal plan for the week and that dictates the shopping list. Although I, believe it or not, used to only grocery shop once a month, I’ve matured in my young professional days and go weekly now. Sadly it’s one of my big outings for the week and I look way too forward to grocery shopping. Depending on the store or how much we’re buying, the weekly bill has been ranging from about $80-$150 per week. Also on weekends we’re getting gas; Mrs Money fills up once a week, and I fill up probably twice a month (as I’m still working from home). 

During the week, we typically do take-out or delivery once, and on rare occasions twice per week. Sometimes Mrs. Money or I will grab coffee or something with a friend, but outside of that we’re not really spending much money elsewhere aside from normal utilities, subscriptions (YouTubeTV for the win!), and the random errands here and there. 

Budgeting

I always say that a budget is probably the most important piece of advice I’d offer a young professional – find one that works for you, and find one that you’ll stick to. There are plenty of options out there; both high and low tech. I personally use a Google Spreadsheet, but know others that have had success with PersonalCapital, YouNeedaBudget (YNAB), Mint, and EveryDollar. If you don’t have a budget, stop reading and go find one! 

Seeing as we don’t actually spend that much money, it’s pretty easy for me to budget on a daily or every other day basis. Since switching to GoogleDocs, I’ve got the spreadsheet on my phone and it only takes a minute or two to do so. I stay on top of my budget and keep it very up-to-date. Keeping a good, up-to-date budget helps focus me on potentially saying no to weekend activities that I can’t afford (ha….which never happens in this pandemic as there’s nothing to do), and also remind me of my savings goals for the month. Although I should be better about automating my savings, I still do it manually as sometimes there is variance on how much I can save based on how much I’ve spent for the month. 

Investing

I’m really into stocks and have been for a long time. As such, I spend a fair amount of time following the stock market – every week day at 9:30am I’m pulling up the market to see how it’s starting off. Although I keep probably 95% of my money in index funds, I do still trade a few stocks here and there. Through work I am contributing 10% to retirement (with a 6% match), and also to my Employee Stock Purchase Program (15%). Both of those are automated so I have to give 0 thought or remind myself to move the money, which is nice. Outside of that, I have set a goal for myself this year to purchase one share of an index fund ($VTI is my favorite) per month. It’s been a bit of a stretch goal and I’ve not been able to meet that goal every month as other, more pressing financial purchases pop up, but I’m hoping for more success this year! 

Summary

Being financially responsible doesn’t have to mean less fun, or more time paying bills and checking your budget! I’ve been able to find a very low maintenance budget system where I only spend a few minutes weekly making sure everything has been entered and looking good! What about you? What works for you to manage your money on a day to day basis?