How to Conduct a Month End Money Review

It’s already the beginning of a new month, and it’s hard to believe how fast this year is going despite everything going on in the world! If you’re like me, the promise of a new month (and new quarter!) is so refreshing. I love reflecting on the last month and setting goals and intentions for the month ahead.

At the end of every month I do two things:

1) write out things I was grateful for that happened over the course of the month

2) do a end of month money review

What is a month end money review?

It’s essentially a review of your finances for the month, including all income you earned and expenses you had. It’s not a difficult process, but it does take some time. Once you have the process down though, you should be able to repeat each month with less time and effort. Also - the pay off is worth it! For me, once I’ve seen what we’ve spent our money on and how close we were to our goals I can make adjustments for the next month.

Here’s how to conduct a month end money review:

1) Go through your transactions for the month and make sure everything is accounted for.

You can do this process manually (by going through each of your bank/credit card statements!) or review on a software such as Mint (which is what we use) One note of advice: Make sure if your accounts are linked up in Mint (or similar software!) that you check to make sure they are ACTUALLY CONNECTED! Unfortunately I learned this lesson the hard way this month as one of our lesser used credit cards hadn’t been syncing since April. Whoops!

2) Once you’ve double checked nothing is missing, tally up the expenditures for each spending category.

Examples include: dining out, groceries, alcohol and bars, shopping, etc. If you’re using a software like Mint, the categories should automatically fill, however, you will need to double check that your transactions are categorized correctly. For example, a lot of my husband’s fantasy football expenditures show up as business expenses for me, which is obviously not accurate!

3) Take a look at and tally up your take home pay for the month.

This should be your net income, aka the money you have in your account after your employer takes out all taxes and deductions. Don’t forget any side hustles or other sources of income you may have!

4) Subtract all of your fixed expenses from your income.

This includes your mortgage/rent, any bills that are the same amount each month or are always taken out each month (such as your energy bill) and any credit card/loan payments you make (such as student loan or car payments)

5) Start subtracting your discretionary spending categories from your the amount you had left in #4.

Make sure that if there is an expenditure that didn’t fit into a certain category that it gets labeled miscellaneous and is counted toward your total spending for the month.

6) Once completed with #5, notice if you came up in the black (surplus!) or in the red (shortage!)

If you’re in the red, then it’s time to evaluate which categories you overspent on and where you need to reign it in for the next month. If you’re in the black, hooray! Give yourself a pat on the back for not spending more than you earned for the month.

7) With this awareness, make a plan for the next month.

Now that you’ve seen how much you earned, how much you spent, and what you spent your money on, it’s time to make a plan for the next month! Are there areas you need to cut back on? Are there any expenses you can cut out completely? Do you need to hustle a bit more this next month in order to make enough money to cover your expenses? Remember: “a goal without a plan is just a wish”

Although you can certainly write this all out, I love using both Mint to track and categorize expenses and Google Sheets to enter in all of our date (income, fixed expenses, variable expenses, totals, etc.) By using a spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets you can compute the calculations right inside the spreadsheet. Another bonus is after a few months you can compute averages for different spending categories and then update your budget to more accurately reflect how and where you are spending your money.

And that my friends is how to conduct a month end money review! If you’re still feeling lost on how to start this process, send an email to info@katieoelker.com with the subject line “help please!” and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have or see how I may be able to help you get started!

Until next time….

Cheers to your abundance!

Katie O.

6 Fun Alternatives to Black Friday Shopping

Hey there!

Happy Thanksgiving week! (How is that possible already?!)

It’s been a whirlwind over here as we moved last week into our new house and IT IS AMAZING. All the anxiety I was having about moving melted away after a few days. The neighbors are friendly, the trails are awesome, we are close to everything and it’s SO NICE having more space for our family!

Unfortunately the offer on our old house fell through, which was a total bummer. It’s back on the market but we actually may have a short-term renter lined up for 4 months starting at the beginning of the year, which would be great. Then we could decide from there if a) we want to continue to keep it as a rental or b) we can throw it back on the market. In my last post I wrote about how we decided we didn’t want to be landlords, but I’m rewarming up to the idea (especially as I think we would hire a property manager to handle it!)

So anyway, that’s what’s new on the home front. We’ve been spending money like whoa between getting the old house ready to sell and moving into/furnishing this new home and I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been neglecting looking at our bank accounts. I did log in the other day and paid off all our credit cards, so at least I’m on top of that! I also recently setup a trial for YNAB (You Need a Budget) and am trying it out. Seems there is a bit of a learning curve so I’m just getting used to it. Mint was giving me some connection troubles and thus, I decided to check out my options. I’ll report back with how I like it soon!

OK on to today’s post. So obviously Black Friday is huge here in the U.S. (and I know it’s worldwide now too!) and most of us get sucked into the buying trap that starts tomorrow and goes through next week (I’ve been seeing all these early Black Friday deals too - what is the world coming to?! hah)

I’m not here to encourage you not to shop but I WILL encourage you to make a plan and stick to it. No buying crap just because it’s on sale and a “good deal” Doesn’t matter if it’s a good deal if it's something you don’t really want/need or takes away from your other financial priorities (like saving money for something you really want or paying down debt!) And if you want to have something to distract you other than spending money (or unplanned money on purchases!) check out these alternatives to Black Friday shopping:

6 Fun Alternatives to Black Friday Shopping:

1) Have your family or friends over for brunch

A lot of people have off work Black Friday so why not have a little celebration? You can turn those leftovers into a brunch (turkey and stuffing egg bake anyone?) and enjoy the extra vacation day together.

2) Opt outside

Obviously this was made popular by the retailer REI here in the U.S., but it’s a great idea and one I think everyone should consider. Spending time outdoors is not only FREE, it’s also good for the mind, body and soul. I encourage you to check out a State park (a lot of them are free on Friday!), bundle up the family and take a walk to a park, get a group together to play some outdoor touch football, or go hiking (or skiing if you have snow!)

3) Go to a movie

So obviously this is not a free activity, but it’s MUCH cheaper than browsing the internet or heading out to the stores and impulse buying a bunch of crap you don’t need. And if you have the day off, what a great excuse to see the matinee and save money!

4) Plan a staycation day

If you’re feeling lazy after eating all that turkey, plan a day to stay home with your family. You can play some good old fashioned games, watch movies, or even have a dance party in your living room. All of these things are free and sure to create memories that will last longer than whatever material possession that can be found in stores.

5) Head out to a tree farm

If you’re feeling in the holiday spirit, take your family to a tree farm to pick out your tree for the holidays. Yes of course this will cost money, but it will be a fun way to get outside, spend time with your family and create memories along the way. Then you can head home to trim the tree while playing some holiday music!

6) Volunteer

Before I had kids I would deliver hot chocolates and care packages (Costco is a great place to buy things in bulk for something like this!) to the homeless. I’d literally pack up my car and offer the hot beverage and Ziploc bag of toiletries and warm socks/mittens to those on the street corners or waiting in line outside the homeless shelter. It was by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, ever. There are lots of opportunities to use the money you would have spent shopping brightening someone else’s day or serving those who are in actual need.

Alright, so these are just a few things you can do instead of Black Friday shopping. There are obviously tons of other alternatives to consider but the point is to do SOMETHING other than go Black Friday shopping. Most of us really do not need to buy anything, and oftentimes what starts as innocent scrolling online or browsing in stores turns into full blown budget blowup.

I’d love to hear - what do you do on Black Friday other than go shopping? Let us know in the comments below!

And until next time…

Cheers to your abundance!

Katie

Using a No Spend Challenge to Save Money

Oh hey there!

Hard to believe it’s already mid-August - eek! Summer sure is flying.

Last month in my membership, the Kick Down Debt Club, I started a challenge to spend less and save more in order to keep our budgets on track through month end. It was so much fun (in a finance nerdy kind of way!)

Do you have a tendency to overspend or just need a way to jump start some savings? If so, I highly suggest adopting a No Spend Challenge of your own!

I also recorded a podcast outlining how to do this (which you can check out HERE!) but here's the written guidelines of how to conduct your own No Spend Challenge:

Step 1) Determine how long your challenge will run. I suggest 5-7 days max so you don’t get unmotivated as the time goes on, and also love using this type of challenge either at the beginning of the month to kick it off on the right foot, or at the end of the month to end on a strong note!

Step 2) Set a target for how many days you want to have be “no spend” days. “No spend” means days that are not including already planned for and necessary spending such as grocery trips, gas, bills etc.) I wouldn’t try to do the entire 5 or 7 days (depending on how long you decided to run the challenge for), but aim for a few no spend days out of that stretch.

Step 3) Get some accountability. Enlist your partner to join you in the challenge, tell a friend or coworker about it, or join us in the Kick Down Debt Club!

Step 4) Use a "Can Wait" list and write down all the things you are tempted to buy during this time (or add them to your virtual shopping cart!) Studies show that if you can postpone a purchase 24-48 hours, it’s more likely that you will convince yourself out of purchasing it all together.

Step 5) Celebrate in a non-monetary way when completed! It’s OK if you didn’t meet all the no spend days that you were hoping to. The point is to make you more mindful of your spending and create better habits moving forward. Indulge in a long bath, bake some cookies, or treat yourself in some other way that doesn’t cost money.

Step 6) Plan your next No Spend Challenge! Again, I love using these at the beginning or end of month. The next challenge we are doing is a No Spend Food challenge (aka limiting how much we get takeout/dine out!) If you’re interested in joining for the next one, check out the Club HERE!

Will you adopt your own No Spend Challenge? If so, leave a comment below and let me know! I love hearing from you.

Until next time…

Cheers to your abundance!

Katie O.