Automate Everything, or at least most of it!
I’m lazy, I really don’t like doing things I know something or someone can do for me, especially if it’s something I don’t enjoy doing. Extra points if I don’t have to pay or initiate the process myself.
For example, tending the lawn and garden. I like a nice looking exterior with the grass mowed, the bushes trimmed and the clippings hauled away. I pay for this service and a garden comes every week to help me keep it this way. This, to me, is automating the maintenance of my lawn and garden.
Another example, maintaining a clean floor inside. I love having a clean floor and have high standards on what this means. Roombas and similar so far do not meet my standard. I’ve tried automating this by getting my son to do it. However this automation hasn’t worked out too well, he constantly needs reminders and does substandard work. I end up doing it myself most of the time.
Last, banking. This is the easiest and free! Want to save $100 a month or $50 per paycheck? Setup automatic transfers from your checking account, presumably where your paycheck is deposited into a savings account. It’s really that simple. Now my setup has grown over there years from that simple scenario to one with maybe a dozen accounts for various reasons.
401K money taken out of the paycheck and into the retirement account
Paycheck lands into a checking account at a bank that has many physical locations for cash withdrawals or other simple banking needs.
Money for the mortgage, property tax, home insurance, car insurance, car payments and other large recurring expenses go into online high yield savings and checking accounts. I’m talking about Ally, CapitalOne, etc.. Most insurance premiums or property tax are due once or twice a year. You’ll want to set that money aside throughout the year and try to earn some money during that time.
Money to invest is transferred into another high yield savings account. This is money to invest in stocks, etfs, etc.. outside of your retirement accounts.
Savings for college also gets transferred to the 529 plans for my kids.
Last, pocket money. My wife and I pay for everything from our shared and combined income. However, we each pull a little bit out of it for purely personal reasons. These are things that are not related to the basics or our typically living costs. These are gifts for ourselves with no need to get the others approval. I can use this money on Football games, camera equipment, electronic devices, anything.
I get paid twice a month while my wife gets paid every two weeks. The money that gets transferred out as described above happens twice a month, shortly after the first and the 15th of the month. That’s when the majority of the money from the paychecks will be in.
Our checking account where the direct deposit goes will increase around those dates then immediately go down again a day or two as the automated transfers kick in. Each month happens this way like clockwork. No reminders needed and it's a free service by each bank.
We’ve done this for years and years. Using this method we’ve bought a house, invested in our retirement, saved for college, paid annual expenses, paid for vacations and generally know where all of our money goes.
Setting this system up was actually fun, but the freedom it gives me each month is also very satisfying.