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Many of us do a monthly review of our finances, perhaps around the time we pay our monthly bills, but is once a month enough? Should we be touching base with our finances more often? Perhaps once a week, or even every day?
Honestly, opinions vary. Denise Duffield Thomas, author of Get Rich, Lucky Bitch, advocates for a daily check-in with your money. Specifically, she suggests writing down – every single day – how much money came into your life today, either in cold hard cash or in other forms that have a monetary value. The aim of this is to draw your attention to how much money is actually flowing into your life and create an abundance mindset.
Financial coach and personal finance influencer Dasha Kennedy suggests a 37 minutes weekly review (although seven minutes of that is just a minute a day to quickly check your banking app). The rest is broken down into:
- 10 minutes to review your prior week’s transaction history
- 10 minutes to review your bill due dates, any payment reminders, and your monthly budget
- 10 minutes to track the progress of your financial goals
Other finance experts recommend a monthly review, but with very brief, regular check-ins throughout the month to avoid any nasty surprises.
Personally I believe in the power of the weekly review. Once a week is often enough for me to feel truly connected to my personal finances – and more importantly the goals I have that are related to them – but not so often that I feel I’m obsessing about money.
Here’s what I recommend doing during your weekly review.
Check Account Balances
By all means if you use a banking app that makes it very quick and easy to check your balances daily, do that. It will help you see straight away if there’s been some unexpected activity. But once a week it’s time to dig a little deeper.
This is your chance make sure the amounts in your accounts are exactly as expected, and check that anything unexpected, such as a bank charge or standing order, is indeed legitimate. You’ll also want to look into any payments you’re expecting that haven’t hit your account yet, and chase them up if necessary.
Review Your Spending
Take a close look over what you’ve spent money on this week, and think about why you spent it. Now’s the time to reflect on whether those payments and purchases were needed, wanted and aligned with your values, or just impulse spending you’d rather have avoided.
Tracking your spending in this way helps you slowly adjust until every payment and purchase is either 100% needed or 100% wanted. Say good-bye to the type of mindless spending that leaves you dissatisfied, disappointed or uncomfortable.
Plan for the Coming Week
Planning your spending in advance is a great way to ensure that the coming week is also filled with mindful spending that focuses on your important needs and deepest desires. More mundanely, it will help you avoid going over budget because of expenses you just didn’t see coming.
Depending on how you budget, you may also want to get cash out weekly. This can be useful if for example you’re currently trying out cash stuffing, or any kind of budget that relies on you using cash for some purchases.
Set a Goal
Setting a personal finance goal for the week ahead gives you something to focus on, and considering exactly how you’ll achieve it gives you solid actionable steps to schedule into your week.
Your goal could be income-related, saving-related, or even spending-related. Maybe you want to pitch some new clients in a bid to meet a income goal. But perhaps you want to take time to mindfully research and purchase something you’ve been saving for. Either one is fine.
Already have your big-picture financial goals worked out for the year? Think about which one you’ll be prioritizing this week and what action steps you’ll be taking toward it.
Karen Banes is a freelance writer specializing in entrepreneurship, parenting and lifestyle. She writes articles, website content, ebooks and the occasional award winning short story. Her work has appeared in a range of publications both online and off, including The Washington Post, Life Info Magazine, Transitions Abroad, Brave New Traveler, Natural Parenting Group, and Copia Magazine. Learn More About Karen
To make Wealthtender free for readers, we earn money from advertisers, including financial professionals and firms that pay to be featured. This creates a conflict of interest when we favor their promotion over others. Read our editorial policy and terms of service to learn more. Wealthtender is not a client of these financial services providers.
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