I'll be the first to admit it, 2018 wasn't my best year when it came to saving money. Every time Trump tweeted or I got an alarming CNN alert, I found myself thinking, The world is a trash fire, so why can't I treat myself and buy that sweaterdress, or take an Uber home instead of the subway? And while I personally don't have any regrets, my credit card statement tells a different tale. My "self-care" indulgences like daily Arnold Palmers, splurging on that bottle of rosé from Provence instead of Napa, and my propensity for accent shoes left me with more debt in 2018 than I care to admit.
But it's a new year. A time for a fresh start. To do it all right. And while I have no real intention of giving up my habit of black iced teas with lemonade (they're addicting!), I realize that I need to find a way to better balance my budget and cut out some other costs. So I spoke to financial experts, female founders, and writers about their tips and tricks for splurging while saving. So come Marie-Kondo your spending with me, and try some of their hacks for getting your finances in check.
Think about your money in terms of buckets.
We all have a hierarchy of spending. We need to use some of our money to pay our rent or mortgage each month, our insurance, cell phone bill, etc. We want to take some of the pie and put it toward our Netflix subscription, a new Marvel movie, and so on. Alexa von Tobel, founder of learnvest.com, believes that being conscious of these different forms of spending is the first step to being smarter with your money. She calls this her "50/20/30 method," whereby you split your take-home pay into three categories: 50 percent for essential costs, 20 percent toward financial goals, and 30 percent for lifestyle costs. "Essential costs are things like rent, mortgage payments, utilities, car payments, public transportation, or groceries—anything that covers your basics," she says. "Financial goals is the part of your budget that is really about helping you secure your financial foundation. This goes toward emergency savings, retirement, home down payment fund, etc. Whereas lifestyle costs include eating out, concert tickets, and those fabulous new shoes you've had your eye on."
If the 50/20/30 method sounds like too many numbers for you, Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, author of The 30-Day Money Cleanse, suggests a bullet journaling approach: Put pen to paper when thinking about your money buckets. "Keeping a money journal where you write down everything you spend, or look at a recent bank statement," she says. "Next, take this beautiful list you've created and put each expense into one of three buckets: (1) needs, (2) frivolous, and (3) not sure. Let go of all spending in the frivolous bucket for seven days and see what you actually miss."
Detox yourself from spending.
How many times have you read an article suggesting that you should try a cleanse? You know, take a few days to subside on nothing but water with lemon and cayenne, or celery juice. This year, instead of depriving yourself of food (because it's delicious and necessary for survival), consider a spending detox. Shannon McLay, CEO and founder of The Financial Gym, recommends "scheduling 'no-spend days.' Just like you'd schedule a workout class, plan two to three no-spend days when you will not use any cash or credit for the entire day." Make your meals out of what you already have in the fridge, try to just use the gas you already have in your car or carpool, and say no to that Starbucks. Your bank account will thank you for the break.
Trick yourself into saving more.
Whenever I get my paycheck, I have such a hard time hitting the button that transfers even the tiniest amount from my checking account to my savings. I mean, I busted my butt all month for this cash—I deserve to spend it! The key is to not get the full thing in the first place. Eurie Kim, general partner at Forerunner Ventures, has a trick for this: Set up automatic transfers. "I select a specified amount of money—whether it's $20, $50, $100, etc., and have it go into an entirely different bank account. It feels like you never had that money to spend in the first place, so you get used to budgeting off the smaller amount, and saving as a result," she says. You can set up your automatic deposit from your company to go to two or more accounts (checking and savings, for example). Or, like everything else in life, there's an app that can help. Charlotte Cowles, who writes the "With Interest" newsletter for the business section of The New York Times, loves Digit. "The app hooks up to your checking account and pulls out small amounts of money automatically, like a little savings elf," she says. "You can set it to be more or less aggressive if you want, and its algorithm tracks your spending patterns so it won't pull out too much. Since that money is out of sight, out of mind, it's always a pleasant surprise when I see what Digit has squirreled away while I wasn't paying attention." Consider it your money fairy godmother.
Be kind to yourself.
A full 81.5 percent of millennials are in debt. And experts say taking a cold hard look at your finances can lead to feelings of guilt or shame about your spending habits, financial decisions, employment status, and more—so some people avoid doing so at all. Sounds hard to believe, I know. But Iva Pawling, CEO and cofounder of Richer Poorer, recommends a step-by-step approach rather than an all-at-once overhaul. Start by being realistic with your budgeting. "Everyone would love to spend less," she says, but slash your budget too much and you set yourself up for failure every month. "That just feels terrible. So instead of trying to fix all of my finances, I zero in on the areas where I have a tendency to overspend. I only really pay attention to those few categories, and check in on those a few times each month to see if I'm on track." Home in on the areas that matter to you (my 2019 goal is to waste less money on takeout), and work on those goals.
It's kind of like all the diet and exercise advice we hear: Go too extreme and you'll just crash and burn. Practice moderation, and you'll stick with it. And making lasting changes is what's important to your health. That's especially true with money, since time can be one of your greatest assets, allowing you to ride out the ups and downs of the markets and benefit from compounding interest and market growth. I know I'm not going to suddenly save three quarters of my paycheck, but I can pull out a small amount each month, as Pawling recommends. Slow and steady wins the race.
