$pent Millennial

I am really proud of myself. 

Not because I finally started to make progress on that bedroom re-design project I said I would start on (because I haven’t) or because I reached my savings goal for my emergency fund (also, no). This weekend I am excited because I did it. I achieved guilt-free, worry-free spending on a birthday/ holiday weekend. 

I spent my sister’s 29th birthday with her for a day of road trip fun to go to a nearby state park for hiking and a picnic and ended the day with ice cream in a small town enjoying a river walk. ‘

Now, these aren’t  lavish or expensive gifts. That’s not really my style. Instead, they are largely experience-based intentional time spent with people I wanted to celebrate. What I am proud of is how I allocated the time and money to do it without as much as checking my phone or questioning how much it would cost. This is something I always feel like I struggle with. But, this Mothers’ Day Weekend, I achieved it. Because I budgeted for it. Both time and money. 

Step 1: Track your spending. Where is your money going each week, month, year? 

In order to successfully start putting money aside into dedicated sinking funds to have when needed for guilt-free, worry-free spending , you need to build intnetion inot your spending. And that begins with tracking where your money is going. 

Personal finance experts typically say to begin by tracking down 3-6 months of bank statements/ receipts to track spending patterns and habits. If you have the time to do this, great! It will give great insight. If you don’t, there is still value in tracking down the past month’s expenses to track or even starting tracking now. 

There are so many ways to do this, spreadsheets, apps or old-fashioned paper and pen. I use a budget notebook I ordered from Amazon at the beginning of the year, but starting with Google Sheets or a plain notebook will do just as well. 

Keep posted for templates and tools for tracking. In the meantime, any table with the date, expense, expense category  and amount will do. I recommend also adding a column to track how you felt about the purchase. If you want to get deeper, you can try to document what underlying need you are trying to meet with each purchase (More on that to come). 

Date	Expense	Expense Category	Amount	Feeling	Need

Step 2: Balance it. Does your income/expense ratio balance out each month? Do you hit zero? Are you putting anything away? 

One you have your spending tracked, to know where your money is going, you will need to budget it out to ensure your spending and expenses for the month are not exceeding your income. 

A blanced budget will equal out to zero. 

In order to have some to set aside for shrinking funds for future guilt-free, worry-free spending, you will need your monthly spending to be less than your income. 

If at first, your spending does not have room for sinking fund contributions, or even if it is more than your income, don’t panic, crumple up the the paper or swear off sinking funds and personal finance forever. The next step will help you to use values to re-allocated your resources . 

Step 3: Value-based reallocation. What can you cut that will allow you to squirrel away some money each paycheck for a holiday/ birthday sinking fund? 

If you find you do not have enough to put aside for skinking funds an/or that your spending is more than your income, you now have the datat  that you need to review and adjust. 

Start with variable expenses. These are easier to adjust than fixed costs. Variable expenses are things like dining out, entertainment, gifts and expenses- all of which can be added back into intentional spending through sinking funds. 

Don’t feel too discouraged as you cut things like dining out, entertainment, shopping sprees. You can set aside smaller amounts into a sinking fund for each category and decide on times to splurge, guilt-free using the fruits of your patience. 

Step 4: Create your buckets.

It will be easier to motivate yourself to make the short-term sacrofices for longer-term gain if the buckets you have are meaninful and exciting to you, aligning with your values. 

Pick buckets you get excited about, buckets that give you something to look forward to with your future guilt-free, worry-free spending. 

Some buckets are easy to get excited about, like Christmas spending, birthday spending and future travel funds. Others, are less exciting in the planning stage, but feel like a warm blanket and a soft landing when they are needed, buckets like car repair, health expenses, annual fees and renewals, and a general emergency fund bucket. 

List out the buckets you need, set a goal amount and an end date. Do the math to determine how much you need to allocate each paycheck. 

Step 5: “Automate” it. 

Make a plan, and “automate” it. I put “automate” in quotes because I get it. I don’t actually automate any of my bills or savings (except my 401K through my employer). 

I once saw a TikTok that went into how people don’t automate payments because they have “been broke before”. And I felt that. So, long story short, if automating payments is a triggering idea for you. I get it. Same. 

So, instead, I have a plan and a routine that has become a habit where I have budgeting and spending tracking built into each Saturday to manage spending, bill payment and savings/sinking fund contributions. 

Find a system that works for you and implement it into your life in a way that makes it feel automatic. 

Step 6: Collect and cash out as needed. 

Once you follow these steps, your sinking funds will begin to collect funds that will be there when it is time to spend them down, guilt-free and worry-free. 

Don’t be discouraged if these steps take longer than you might want them to. These steps all take time. It has taken me a journey of more than 3 years to get to a point where I have a truly guilt-free, worry-free birthday and holiday weekend thanks to my holiday and birthday shrinking fund. 

There have been wins and struggles along the way. And as I pointed out at the beginning, I still have ways to go before all my sinking funds are fully-funded. But, today I am celebrating this win, and I am really proud of myself. 

In a world of social media highlight reels and buy now, pay later it can be easy to get sucked in. What I aim to do is to practice the pause and use mindfulness and intention to create a life that gets me back to feeling more alive and less spent. And, I want to provide a community for others to learn, grow and do the same along with me. 

If that is something that interests you, join on the journey. Stay tuned for more posts and follow me at @spentmillennial on Instagram. However you follow along, share your own steps and stories from the journey.