How to prepare your finances for a new month

Are you prepared financially for the month ahead? How does one “get prepared”?

Now hear me out if you're someone who tends to bury their head in the sand when it comes to money.

I see you. I was you. I couldn't save a dollar for my life!

Maybe you've never had a compelling reason to take action in this area of your life...to get aware of where your money is going, to confront it, and reflect on it. Then to actually DO something about it...

MY moment came when I was about to get engaged to my now husband and we took a premarital course at our church and got to the finances portion...😬

That was a wakeup call for me, realizing that I needed to learn how to save and learn how to handle money effectively. I began to understand the direct impact my money management would have on my marriage and wanted to do better.

So if you're here, and you want to do better, can I be the one to tell you that by avoiding, you're actually making your situation seem much scarier than it is?

Here's what you can do to get ready for June and start building your money muscles:

1. Look ahead: what's coming up expenses-wise next month? What's different this month than last?
2. Where did your money go last month? Print out last month’s statements and add up some categories you're curious about, like dining out, groceries, and clothing.
3. Reflect. What spending did you feel positive about? Less than positive?
4. Make a plan. Check out YNAB. It's truly the best spending plan tool out there!

I can almost promise you it won't feel good at first to do this. But this IS the first step to changing things forever.