Repeat after me: Money is not the enemy.

I’ve talked a few times before about the importance of learning about, and paying attention to your money.

People think that by ignoring it they won’t have to deal with it. But choosing not to do anything is still an action.

And no matter how much or how little money you feel like you have, paying attention to it is important.

So, today I wanted to talk about taking a money minute.

Some people do this once a day, a week, a month or less than that.

Right now I’m in-between once a week and once a month, and I want to get back to once a week.

And this is what a money minute means to me:

Pulling up my bank account and my credit card online.

Going through both and writing down every dollar spent and made in my bullet journal.

I have a number of payments automated, but the bigger ones I still do manually:

+ student loan payment

+ rent

+ credit card

By going through my bank and credit card statement I can keep an eye on where I’m spending money, maybe a subscription I don’t use that I need to cancel, things like that.

It’s also a great time to see where you’re at in your budget, whether what you’re making is enough to support how much you’re spending.

And if it isn’t adding up it’s a great motivator to cut back spending and amp up your income.

Don’t ignore your finances.

And if you don’t feel comfortable with them, you need to force yourself look at them, make yourself learn about personal finance.

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to money.

I truly believe that the more attention you pay to your finances the better you will do financially.