Actions: Now or Later?

Happy May! Holy shnizzle it’s May already!

There are certain things on my FI journey that I’ve been slacking, and it’s my personal demon with procrastination for sure. But over the course of the last few years, I feel like I’ve started to get the hang of it particularly with making my own routines (and update it as I see fit without giving myself $hit) on a regular basis, and that, quite honestly, has been the best lesson I learned over the past 4-ish years. There will be months where we are kicking ass (and same with the stock market or whatever investment you have), and there will be months where we’d dread the sight of our account balances… but know when not to panic and sell everything you own and start over is quite a lesson to learn, too.

And really, I also started to understand why the 90-day money challenge I had from a while back has a piece about home maintenance tied into the curriculum, and I totally see why now. Cleaning your house on the regular basis not only give you a fresh-start feeling, it also helps me anytime I’m in a funk and needs a mood booster. It also gives me a chance to review my belongings, and decide if I should part ways with some items, or de-clutter or tidy up the space accordingly. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still notorious with that box of clothes I wanted to donate… it’s been sitting there for about a month now… but I wanted to pull more items to donate too… someday… FINE. I’ll put on my goals list for May…

But as I’m concluding my budget for April, I’m coming up with lists of things I’m doing now (or regularly), and some items that could be checked semi-regularly. And I’m hoping that you’d get some tips to incorporate for your journey, too. (*Note: I’m not a professional financial advisor; these are just my personal routines for your reference.)

Things to do regularly (categorized by frequency):

Daily:

• Input / log expenses as soon as you could: I’m currently using EveryDollar to put in my budget because I liked the “remaining” view. I also found that if I don’t input my expenses within 48 hours, I forget and would have to back track quite a bit, and I get frustrated with myself… Plus, if I keep up with my expenses, it sort of gives me a sense of security knowing how much I have left, too, so I can adjust my spending for the next day/week accordingly.
• House Maintenance: A few things I’d do daily or as soon as it had occurred are picking up things as you go, and cleaning the surface in kitchen (counter space and sink, etc.). It is basically Tidying 101 type mentality, where you’d simply put things back to where they belong, and if a mess happens, clean it as soon as you can. I find this is the best way for me to keep up without creating a mess for myself to clean up on the weekends; and it’s also a good practice for maintenance purpose considering our Xennial felines occasionally surprise us with hairballs on the floor, which, if left to dry, would be a pain to clean (plus idk if that damages the floor).
• For my well-being: I’ve added daily meditation (10-20 mins) and yoga (usually 15-35 mins) during the weekdays, and I find these to be helpful to get myself ready for the day. I also walk the Xennial K9 once per day (occasionally 2x/day), and occasionally take him to the neighborhood doggo play dates. Seeing him so happy with other doggos definitely is a serotonin booster.

Weekly:

• For my budget: I review my weekly expenses usually on weekends. I could input the expenses as I do (and will input any additional ones that were on autopay); but on weekends, I review how much I’ve spent, and how much is in each category in the remaining view. If something were to happen (e.g. unexpected income or expenses), I would also adjust my budget to reflect on that, too. With this weekly overview, I’d know how crazy I could get with our grocery or… the other way around. For example, if I had just dropped $200 on a Costco run this weekend, I’d try to take it easy for the next week or two when it comes to grocery spending.
• For our living space: I sweep the entire house (sometimes 2x week cuz Xennial fur babies) on one of the days on the weekend. I would also add on additional tasks as I see fit (such as cleaning the humidifier). I also do laundry once a week, too. Although I get lazy sometimes when it comes to folding laundry, at least I wear clean (but occasionally wrinkly) clothes regularly.
• For my well-being: I do 2-3 strength training each week not just simply for muscle building, but really the goal is to age gracefully without hurting myself doing the most mundane things (e.g. I pulled my back muscle standing up from an Asian squat once). I also attend the All FIRE Connect online events almost weekly not just to connect with like-minded people, but to also learn something from others. I also plan out my next week on a planner, too. Just writing down what I plan to do helps me get an idea of what to expect the week after.

Bi-weekly:

• For my budget: Since my paycheck comes in bi-weekly, I use the weekend of the pay day to do a quick budget per paycheck, and adjust the budgeting categories and amounts on EveryDollar. For this exercise, I would do it either on a piece of paper or using Excel (or whatever works for you). When it comes to budgeting, I’m very visual, so this is a helpful practice for myself. If I feel compelled to do so, I’d also redo my pie chart to see the percentage of spendings and savings, too (although that could be a rabbit hole that takes up a few hours).
• For our living space: I dust the surface of everything in the office and the living room, and re-organize my office space. I also have this electric compressed air duster that I’d use to blow out dust and random $hits in my keyboards, extension cords, or hard-to-clean surfaces, etc. To me, dusted surfaces make me feel icky not just because things look dirty, but also make things look “old.” I also worry that if left unclean, dust or other small craps could potentially create more issues particularly for the electronics down the line. The idea is: if cleaning helps my belongings not to have issues, I’m less likely having to purchase new ones to replace them.

Monthly or as Needed:

• For my budget: I double check on the rewards, or any changes in the perks from the credit card companies or bank accounts I sign up with. For the credit cards, generally speaking, the spending perks are more or less the same as what they’ve guaranteed at the moment of sign up, but occasionally they’d do a special thing/event for additional rewards, and I’ll try to keep in mind with that. For bank accounts, occasionally the APY changes, or there are other changes that could occur. For example, my Marcus Savings account has recently upped their APY from 0.5% to 0.6%, which makes me want to move my emergency fund over (also for the “enveloped” view).
• For our living space: I clean the washer (wipe down the inside and the rims, and clean out the filter), vacuum the dryer (where the lint is collected) at least once a month. This could be more often or as needed if I had washed the Xennial fur babies’ towels and blankies because the fur gets trapped in the washer’s filter and would cause it to function improperly. I also clean the coffee machine (run the cleaning cycle twice; once with a little distilled vinegar and once with just water), also wipe out most of our kitchen appliances’ surfaces, too. Again, if cleaning these appliances could help prolong their life span, then that’s a win in my (frugal) book. Also usually once a month, I’d dust and re-organize bedroom and do a more thorough cleaning, too.
• Something else for you to think about is: as the weather is getting warmer, it’s also time to up your game in pest prevention. With Xennial fur babies, we are using Wondercide‘s Flea and Tick Concentrate for Yard and Garden to spray the yard (and the base of our house) bi-weekly or more from spring to early fall. And we haven’t quite needed this yet, but you may also want to consider doing termite inspection (yearly) and termite prevention (every 5 years) especially if you own a house (or more). One thing that is on my mind as not urgent but definitely for down the line is tree trimming, which could also be a pricey maintenance, too.

Hope some of my routines could help you get started if you haven’t had a system in place just yet. Or if you have any other tips or routines you do, please share in the comment below. I would love to learn from you, too. 🙂