5 Daily Habits for Financial Success

If you ever take a minute to think about how time flies, you will be blown away! While we do a majority of the same things every day, that routine can make time go by right before our eyes. Routine can be a great thing, especially if your routine consists of daily habits for financial success, or any success, for that matter.

Considering that time waits for no woman, it’s important to make sure your daily routine consists of things that will put you in a better place in the next day, week, month or year. I’m going to share 5 daily habits for financial success that you should start adding to your normal routine.

Remember, when forming new habits, you need to be conscious of what you’re doing. Set reminders to ensure you do these things every day. After a month or two, they should be organically ingrained into your day!

Daily habits for financial success

#1 Complete a high-level review of your accounts

Whether it’s at the start of your work day, or after you’ve had your cup of coffee before getting ready for work, take a few minutes to review all of your accounts. You will want to check in on your checking accounts, savings accounts, and credit card accounts.

There are a few reasons why completing a high-level review of all your spending and savings accounts is important for financial success:

• Reason #1 – You will catch any bill that may have slipped through the cracks – this is especially important with credit cards that come with annual fees. You may not be carrying a balance, and therefore could forget about an annual fee sneaking up on you.
• Reason #2 – You will catch any fraudulent or unwanted charges – if you are checking in on your accounts every day, you will see everything that should (or shouldn’t) be there. In the case of fraudulent charges or unwanted fees, you can take action right away to get those unwanted items cleared up.
• Reason #3 – You’ll have a good idea if you are overspending – When you see your balance going down day over day, you will be able to recognize overspending. This can help you reign your spending back in and keep it light until the next pay day.

#2 Track your spending

If you’ve been following City Girl Savings for a long time, then you will know that tracking your spending is a must for financial success. The key to make tracking your spending bearable is to do it every day. That way, the charges you need to track, aren’t too out of control. Imagine if you only tracked your spending once a week. That would be time consuming and somewhat annoying.

I suggest you partner this habit with the high-level review of your accounts. Since you are already looking at your accounts, you can add the additional step of tracking any new charges on your budget tracker. If you aren’t currently tracking your spending, start with an excel spreadsheet. You can use an app or write it down as well, whatever works for you.

#3 Think about your end goals

What are you currently saving for? Are you working to pay off debt? Maybe you have a trip coming up? Make it a point to think about your end goals every day.

For me, I have a 30^th-birthday trip to Turks and Caicos coming up, and I’m saving for it each pay period. I put a Turks and Caicos wallpaper background on my phone. Every time I check the time, I am reminded of my upcoming trip! This helps me stay on track with my spending. Trust me, I would rather spend my fun money in Turks and Caicos than in my daily life.

If your goal isn’t a destination, but a level-up, create a vision board. You can also write out your end goal and what life will look like when you get there. Put that paper by your bed, on your desk, or hang it up on the wall. The point is to always have a daily reminder of why you are sticking to your budget and working so hard to reach your goals.

#4 Have a quick read of personal finance related topics

Take 15 minutes out of your day to read something related to personal finance. Be it a personal finance book, a finance blog, or financial news in general. I’ve been writing for City Girl Savings for 3 ½ years now and built up quite the library! Take a look at the Personal Finance articles. I have them broken out by topic. Start at the top, read through each article in that topic, then move on to the next.

You never know what nuggets of wisdom you will pick up just by taking 15 minutes out of your day to read more about finance. There is so much to learn and that means there are plenty of opportunities to do things better and see results faster.

#5 Set your financial intention for the day

At the start of each day, set your financial intention. Are you going to get a few bills paid today? Are you going bring your lunch to work, so you don’t have to eat out? Think about what you can do TODAY to help you get closer to your financial goals. It can be tempting to set intentions for the month, but things change so quickly. Take it day by day to truly be effective in your financial decisions.

This is also effective on pay days. When you know it’s a pay day, before you check your accounts, pay bills and spend the money, think about what you can do to put a little in savings. Think about what you can do to put a little more towards your debts. Break the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle by being very intentional with your financial decisions, whether it’s pay day or not.

Related: 6 Traits of Successful Savers

After reading the 5 habits above, do they sound difficult? No, right?! You don’t have to be a genius in finance to be successful, but you do have to make an effort. Starting with the habits above, you will put yourself in a position to reap the benefits of financial freedom. It won’t be easy initially but help yourself out. Write the habits in your planner or set an alarm on your phone. Before you know it, you will enjoy doing these things!

Do you currently do any of the habits listed above? What daily habits do you have around your finances? I would love to hear what’s working for you! Leave a comment below to share with me and other CGS readers.

-Raya

The CGS Team