#76: Breaking Down My Savings Accounts and Strategies I’ve been budgeting and saving for many years. With that comes picking up on tips and tricks, and learning what s … Read More »

5 Lessons I Learned During My Social Media Break Oh, the joys and curses of social media! I mean, you’re probably reading this article via a post you saw on social media, am I r … Read More »

5 Areas of Focus to See Growth in Your Business As a full-time business owner, I completely understand the many hats an owner must wear. Even before I was running City Girl … Read More »

#75: Stop Putting Off Improving Your Situation Unhappy with your life? Disappointed by your diet? Wishing you had more money? If things aren’t going the way you w … Read More »

Simplify Your Money Situation in 6 Steps As hard as it may be for you to believe, money doesn’t have to be complicated. Sure, there are complexities with anyone’s money situation, but there are always opportunities to simplify. My dad used to say “K.I.S.S” AKA “Keep It Simple Stupid”. Don’t make things more complicated than they need to be, especially your money!Wherever you have the opportunity to simplify and reduce complexity with your money, take full advantage. Not sure where to start? I’m sharing a few ways you can simplify your money situation and keep things as simple as possible. The easier you make things in your finances, the more brain power you can give to working on your financial goals!Simplify Your Money Situation in 6 Steps#1 Get organized One of the best ways to simplify your money situation is by getting organized. Depending on your current situation, this may require quite a bit of upfront work. However, once you make the time investment, things will be much more efficient down the line.What does it look like to get organized? A few things! First, you should always know where all of your accounts are and what your standing is with each of them. This includes checking and savings accounts, debt/credit accounts, medical accounts, retirement accounts, and insurance plans. I suggest creating an excel spreadsheet that lists out all of your accounts, where the account is and what the purpose is for each account.Another way to get organized is by listing out all of your credit and debit cards (numbers not required) and getting clear on your purpose for each of them. Can any debit cards be closed out? Where are the cards currently? What’s the purpose of each card? A list of this information will always come in handy.Finally, you can get a financial filing system in place for yourself. Listen to CGS podcast episode 21: Setting Up Your Own Financial Filing System for a step-by-step walkthrough!#2 Automate wherever you canAutomation means you set up a system or process to run automatically, taking out the need for consistent, manual actions. Things that can be automated in your money situation include:Income received (direct deposit versus manual paychecks)Paying bills (auto-pay versus mailing a check)Saving money (automatic transfers versus depositing cash)Automation is a great way to simplify your finances because it takes a lot of manual work off the table for you. Things are running in the background, on autopilot, so you can focus on other things. Automation makes your life so much smoother, so don’t procrastinate getting your systems up and running!#3 Find a budgeting process that worksBudgeting is not one-size fits all. What works for some may not work for others. What doesn’t change is the fact everyone needs a budget. That means you’ll want to find a budgeting method that works for you. Trial and error is a good thing here. Don’t be afraid to try different strategies and methods until you find one that sticks.For me, I use the zero-based budgeting method, combined with manual spending tracking. I help my clients use this process as well. Someone else could thrive on the 50-30-20 budgeting method and keep tabs on their spending through an app. There’s no right answer, you just have to find what works for you.#4 Get rid of accounts you don’t need or useRemember that list we put together in the first tip? Time to put it to use! Any account or service that you have and don’t need or use, get rid of it! The more accounts, subscriptions or services (even things around your house) that you have and don’t use, the more cluttered you feel (mentally and physically).Review the list of accounts that you have and spend time closing any out that don’t serve a purpose. If you can re-purpose accounts, that works, but if not, don’t be afraid to close them out. The only exception is credit cards. Even if you have $0 balances, you’ll want to keep those cards open because it helps your credit history. The more history you have (AKA the longer your accounts are open), the better your credit score.#5 Focus on 1 money goal at a timeWhen you focus on too many things at once, your attention and resources are divided out to many things. That means it will take more time to accomplish those things. Instead, focusing on one (or two) goals at a time allows you to devote your mental and physical resources to seeing that goal through.When it comes to your money, unless you have a large profit every month, it’s best to focus on one money goal at a time. Put all of your extra resources towards that goal. When you’ve accomplished it, move on to the next goal. Now, if you have a large monthly profit, you can allocate it to 2 or 3 goals if you’d like. #6 Make more than you spendThe final way to simplify your money situation is to make more than you spend. This will make your life so much easier. When you spend more than you make, you open the door to debt and use savings when you shouldn’t – that doesn’t sound so simple! Instead, only spend what you have coming in and strive to have a profit every month. That profit can go towards your savings or goals.Leverage your budget to understand the minimum amount of money you need to bring in to cover your expenses and spending. Then, work to bring in more than you need. If you can’t seem to make your income work, find ways to cut back. You can also seek out additional streams of income.At the end of the day, functioning in the negative is never wise and doesn’t make things easy. Focus on making more or spending less and things will get much simpler for your money situation!Related: 5 Financial Loose Ends to Tighten Up ImmediatelyI’m fully aware that trying to implement each of the tips above at the same time is not simple. So, take it one step at a time! Start at the top and work your way down. Conquer one step at a time until you feel in control of your money and things are as simple as they can be. What ways are you working to simplify your finances? Have you followed any of the steps above? How did they work for you? Drop a comment below to share!-R … Simplify Your Money Situation in 6 StepsRead More »

#74: My Favorite Affirmations for Money, Happiness and More I started using affirmations in 2018 after I made the decision that I wanted to run City Girl Savings full-time. When I … Read More »

Money Advice from Moms of the CGS Community In honor of Mother’s Day and celebrating moms around the world, we surveyed the City Girl Savings community about money advice … Read More »

4 Areas to Focus on for Low Maintenance Makeup Whether you are in a hurry and don’t have much time to apply a full face of glam makeup, or you just genuinely prefer a low m … Read More »

7 Ways Minimalism Can Change Your Life We live in a society where consumerism is all around us. We consume via the news, we consume via social media, we consume via … Read More »

#73: Why You Should Start a Business With a Day Job Have you been wanting to start a business, but you struggle to decide if you can do it with your day job? Starting a … Read More »

5 Ways Slowing Down Fosters Growth One thing I’ve recently learned about myself is that I tie my value to work. Even as I type that out, I cringe…but it’s true. The m … Read More »

#72: Student Loan Payments, Forgiveness and More with Nika of Debt Free Gonna Be By the time you’re listening to this episode, we’re about a month away from the federal student loan payments pause end … Read More »

Level Up Your Money in 5 Easy Steps Did you know April is Financial Literacy Month?! Let’s be honest though – we should always be pushing financial literacy! Thankfully, that’s the mission of City Girl Savings. Money can literally make or break a person’s happiness. And no, money doesn’t actually buy happiness…but it gives you options. And the more options a person has, the more opportunities they have to leverage those options for happiness!That’s not the rabbit hole I want to go down right now. The rabbit hole I’m currently interested in is the one that helps you easily (and quickly) level up your money! Everyone has a different experience with money. Everyone is in a different situation with their money. But what everyone has in common is the fact that they can always get to the next level with their money. Keep reading for 5 easy steps to level up your money and start benefiting from those extra options!5 Easy Steps to Level Up Your Money#1 Get a budget plan in placeA common trend around the City Girl Savings community is the importance of a budget – and for good reason. A budget is like your road map. It guides you through the route you need to take to reach your financial goals. Without that map, you’d be lost.One of the best ways to level up your money is by getting a solid, realistic budget plan in place. If you’re thinking “Raya, that doesn’t sound easy”, then hear me out! You can go about getting your budget plan a few different ways:You can make one yourselfYou can use an app or technology to make one for youYou can have a person make one for youSure, options 2 and 3 may cost you, but they’re definitely an easy option to getting a budget plan in place! If you want to give creating a budget on your own a shot, we have so many Budgeting resources available. Also, CGS founder Raya Reaves creates budget plans for clients, consider letting her create a budget plan for you!#2 Start consuming finance-related contentHave you heard the saying “you are what you think about?” Well, if you consume finance-related content, you’ll start thinking like a finance professional. If you’re thinking about being successful with money, then you’ll be successful with money! Okay, it’s not that simple, but my point is that the more finance-related content you consume, the better you’ll be with money.You’ll learn tips, tricks, hacks and things NOT to do with your money. Then, you’ll start implementing everything you’ve learned and find what works best for you. It all starts with consuming the right content. Read finance books, listen to podcasts, follow financial influencers, take classes, courses or workshops.The point is to start consuming finance-related content, so you can learn what it takes to actually level up your money. #3 Understand your situation at a high-level by always knowing your net worth Another easy way to level up your money is by understanding your financial situation at a high level. The best way to do that is by knowing your net worth. Your net worth is your total assets less your total debts. If you have more in debt than money in the bank, you have a negative net worth. I know it doesn’t sound good, but it’s more common than you think.If you know whether your net worth is positive or negative, you can start moving in the direction of growth. You can slowly work to bring your debt balances down, your savings balances up or a combination of both. A great way to start is by getting organized. Create an excel spreadsheet that lists all of your asset accounts (checking, savings, retirement, investment, etc.) and all of your debt accounts (credit cards, student loans, mortgages, etc.). Just list the type of the account, where the account is and the current balance. Try to update this document once a month.#4 Set up an automatic savings transfer into a HYSAAt the time of me writing this article, my current interest rate on my high-yield savings account (HYSA) is 4.15%. That means, every month, I get an interest deposit that accumulates to 4.15% of my annual balance. With the stock market currently yielding negative returns, having your savings in an account that isn’t subject to negative returns is a huge win!You should have a savings account. If you don’t, start with a high-yield savings account. Synchrony and American Express Bank are what I currently use. If you have a savings, consider transferring to a high-yield savings – especially if your interest is lower than current high-yield rates.#5 Make sure you’re contributing to a retirement planFinally, you can easily level up your money by contributing to a retirement plan. If you’re already contributing, then pretend this tip is “make sure you increase your retirement plan contribution”! Contributing to a retirement plan is one of the best ways to secure your financial future in retirement.Most companies offer some form of retirement plan matching. That means whatever you contribute, your employer will match (up to a certain amount). Basically, it’s free money. At minimum, you should be contributing what your employer will match.If you’re not sure how to make it work, refer to your budget. See what you can cut back so that you can put more towards your retirement plan. Trust me, your future self will thank you.Related: 6 Ways to Improve Your Financial EducationThe list of ways you can level up your money is never-ending. However, when there are too many things to do, it’s easy to get nothing done. Start with this list of easy steps above, taking them one at a time. Once you’ve crushed this list, create (or find) another list of things you can do to take your financial situation to the next level. What money moves are you currently focused on? What is your immediate next step to level up your money? Drop a comment below to share!-Ra … Level Up Your Money in 5 Easy StepsRead More »

#71: 7 Ways to Invest in Your Personal Success Tony Robbins once said, “if you’re not growing, you’re dying”. What he means is that if you are not working to improve … Read More »

6 Tips to Level Up Your Health and Happiness If there are two things a person should want to level up in their life, it’s their health and their happiness. As we continue our w … Read More »

#70: My Budget Non-Negotiables I’ve preached the importance of budgeting for a long time. Let me just state for the record that I will continue to p … Read More »

How to Overcome Income Differences in Your Friend Group This article may spark some controversy, but I’m standing by everything I say…but seriously, how many of us have wondered how muc … Read More »