I’m sure anyone that has even looked through the list of my posts, you have gathered that I’m a big advocate for people pursuing financial stability. Living paycheck to paycheck, takes so much energy. Not having an emergency fund can make a simple situation stressful. I hated living like that. It was so hard to constantly tread water (paycheck to paycheck) or to take away any guilt free spending to try and build an emergency fund. I will tell you that besides increased income, one thing that helped get us through that time was decreasing expenses. One of the best choices was to sell our mini van that had a payment and buy a used car with cash. I drove a powder blue conversion van for like 3-5 years. I didn’t care. Saving $300+ in car payments and insurance was well worth it. If you have the ability or can find that one piece that can go, tackle it.

I like to start the year with my current financial situation written down. I can compare it to last year. I can dream of what I want to improve. Where are my weak areas? What am I killing? For someone who has chased financial stability for the better part of 25 years, this can be the most reassuring moment. I have control. I’m not going to lie and say it was always comfortable. I’d make a plan and I didn’t follow it (making NO allowances for fun or guilt free spending). I had the same goals year after year and didn’t make significant progress. Its been about 5 years that things have taken off in a positive direction.

Here are some of my strategies that did work:

• I maintain a realistic budget. My budget is based off what I normally spend. I don’t put my hopes and dreams in my budget if it isn’t realistic. I started using a budgeting app (I use EveryDollar). This allows me to see if inflation has made my grocery budget unrealistic and make an adjustment.
• I started getting bonus pay for some shifts. I didn’t count this as regular income. If it can disappear, it can’t be depended on. Use it to crush goals.
• I took my pay raises and made specific plans for it. It could be just $50 a month, it can build savings. It can pay off a debt. It can be a 401K increase.
• I increased my 401K contributions on a regular basis. You can probably increase 1% every 6 months or year and not notice much. You can always go back down if its making it too tight.
• I evaluate my subscriptions that I’m paying for. I might have tried something and it didn’t work or just forgotten that I’m paying for it after I stopped using it. I also tend to pay for an annual subscription vs monthly. I have a monthly budget line for subscriptions and one for sinking which covers annual subscriptions. If its charged to a credit card, I only have to transfer from savings to make the payment. This avoids overdraft charges.
• Charity is a huge area of importance to me. I feel like I was more successful once I started donating to charity. I started with 1 place. I actually do smaller donations monthly to multiple charities. I personally support Gospel for Asia, Cooperative Christian Ministry, and St Judes at the present moment. Just writing this has made me realize I need to add Ronald McDonald House to my monthly list (did that while creating the link for this post).
• I realized one month that I was buying from Amazon too frequently. The convenience was just not my friend. For just a month or 2 I committed to only make purchases once I got paid. So twice a month I would place an order. In between I added things to my cart and could come back to it on pay day. For someone else this may be loading your Starbucks app with your week/month coffee allowance (what you chose to spend) then if its gone then you have to stop. Its not about deprivation, its about conscious choice.

So do you want to make some 2026 plans with me? Visit my Facebook Page for daily challenges next week. We’ll get started just evaluating and/or making small changes.

I hope you enjoy my financial content and I wish you the most success in your finances. Financial and General Coaching services available at my website .