Last week, I talked a bit about why I choose to still have a ton of fun in my life. I do this because my true definition of financial freedom values today’s Ary just as much as tomorrow’s Ary.

So today, I’m going to talk about how I create my freedom strategy. This is my master plan for my money. I look at this plan on a regular basis and I tweak and twist it as my life (and priorities) shift, but in general, I always prepare my plan in the same way.

To recap, my definition and priorities are as follows:

  1. High savings account
  2. Debt Payoff
  3. Living a life full of adventure

After creating my definition of freedom, here are my 4 steps to creating freedom strategy.

  1. Look at my budget and spending habits and get some *figurative* scissors out

In this step, I look at all the things I buy that don’t provide enough value, and either cut them down or get rid of them for good. If you need a how-to on this, check out this post.

For example, shopping used to be a strong habit for me. Buying new clothes and shoes made me feel fun and I felt like I deserved it because I worked so hard. However, before I got clear on my priorities, I used to shop a ton! There were points in my life where I bought something new EVERY WEEK – yet I couldn’t name one item purchased in that time period. None of it actually brought value for me. So this year, I implemented a “no shopping year” because that wasn’t as much of a priority as the goals I listed above. I’ve hardly bought anything clothing, makeup or tech related since December of 2017.

I had to realize spending money on something that wasn’t important to me was keeping me from my best life. By cutting things that don’t contribute to the priority list, I’m able to put that money towards more goals instead of being forced to pick one over another.

  1. Set real numbers to the goals for a short spurt of time

I set annual goals, but then I break them down into quarterly spurts to gain true momentum on everything. In my opinion, 90 days is enough time to make major moves, but so short that every day has to truly count. In a given quarter, you might see me break it down like this:

  1. Add $2500 to a savings account
  2. Lower debt by $3000
  3. Add $500 to travel account

This allows me to get super focused on what I am trying to achieve. This way, I tell my money where to go when I get it. Because I keep things in order of priority, I’m also able to cut the stress of decision making, the decision is already made from the beginning! That’s called using psychology against your own brain.

  1. Help your strategy by taking advantage of resources

Not everyone is into money like I am, we can all agree. However I know we all have smartphones and with that, the tech available to help us reach our goals is incredible. There are some incredible companies that want to help this generation live their best lives #MillennialLife so I use them to support my top 3 goals!

 

For savings, I use an app called Digit, and this app takes and saves a little bit of money from my account every day based on an algorithm of my spending. The principle is basically, would you miss a small amount, like $2, from your bank account right now? Probably not! But if it took $2 every day this month, you’d magically have $60 saved! For some people, it’s harder to part with $60 in one drop, so this way you still get your money saved without trying. It’s super rad, and I’m stashing extra money for a gorgeous sunshiny day {cus eff only saving for rain} – but it feels like I haven’t done a thing to get it!

My favorite for debt payoff is called Qoins. This app rounds up every card transaction I have and stashes it away. It takes the money once a week – for me, I don’t use my card a lot cus #CashEnvelopes, so it’s like $6 a week – and then puts it away. Once a month, it takes that stash and puts it towards whichever debts you decide. So I end up with an additional $40 or so towards whichever debt I’m focused on, once again, without really thinking about it coming from my bank account.

Then there’s my absolute favorite app centered around my fun money! It’s a social savings app called Divvy. This company gives me the chance to save for really fun things WITH my friends! So on an upcoming trip to Amsterdam with my sister, we can basically have a joint savings account for the whole trip so nobody has to pay for anything in full up front. When I’m able to save for fun stuff with friends, it makes me hit my those goals faster too because I would be SOOOO embarrassed if they could see I wasn’t hitting my goals!

These all work for me because they directly connect to what’s most important to me. Whatever resources I use, I just set my deadlines and count backward to how much I need to set aside every week or month in order to hit those goals from step 2!

  1. Execute and go have some fun!

When you have money earmarked for fun, you can have a blast with ZERO guilt or fear that you’re not being “responsible”. So you take that money you said you’d set aside and just follow the system you created! If you’ve covered your grownup goals, then go buck wild with your fun!!

Heck, it’s summer. Go have a blast!

What are you doing to have fun this summer?? Would love to hear where you’re headed! Let’s chat in the comments!