Leo Aquino.
Jia Nocon
In 2018, I left a job that paid $60,000 a year without an emergency fund.
I developed six money habits that helped me get through difficult financial circumstances.
I still track my expenses manually in a Google Sheet because it works better for me than an app.
Nearly half of millennials and Gen Z don’t see the point of saving for the future, according to a 2022 study conducted by Fidelity. With layoffs sweeping the nation, I can imagine that many young people are left without an emergency fund to fall back on when they lose stable income.
I went through something similar in 2018. I left a job that paid $60,000 a year without an emergency fund because I couldn’t handle the toxic workplace anymore. The next three years after leaving that job were the most difficult financial circumstances I’ve ever faced — especially since I became an essential worker during the pandemic.
The one good thing that came out of this challenging time: I created a new relationship with my finances. With these six simple money habits, I learned how to live within my means without letting my income define my self-worth.
1. Manually tracking my expenses and income
I’ve tried personal finance apps like Mint and You Need A Budget. I become hyper-obsessed with tracking every expense for two weeks, then I become bored and disinterested once the allure of the shiny new app wears off.
While I know these apps work for some people, I found more success manually tracking my expenses with a good old Google Sheets spreadsheet. I create a tab for every month, and I use a simple SUM IF equation to tally up my expenses in each category.
A simple SUM IF equation on Google Sheets helps tally up spending in each category.
Courtesy of Leo Aquino
2. Keeping at least $20 in cash on hand
On the days when I had $10 left in my bank account for the next two weeks, I had a plan to use every single penny for fridge and pantry staples like tofu, peanut butter, and rice. Even though I was meticulously tracking my expenses, I’d still get caught off guard by automatic charges, like my Spotify subscription.
Sometimes, my account would be overdrawn on weeks where I had absolutely no groceries or pantry items to cook. I got in the habit of keeping at least $20 in cash on hand just in case I was caught in a similar type of emergency.
Now that I don’t face the same fears of food insecurity, I still keep a little bit of cash in my car so that I can easily give a few dollars to panhandlers and unhoused folks in need.
3. Adding automatic bill payments to my calendar
To avoid overdraft fees, I started putting automatic bill payments on my Google calendar. When I first started this practice, it was hard not to feel bitter or compare myself to other people who had more disposable income. It was hard to believe that I would eventually start making enough money to pay for entertainment subscriptions that kept me sane during the pandemic.
Little by little, I got in the habit of making sure I had more than enough money to cover automatic bill payments. I still keep the automatic bill payments on my calendar to keep me from overspending.
4. Ordering groceries online
I started ordering groceries online for pick-up during the pandemic because it was a guaranteed way for me to stick to my $204 a month food budget, which is how much I got from food stamps. I still order groceries online because it’s the best way to compare prices of products between stores to make sure I’m getting the best deal.
Ordering groceries online saves time, and it saves me from adding other snacks to my cart that I don’t really need.
5. Adding a ‘just for fun’ category to my budget
No matter how little money I had, I still maintained a “just for fun” category in my budget — even if it was just $5 or $10 on a coffee or ice cream cone with a friend, tickets to a museum, or buying a snack to bring on a hike.
I have more money to put in my fun spending category now, but starting the habit of spending even just $5 on fun when I had very little money to spare created pockets of joy during a very difficult time.
6. Keeping money in my Venmo account for eating out
If I received any gifts, or if people paid me back for lunch or dinner, I would keep that money in my Venmo account for a rainy day instead of transferring it into my bank account. If people invited me to coffee, lunch, or dinner, it helped to see that I had some money in my Venmo account that I could use to pay for it, even if I only had a few bucks in my checking account.