Automation – The Key to Success
Establishing a solid budget that works can take time. Having a budget which can be automated 90% can take longer. However, the freedom from the automation can be wonderful and very freeing. The only downside to getting it to this point is the commitment and the continuous attention to everything within the finances. The end result though was definitely worth all of the time!
Why We Automate
First of, saying, “We automate, and you should to,” sort of reminds me of a bad infomercial trying to get you to buy into something like a juicer. No, this is not one of those things. I am talking about automating your finances through apps or your own online banking systems. After all you work so hard to create a working budget, why not make it work for you! After so many years manually moving money around and paying our bills the long way, we finally got to a point where we COULD automate. It saves us a ton of time figuring all of the things out, and now we can easily track it against our current budget.
How We Automate
We have talked about it many times before in other blog posts. I set up our different bank account to work with each other through transfers and give us a paper trail of everything. Since we have different accounts for different aspects of our budget, this step was very important. So, I went through all of the bills and monthly expenses to figure out when everything needs to be paid. I then made sure there were enough funds for each account by the date in which the expense was ready to be sent out or come out automatically. It did take some trial and error. However, it eventually there was a set system to have everything move and be paid out. It is simple with a few accounts and bills, but it is much more difficult with a lot of accounts and 20+ transfers/payments.
Why You Should Automate Too
Yes, here is the pitch for the juicer that will change your life! Again, not really, but this system could make your life much easier. You can start small with just a few things, just make sure you track it with your budget. You can then slowly begin to add other parts of your budget in your automation. This automation will also include your debt payoff transfers/payments and automatic savings. Once you get comfortable with the correct amount of money you should have in each account and knowing all your bills are paid, the rest of your spending will adjust. You will no longer see all of the money sitting in one account until bills are paid. Instead, everything will be moved or paid, and you will only see what is left. This will help with excessive spending and will also allow you to better tweak your budget appropriately.
Automating your finances does’t have to be a scary thing. It should be done though. It removes the human error, and will free up your time for other more important things to worry about in life like how to afford a juicer!