Sometime last year, as a way to remind myself to quickly check in on our money most days, I started doing a “money minute.”

This includes: looking at Monarch to categorize transactions and see where we were in our various budgets. Looking at my credit card balance (since we put everything on credit cards and pay off the balance every month). And I might also look at our bank accounts to check balances. All of it takes perhaps a bit more than a minute but not much yet makes such a difference helping me feel in control of our money.

Even as someone who enjoys managing finances and does a good job, I can also retreat from them if other parts of my life are busy or if money is feeling stressful for some reason. Reminding myself that it only takes a minute to feel more connected to and on top of our money really helps!

Often there would be an update or note I wanted to share with Chris. So I started sending him texts that started with, “MONEY MINUTE: …” followed by my update. An example would be:

MONEY MINUTE: My credit card balance is $####. We have $50 left in our eating out budget so we need to be really mindful and no family meals out. We need to buy Maeve and Dash shoes and need to pay for soccer registration. Also, we need to cancel our ESPN subscription since the World Cup is over – can you do that?

Now Chris has also adopted the MONEY MINUTE practice sends me these texts. I love getting them! Even though we still have sit-down budget meetings, money minutes help us connect on finances even when life is busy. They are essentially virtual, asynchronous budget meetings.

Since I haven’t done a finances post in a while, I’ll give you a money minute of sorts with some personal finances updates…

MONEY MINUTE:

+ We’re consolidating credit cards. Since forever Chris and I have separate credit cards although we both have visibility into each others. This is just a legacy thing: I’ve had a Southwest Visa since I was in college and like earning the Southwest Points and earn at least a roundtrip flight per year. Chris has a Chase Sapphire and uses the points for travel or when either of us need a new phone. But an upcoming change is that we’ll both be using the same Chase Sapphire account to streamline managing a credit card bill, which we pay off monthly.

+ We have a monthly target credit card spending amount. Since we put nearly all of our bills and expenses on our credit cards, I had an idea to help us stay on budget. We added up all of the bills that are put onto our credit cards plus what we have budgeted for discretionary spending. Now we have a target credit card total for the month. This total plus our Monarch budgets are helping us triangulate on-budget credit card spending.

+ We’re creating more saving buckets. I have always loved the envelope system. When I was in high school I used actual envelopes to save money. I distinctly remember the envelopes, “clothes,” and “CDs”…and now I have no idea what else there would have been! Maybe “concerts”? Anyway, as we’ve honed our money management what has felt like leveling up is to make additional savings accounts and automate savings to them. We’ve always done this is some capacity but we’re getting more granular. This gives me so much peace of mind.

Our main checking and savings is with Bank of America but we also have accounts at Capital One because you can open a new savings account in a snap and there are no fees. It’s like having endless envelopes. I’ve also heard of these “financial envelopes” called sinking funds although I don’t care for that – it has a negative connotation to me! Instead I prefer future fund. Currently we maintain future funds/saving envelopes for:

• car and bike maintenance and also our next car (possibly a car for Dash??)
• Christmas
• kid clothes
• clothes for us
• cell phones (we pay the bill annually)
• summer (since Chris’s summer paycheck can be variable and to cover the expense of being in Eau Claire)
• travel
• home improvement

+ We switched the boys from GoHenry/Acorns/Early debit cards to Bank of America. Originally called GoHenry, the kid debit card company has changed names so many times. The monthly service fee was also going up so we were ready to jump ship. These cards were a great way to start the boys with managing their own money and cards but I’m glad to be simplifying. Plus, it looks like Bank of America now has similar features as many of the kid debit card companies.

+ Recent financial inspiration: weekly money moves from Lauren at The Minimalist Wallet (paying off credit cards weekly! I am inspired and want to work towards this) and still on my Money for Couples kick. I listen to the podcast every Tuesday and this summer read the Money for Couples book at loved it.

I’d love to know what MONEY MINUTE updates you have, and if you have any financial inspiration to share!