Get Your Money, Honey.
It's Monday. I'm here for you.
The Pick Me Up is a Monday morning newsletter filled with advice, personal stories, and tips to help you get out of bed and jumpstart your week.
People (including me) are so weird about money.
I literally know some of the deepest darkest secrets about my friends but if you asked me how much money they made every year I would not be able to answer that question.
I have about five very close friends. I don’t how any of their salaries. I don’t even know how they are doing financially. Do they have debt? Are they saving for something big in their lives? Are they earning enough income to support themselves?
I have no idea. I just assume ,based on how I see them living their lives: paying rent, traveling, eating fancy meals, that they are “good”. But what do I know?
I know a lot of people who seem “good” but are in a lot of money trouble.
But on the flip side, these friends don’t know anything about my money situation.
And that’s because talking about money is something we feel strange about doing.
I don’t have the guts to ask my besties how much they make - yet- but I have tried to lean into the convo with them gradually. When someone tells me they spent a lot of money on something or their rent got raised, I ask a leading question:
Are you comfortable sharing how much that cost you?
If my friends and I can talk about bodily fluids and bodily functions, we can certainly start talking about money too.
In this issue: Fixing up your finances, a binge-worthy podcast, and gifts to bookmark for the people you love.
Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 8-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.
Ps. I’m so grateful that you’re reading this because writing this newsletter every week is my favorite thing. If you know anyone who would adore getting this in their inbox, it would mean the world if you’d share it.
⚡Instant Pick Me Ups
📚: Loved the title of this book and it seems like a really good beach read you can toss in your page and devour in just a day.
📄: Friendship is such a sweet mystery. A really uplifting article about making friends at any age of your life, no matter where you are.
🎧: I’m really into podcasts right now and currently obsessed with this show. I can’t remember the last time I watched TV tbh. All I do is listen to podcasts so if you have a series you’re excited about, send it my way. I want to listen.
🛍️: I’m really trying to be a better gift-giver and a top way to do that is to spend quality time thinking about gifts for people - before it’s urgent to give them. If someone’s birthday is four months away, I start actively planning and sourcing gifts so my planning isn’t rushed. Here are some of my favorite gifts I’ve bookmarked for the people I love.
Instead of flowers, I give this.
Perfect for any pet lover.
A very unique engagement gift.
Something unusual for a person who needs a pick me up on their desk.
I just love this one.
A nice housewarming gift.
💬: “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald (Which one are you today?)
Get Your Money, Honey.
There are some months I am so scared to look at my credit card statement that it takes me days just to log into my account.
Even then, when I see how much I spent that month, my stomach twists and my brain fogs. I just want to pretend it never happened and do what I can to hide from the world that in the month of February I was a reckless spender.
Last week, I tore apart my finances.
I heard a quote once about how making changes in life is a lot like the mess you keep inside your closet. For a while, you let it all pile up. You use your entire body to push the door in until it shuts. But one day, you wake up and can’t take it anymore. And that’s the day when you finally decide to fix, organize, and change.
I grew tired of just watching my money enter and leave my bank account. I wanted to know the story behind where my money was going and why I wasn’t saving as much as I wanted to every month.
I spent an entire Friday sorting through it all. Printing out credit card statements, eyeballing my checking/savings account, and finding spending habits that needed to be stopped immediately.
I know that fixing your finances might be at the bottom of your to-do list and if so, that’s okay, because it will take a full messy closet moment for you to want to dive in.
But until then, think about these questions:
How much are you spending every year on your credit card?
How much are you saving year year?
How much are you spending on subscriptions every year?
And when you’re ready to figure out where all your money is going - and where it’s not going - try this:
How much do you spend every single year?
I pay my entire credit card bill every single month. It’s a money rule I don’t break. If I can’t afford something, I don’t put it on the credit card. However, I had no idea how much money I was spending every single year using my credit card.
I downloaded my year-end statement for 2022. I saw the total amount I spent over those 12-months.
I went through every credit card statement from 2023 so far. I added up those bills and realized that halfway through the year, I’m on track to spend more than I did last year.
I decided my goal was to find a way to spend $2,000 less than last year.
I set a monthly spending goal that I want to stick to from now till the end of the year to make that happen.
If one month, i overspend, then I have no choice but to underspend the next month to balance it out.
I now check my credit card statement 1x a week to track my weekly spending against that monthly goal.
I want to spend $2k less than last year because when I looked over my statements, I saw far too many nonessential purchases that I didn’t really need. I can easily cut back on $2k worth of them over 365-days.
Eyeball every single one of your subscriptions
Maybe right now you could list off some of your monthly subscriptions, but do you know how much they add up to every year?
I went through all my credit card statements and listed out monthly subscriptions and the things I pay for 1x a year (like my Amazon Prime membership).
While it doesn’t sound like much to pay $12 a month for Netflix, that’s $144 a year. Add that to 10 other subscriptions you have and you might be spending a few thousand dollars on things you don’t use enough to justify those costs.
For subscriptions I paid for in advance for the year (like a $95 credit card membership fee), I reached out and asked to cancel early and receive a refund. If they said no, I canceled auto-renew or set a calendar reminder to cancel before it renews again next year.
Answer this statement: I spend $__ amount every month on all my subscriptions and $__ every year.
Delete your credit card details
One of my own personal takeaways was that I need to stop spending on Amazon. It’s too easy to think of something and buy it in seconds using the platform. So I made this harder for myself.
I first logged out of my account and didn’t save my password. Having to manually log in delays quick spending.
I deleted any saved credit cards on file. So if I want to buy something it has to sit in my cart until I’m not lazy enough to get up, grab my wallet, and type in my credit card details.
I deleted the Amazon app off my phone. Goodbye!
Do this with any/all online shopping platforms. Make it harder to do quick buys.
Figure out what you can return
I noticed I did a lot of recent spending on clothing - for both myself and the baby. However, I haven’t worn over 50% of the things I bought and the baby grew out of 75% of the things I bought.
I rounded up items in my closet with tags on them.
If they were bought online, I checked if I was still in the return timeframe. If yes, I mailed them back for a refund. If no, I reached out and some places allowed me to return for a gift card.
I then sourced items in my closet I knew I’d never wear and spent 2-hours listing them on Poshmark. Earn your money back by selling old stuff!
Set a check-in schedule that you’ll stick to
I want to have a deeply passionate and communicative relationship with my finances. I don’t want to dread seeing them like I do an ex-boyfriend. So to do this, I check my finances weekly.
I say hello to my credit card statements, my bank acocunts, and my investment accounts.
At the end of the money, I add my totals to an excel spreadsheet to track my overall “net worth”. I add up how much I have in all my accounts and then see what I had the last month. It helps me understand my finances, which can be scary, but let’s be honest - it’s a must.