Money Musings 💭 How to consciously upgrade your lifestyle

Money Musings 💭 A spending recap of our European adventure 🧳

What you’ll find below:

  • Reflection: How to upgrade your lifestyle in a financially savvy way (P.S. If you wanted the sinking fund explainer, you can find it below!)

  • Money Move: Understand what determines your credit score

  • You Gotta See This: My skincare routine (and what it costs!)

  • Reel of the Week: How to address pay equity in an interview


If you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, you might have noticed I have a new short do (if not, what are you waiting for?! 😆).  

Long story short, I love my new haircut (so much!). Not only do I love the way it looks but it’s given me back hours of my life. I do nothing to style it. There’s no blow drying. It’s as easy as it gets.

Something I didn’t realize about shorter styles was that to keep them short, you have to get it cut more often. Sounds obvious, I know. 😆

When my stylist told me that I’d want to come in every 10 weeks (~5x per year), it was a far cry from my current 2x per year cadence. ✂️

So I did a little calculation. He charges less for short cuts.

BEFORE: $174 (including 20% tip) 2x per year = $348 per year
NOW: $132 (including 20% tip) 5x per year = $686 per year

An increase of $338 per year.

I polled you all on IG:

  • 81% of you said to go for it 👍🏻

  • 14% said you wouldn’t do it but I should do me

  • 5% said it's not worth it 👎🏻


After going through this exercise I decided the lifestyle upgrade was worth it. I can make it work with my budget, I love my new style AND the time it saves me really makes up for the difference in cost many times over.

I talk a lot about lifestyle creep (check this reel out!) but when you go through the exercise of mapping out a lifestyle upgrade, understand how it will affect your budget and goals, and then make a conscious choice (of yes or no), that’s a completely different story.

Have you made any conscious lifestyle upgrades? Hit reply. I’d love to hear about them!

P.S. I got a bunch of responses about the sinking fund tool explainer video, so I put it together! Just sign up via this form and you'll get an email with a link.





MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK

INCREASE YOUR CREDIT SCORE SERIES - STEP #3 - UNDERSTAND WHAT MAKES UP YOUR SCORE.

Because FICO is the most common credit score, let’s talk about how they calculate it. Depending on the information available in your credit profile, the importance of these categories can shift.

35% PAYMENT HISTORY. Making on-time payments is the most important factor. Making on-time payments doesn’t mean you have to pay off your credit card in full each month (although it’s ideal if you can!). It just means you are paying the minimum payment by the payment date each month. Nothing is overdue or late (over 30 days).

30% AMOUNTS OWED. Amounts owed takes into account how much you owe across all types of debt accounts, like credit cards, car loans, student loans, personal loans, and so on. A big part of amounts owed is specific to your credit cards, called your credit utilization. 📈 This is how much of your credit you are using (or utilizing). More on this next week!

15% LENGTH OF CREDIT HISTORY. Typically, the longer your credit history the better, as you have a longer track record of having credit. This part takes into account the average age of your accounts as well as the age of your oldest account.

10% NEW CREDIT. Opening multiple new credit accounts or taking out multiple loans at the same time will typically decrease your credit score.

10% TYPES OF CREDIT USED. Having different types of accounts gives the credit-scoring model more information to develop your score. This is a small part of your score and it is not necessary to have multiple types of debt to have a good score.



In the press

FALL "MONEY CLEANSE" COULD HELP YOU GET YOUR FINANCES IN SHAPE.

“Summer, with travel and no school, tends to be a really spendy time. The fall is a nice reset,” says Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, a certified financial planner and author of “The 30-Day Money Cleanse.

Gerstley says giving yourself a “money cleanse” offers a chance to carefully go over your spending and financial habits so you can make any necessary changes to end the year strong. With inflation and economic uncertainty in the background, that’s no easy task, but putting in the extra effort now can pay off.




YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

MY SKINCARE ROUTINE.

While skincare might not seem like the most relevant personal finance topic, each product we use is a financial choice and cost that fits (or not 😪) into our budget.

Is the luxe product worth it? What’s the best or healthiest option? How often do I need to buy it?

“FUN” TIP: If you’re not sure how long a product lasts, write the date on top when you start to use it. That way you can see how long it lasts without going through confirmation emails.

Here’s what I use, what each costs and what I love about it:

  • Face wash (morning + night): Hydropeptide - $48 ($48 / year). It was recommended by trusted skincare experts, was founded by April Peck, and lasts the entire year. Just make sure to suds it in your hands.

  • Eye cream (morning + night): Sephora - $18 ($72 / year). Was told to get an eye cream with peptides. TBD on this one but I bet it will last at least 3-4 months.

  • Serum (morning): Maelove (morning). $33 ($66 / year).  A serum with vitamins C + E and Ferulic + Hylaronic acid. THE. BEST. DUPE. I love it. Founded and run by Jackie Kim.

  • Bakuchiol (night): Inkey List - $13 ($36 / year). A retinol alternative.

  • Moisturizer (morning + night): Neutrogena - $18 ($72 / year). Derm recommended, love how it works and can’t beat the price.

  • Tinted sunscreen (morning): Colorscience - $49 ($98 / year). I use this instead of makeup many days and I’m going on month #5! It’s 50 SPF and a little goes a long way.





your weekly money wins

Here are all the amazing money moves you made this week 👏👏👏

  • Maddie M: I paid off my student loans this month! I had saved up a $10K balance during the pandemic in hopes that I could apply it to a car down payment if debt forgiveness was passed, but alas! Interest started accruing this month, so I ripped off the band-aid after Labor Day!

  • Deja S: Paid off around $4,000 of credit card debt I had been lugging around for a few months 🤩

  • C.W.: I stopped being upset with myself after over spending on my credit card and spending my entire check. Now I have money left over after my bills are paid because I didn’t spend it all.

  • Jen B: Got groceries and wrote out all my meals for the week so I won't waste food!

  • Akc: Paid off my private student loans!

  • Jess: Set up my Fidelity accounts through work! 10% to 401k, 5% to Roth. And also calling Debut Management Services (also through work) to see how they can help!!

  • Katie H: Bought your book to help start getting back on track after hearing u on finding mr height!

  • Na Dia: Checked my credit card transactions and found a fraudulent charge on my credit and reported it!

  • Denise: Just normalizing cutting back! Got rid of some streaming services to prioritize goals! 💪

  • Harper S: After 9months of chasing a company to work together - contract signed & $$ in bank!

  • Joanne S: Got paid. Placed $800 on debit, funded the wedding fund, and budgeted cash for groceries & gas

  • Kaitlyn: Turned down a job offer that would have been a big pay cut + more hrs / less life balance!



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