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Live: Spooky Spendy Season
Ghosts. Goblins. Gift lists. One of these is about to haunt your wallet more than the others.
October kicks off the annual trifecta of Halloween → Black Friday → Christmas, aka the spooky season for your bank account.
It starts off in a familiar way. A pumpkin spice latte here and there. Your epic sexy-Wicked costume you’ve had planned since gravity had space.
The next thing you know you’re applying to jobs at Starbucks because you spent too much on lattes.
No matter what holidays you celebrate, spending in the US tends to increase towards the end of the year. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It just means you need a plan-thing (aka budget). And if you don’t give your money a plan, it’ll make one for you (Spoiler: it usually involves December being more naughty than nice to your wallet).
Learn: How do you balance current spending with savings?
The holidays can be a more spendy time, but they force you to figure out how you’re going to balance your non-essential spending with your needs and savings.
This balance is super important no matter how spooky or jolly the year may be. You need to be able to treat yourself and save for your goals.
Because if you don’t set aside money for joy, self-care, or that hoodie you definitely don’t need but will absolutely buy anyway, that money will find its way out of your savings later. Guilt-free spending on purpose beats panic-spending by accident every time.
But knowing how much exactly you should save vs. spend vs. invest vs. buy whatever else is sometimes confusing.
Here’s how to cut through the confusion:
Take stock of your needs and regular expenses: Figure out what you have to spend on monthly. Put it down as a defined number.
Cover your needs: Make sure you have enough in an account to cover all your regular expenses. These funds should be separate from the rest of your money so you don’t feel like you have extra cash when some of it is going to bills.
Save an Emergency Fund: Before you focus on how much to save vs. spend, make sure you have enough saved so that if things don’t go your way, you can cover yourself. Try to save 1-3 months of necessary expenses just in case.
Spend on you: You’ve covered your needs, now set aside cash for you. This should be a reasonable amount you think is enough. Don’t try to make this number minuscule and then take from elsewhere later on. Estimate by looking at how much you spent on your wants over the last few months.
Save for your goals: Now save with the remainder of your income. Start with a small quantity you know you can save consistently. If you find you can save more then up the amount later. Focus on consistency so that you aren’t taking from your savings to spend on things you didn’t originally intend.
Save for yourself (invest): The magic number people say is invest 15% of your income towards your retirement. For some people this may not be possible, for others this may be more than enough. Again, focus on consistency. If you are making a small amount, you can start investing with as little as a dollar. Build up over time.
Part of your financial well-being comes from your mental well-being. Because of this, spending on you needs to be accounted for, and guilt free.
Leverage: Cense Check
Figuring out how much you can save vs. spend is easier with Cense Check.
There are plenty of money tools out there — spreadsheets, apps, AI advisors that call you “champ.” But if you want something built for students, Cense Check is for you.
Here’s how it works: you drop some simple info (income, expenses, debt, goals) into a quick form, and within minutes, you get a personalized budget and ranked next steps based on your goals to improve your finances fast. No jargon. No judgment.
Pros:
Instant clarity on where your money’s going
Personalized priorities that make sense for you
Gives you confidence instead of confusion
Completely free
Cons:
You’ll start wondering why you didn’t do this sooner
You may fall in love with us
Not the premium interface we’ll be releasing in the next month…
We made Cense Check because we wanted personal finance to be easier and more forward-looking. Cense Check actually makes you feel like you’re driving your money, not just chasing it.
Try Cense Check here!
I’m not sponsored by this tool because I created it. That said, I am not compensated monetarily if you use it.
Launch!
Before the holiday chaos crashes harder than a sleigh towed by drunk reindeer (watch it, Dasher!), take ten minutes to check in with your finances.
They call him Dasher because he’s on so much speed.
Make sure you’re covering your needs, saving for your future, and giving yourself permission to spend on what makes you happy.
And if you want a simpler way to do that, try out Cense Check. It’s free, fast, and designed to give you the kind of clarity that makes the next few months feel a lot more warm and bright.
Financial peace of mind isn’t about saying no to fun. It’s about saying yes on purpose. ;)
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Thank you so much for being a part of this newsletter. I am grateful to write to you weekly and I hope this helps you feel more confident with your finances.
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