4 Financial Weekly Events

As I have been growing up I have noticed that my weekly schedule seems very busy.  Mondays I catch up with Monica, Wednesdays I have date night with my husband, and Fridays I watch the Nimbasa City Strikers.  Every week, I have the same routine scatterbugged with meetings and social gathering here and there.
 
My personal finances also have a weekly routine that lock-on to four different weekly events.  Each week I schedule payments, check my checking account, purchase date night’s dinner and buy groceries.

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Schedule Payments- Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday
My biggest financial weekly event is to schedule payments for bills and to guide my money from each paycheck to where it needs to go.  I typically try accomplishing this task Friday or Saturday.  For a while, I would early bird wake up Friday morning to schedule everything on my budget before heading into work.  However, lately I have a hard time getting out of bed and only have time for one of three things; meditate, slack off or return to rest.  If I don’t get things scheduled Friday, Saturday I am usually will do it while I am sitting at my computer to work on the current week’s blog post.
 
On those rare occasions I haven’t finished scheduling payments on Friday or Saturday, Sunday is my next opportunity.  Since most banks and businesses are closed on Sundays, half of my payments are the still scheduled the same as if I had scheduled them on Saturday.
 
Monday is final chance to schedule my payments before the klinklang start gear grinding to a halt.  Occasionally due dates can become uncomfortably close to Monday, and I worry that my payment will be faked out into a late payment.
 
Check My Checking Accounts- Tuesday, Thursday, The Day I Schedule Payments
I am so glad that to be living in an era with 24-hour access to all of my financial accounts.  From what I hear, personal finances before online access involved tracking payments, checking monthly statements and a wailord of math.  With 24 hour access, I log-on whenever I want to see my current balances, which transactions have cleared, which are in process and which are still missing, all without pants.
 
Before my current budget, constantly checking my main checking account was my only way to prevent over drafting.  I remember thinking that the bank was leech seeding money from me because the totals felt like they changed a little every day without showing me why.  I even debated screenshotting my accounts daily to uncover the truth.  I never did it though.
 
These days, I check my main checking account often, but not daily.  I usually check it Tuesday, Thursday and whichever day I schedule payments.  Tuesday, I check to confirm which transactions are in process and which have cleared.  Thursday, I check to confirm that there are no missing payments from last week’s paychecks and all transactions have cleared.  Finally, I check my main checking account before scheduling payments.  I check to confirm how much money is available by checking that my transactions have cleared, usually they have, and how much I received for my direct deposited paycheck.
 
Purchase Date Night’s Dinner- Wednesday (for now)
My husband and I have what I call Date Night.  We usually order a pizza and watch one of our favorite tv shows; The Challenge, Game of Thrones, or RuPaul’s Drag Race.  These evenings are a great time for us to check in, hang out, do some nuzzling and discuss our thoughts on the latest episode.  (Being strategists, theatre people and artists we usually have a lot of opinions.)
 
My favorite part of the tradition involves dinner.  This is the one time a week we share a meal and neither of us has to make it.  However, this usually comes at a price, typically $17.  Since we keep our finances separate, we have a couple different ways to decide who pays each week.
 
Whoever is home first gets to order and the last one picks it up on the way home.  If the one of us who picks it up wants to pay for it, they usually speak up before the order is placed.  If the one of us that is ordering wants to pay, then he usually will just pay online while ordering.  If the one ordering does not want to pay, he will ask the other one if they are prepared to pay or not.  If they are prepared, then they pay at pickup.  If not, then we discuss it to find a solution.
 
I usually use credit card PP for these meals.  Recently I have been managing my extra cash well enough that this year I have been able to pay for a couple of date night dinners without hardening my debt.
 
Buy Groceries- Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Anyday
When it comes to buying groceries, my main strategy is to buy them whenever I need them.  I walk past a 24-hour grocery store on my way home every night, so if I need something I just get it.  This helps me prevent overstocking my fridge with fruit, vegetables and other foods that go bad quickly.
 
Lately, I have gotten into the habit of stopping in the store on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays.  I usually have enough food to get me through Monday’s breakfast and lunch, so I decide Monday what I want for my dinner for the week.  Wednesdays, I usually recover lunch supplies such as kale or salad dressing.  I used to spend my weekends living off weekly leftovers, but lately, there hasn’t been much left over.  Saturdays now involve a trip to the store for weekend groceries.
 
This schedule can vary from time to time.  Sometimes I delay scheduling a payment because my budget scheduled it a little too early.  I also feel free to check any type of account whenever I have questions about it.  The nice thing about having a weekly routine is knowing what to expect and when it comes to my personal finances, I like being a mind reader.
 
Let’s Chat:  Do you have a weekly financial routine?  If so, what is it?  If not, what do you do instead?

Further Reading:
What I Learned Working Like Benjamin Franklin For a Week- Budgets Are Sexy
The Path To a Thicker Wallet Has To Include a Financial Routine- Critical Financial