Use the fifth week of the month

Use the opportunities that arise when certain days occur five times in a month

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode is a reminder that while there are always four
of each day in a month, there are thirty to

(00:24):
thirty one days in most months, which means that in
every month except February of non leapeers, there will be
a fifth of something. Being mindful of using these days
can allow for some fun tweaks to repeating schedules. So
if you read a lot of personal finance literature, you

(00:46):
know that one frequently mentioned hack is about using the
extra two paychecks many people get each year. What are
these extra paychecks, you ask, Well, people who get paid
every two weeks would get twenty six paychecks a year.
If you budget monthly, then in two months of the year,
your expenses will be the same, but you will get

(01:08):
three checks instead of two. You could use these two
paychecks to accelerate paying off debt, or to save and
invest without any actual financial pain. Now, I haven't gotten
an every two week regular paycheck in years, so this
particular life hack doesn't help me. But there are other

(01:28):
ways that the fifth time of something in any given
month can be different. For instance, I know some houses
of worship do something a little different on the fifth
Sunday of a month. If there is a fifth Sunday
which happens a few times a year. Maybe there is
no Sunday school and it's an intergenerational service or something

(01:51):
like that. You might also use the fifth week of
the month to reduce recurring meetings and build in extra
space for anything. Where the cadence is every other week.
You switch that to twice a month. It sounds the same,

(02:11):
but it isn't exactly the same. On your calendar. Instead
of every other week, you set the meeting to happen
during the first and third week of the month, or
the second and fourth week of the month. That way,
if you have a meeting every other Monday during the
months in which there are five Mondays, you will get

(02:31):
extra space in your schedule where that meeting would have gone.
You are still meeting fairly regularly, which is the point,
but just not quite as frequently. During some months we
actually get five full weekends. This could be nice if
that extra weekend comes during a particularly busy time of year.

(02:53):
For instance, this may That is in twenty twenty six,
when I am first recording this there are five full weekends.
As May weekends often get really booked up, it is
good to know that these things that need to happen
in May and need to happen on a weekend might
be a little more spread out than usual. Retailers are

(03:16):
excited when there are four December weekends before Christmas. If
the twenty fifth is a Monday, which it was in
twenty twenty three, this means you get weekends on the
twenty third and twenty fourth, the sixteenth and seventeenth, the
ninth and tenth, and the second and third. Those of
us who have a lot of holiday events get to

(03:37):
enjoy the extra space two. Anyway, most of the time
we don't notice these things about the calendar. We tend
to be in the weeds with our schedules, just knowing
that it is Monday, so I need to do my
usual Monday meeting, or that the December schedule feels less
crunched in a particular year without really thinking about why.

(03:59):
But looking at the calendar ahead of time can create opportunities.
So as you look ahead to any given month, think
about which days of the week will happen five times,
see if there might be opportunities to use this additional
frequency to your advantage. Maybe not, but five weekends does

(04:21):
feel like a little extra, and skipping a regularly recurring
meeting can feel kind of nice too. You may as
well think about these things in the meantime. This is Laura,
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

(04:50):
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(05:12):
your favorite shows.