349. Take Control of Your Money: The Power of a Simple Calendar

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Join Amber, a host of the Debt-Free Dad Podcast, as she shares a straightforward method to manage your finances using only a paper calendar. Discover how this visual tool can help you track paydays, bill due dates, and auto withdrawals, all while reducing financial stress and avoiding overdrafts. Tune in for actionable tips and a step-by-step guide to take control of your money. Download a free printable calendar and budgeting form to get started! 

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Episode Transcript

Amber Taylor (00:00):
Have you ever had one of those weeks where you
swear a bill just popped up outof nowhere?
Yeah, I get it Me too.
But once I started using asimple calendar system for my
finances, the chaos calmed waydown no fancy app, no

(00:20):
complicated systems, just acalendar and a few minutes a
week.
Hi, I'm Amber, today's host forthe Debt-Free Dad podcast,
where we help everyday peoplelike you take control of your
finances so you could live ahappier, less stressful life.
Now my husband and I saved andpaid off over $54,000 in just 20

(00:45):
months and have been livingdebt-free outside of our
mortgage since 2018.
And after listening to thisepisode, if you're ready to take
control of your finances, takeit to the next level, ready to
break free from living paycheckto paycheck, reduce financial
stress, build your savings andfinally pay off debt for good,
but you're not sure where tostart.

(01:06):
We've got an incredible freeresource for you, and I'll be
sharing that with you later onin the show.
So what is a bill calendar?
It's basically a visual way totrack your paydays, your bill
due dates, any auto withdrawals.
Think of it as a map for yourmoney.
You're going to see exactlywhere it's flowing in and where

(01:27):
it's flowing out, all at a quickglance.
Now you could do this digitallyor do what I do use a simple
calendar and keep it out in theopen visual for you to see on a
regular basis.
So here's what you're going toneed to get started A paper
calendar.
Of course, again, you could dodigital, but I recommend paper,

(01:49):
so I've linked a downloadablecopy of the paper calendar that
I use in the show notes.
Then you're going to need togather your information your
paydays, your bill due dates,any auto withdrawals,
subscriptions, credit card anddebt payment dates and the
amounts.
Once you have that all together, you're going to grab your

(02:11):
calendar and you're going tostart with your paydays.
Mark every payday on thecalendar.
If your income varies andyou're not quite sure exactly
what you're going to be making,go back and look at the last
paydays and get an average, anestimate of what you're going to
make on those paydays coming up.
Then you're going to add in allyour bills your rent, your

(02:31):
mortgage, utilities, phone,internet subscriptions.
Include irregular ones, even Ifyou have a yearly insurance.
Include that In a bottom littlenote.
If it's not due that month,include what month and when it's
due.
And then you're going to carrythat forward for every single
calendar until you get to themonth so you can plug it in.

(02:52):
Now another little tip that youcan do when you're writing these
bills down is any auto payments, highlight them so you know
that they're an auto withdrawal,so you make sure that that
money is in the account for whenit's due, so you don't have any
overdraft fees anymore.
Now another fun optional thingthat you can do if you'd like is
color code things.

(03:12):
So make your bills red, makethe paydays green and just
highlight them so that you couldvisually see what's coming and
going.
This sounds super simple, butit works.
So why does it work?
It really does remove themental load of remembering any
due dates.
It helps you time your paymentsaround your income.

(03:33):
Especially if you're livingpaycheck to paycheck, you're
less likely to go into overdraft, miss payments or rely on
credit.
You can see gaps andopportunities to save when
you're doing this system, wherethings might be getting tight,
where you might have bottlenecks, so that you can adjust.

(03:54):
Now a lot of bill companieswill allow you to change your
pay date to a different date ifeverything's bottlenecking and
coming down around the same dateof the month.
See if they'll move it up twoweeks or back two weeks.
A lot of these bill companieswill definitely work with you
Now, as I mentioned earlier, Ido have a link in the show notes

(04:15):
for you to download a printable, debt-free dad calendar, and
I've added a bonus simplebudgeting form.
So I have a challenge for youDownload your printable calendar
and map out your next month'sincome and payments, all of your
paydays, all of your bills.
Plug it in there.
That's it.

(04:37):
You'll be amazed at how quicklythis simple tool will put you
back in the driver's seat withyour money.
Now, as I mentioned at thebeginning of the episode, if
you're ready to stop livingpaycheck to paycheck, lower your
stress, build savings andfinally crush your debt, you're

(04:57):
in the right place.
Every Sunday, we send out ourweekly newsletter Simplify my
Money a quick and easy to followguide to help you take control
of your money with simplestrategies, make money decisions
without stress and buildconfidence to hit your financial
goals.
If you want in, just click thelink at the top of the show
notes and you can start gettingthose today.

(05:20):
Thanks for hanging out with meand we'll see you on the next
episode.