This is my journey to apply the book, Unf*ck your finances. The book is about personal finances but I’ve added actions specific to working for myself.

If you want a bit more context, the prelude pieces are Hope can be scary, Why do we never talk about personal finance?, and Getting my shit together: the plan for the next quarter.

The first thing I’m doing from the plan I made three days ago is to understand how I’m spending. This means listing out all of my fixed costs and interrogating them.

Up until this point, I’ve been able to reduce my monthly costs by $267.15. Let’s see how I go today.

Feel free to do a cross-examination.

This is my current repository for working notes. I had to switch from a Mac to a PC recently which meant I had to switch from Bear to something. This was that something. Keeping it.

I send this to my partner for fuel and upkeep of the vehicle. I could stop the payment but, by sending it, I don’t feel bad about asking for rides or him driving us everywhere (I don’t have a licence).

Because of this course, I re-shaped how I do bespoke services and made work a pleasure to scope and deliver. I’ll switch to the annual version ASAP because I know I’ll be keeping it for more than four more months (the annual version is the monthly fee x 4). I just sent the email to support about this.

I use Spotify more often but I like having the option and the price is worth having that option. Keeping it.

I need this on this tier. I could shop around but my waiting periods would reset and I can’t afford to risk that.

Loving using this tool. All of my websites will move to here.

For now, I am loving using it to experiment with and test some stuff. That said, I can only justify it long term if I have actual funnels on it leading to actual products. I will re-evaluate in 3 months. I created a reminder.

I attend up to 5 times per week and this is where I get my cardio too. Keeping it.

This gives me access to Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. I use at least one of them daily. Keeping it.

This is the name I give to savings. This is only a nominal amount but the payment has been consistently going out for 9 months. It means I can up the recurring payment when I get to that point (aiming for next month!)

I have this to take advantage of free shipping. I rarely purchase physical products. I cancelled it. I will re-add it next time I order a physical product in that category.

This has kept me publishing daily for almost a third of the year. Keeping it!

I use this for my weekly reviews and tracking actions towards goals. It has been invaluable. Keeping it.

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I reduced my monthly outgoings by $6.99!