Okay, financial planning 101 literally saved me from eating instant noodles for the third month straight, and I’m still kinda shocked it worked. Like, I’m sitting here in my stupidly overpriced one-bedroom in Austin right now—rent’s $1,950 because Texas decided to cosplay California—and there’s a half-drunk Topo Chico on my desk that costs more than my 2013 self would’ve spent on an entire meal. Anyway. I’m the girl who, at 26, had $38 to her name, negative $400 in the bank, and a credit score that looked like a sad zip code. So yeah, I’m qualified to talk about financial planning 101 the same way a former alcoholic is qualified to pour at AA meetings.
Why Financial Planning 101 Felt Impossible at First (Spoiler: I Was Broke and Dramatic)
I used to think financial planning was for people who owned blazers and knew what “Roth IRA” meant without Googling it at 3 a.m. in tears. Me? I was out here buying $9 lattes because “I deserved it” after a bad day while my electric bill did the cha-cha into collections. Real story: last year I spent $220 on DoorDash in one week because I was “too depressed to cook.” Reader, I was depressed because I had no money left. The math was mathing, but I refused to look.
Then one random Tuesday I opened my banking app, saw $11.47, and actually laughed out loud in a Walgreens parking lot. That was my rock-bottom meet-cute with financial planning 101.
My First Budget (It Looked Like a Crime Scene)
I tried the cute apps—Mint, YNAB, whatever—and immediately gave up because they wanted me to “categorize transactions” like I wasn’t already crying. So I did it old-school: grabbed a $0.97 notebook from Walmart and wrote “BUDGET” in Sharpie like I was daring the universe.
Here’s what actually worked for my chaotic brain:
- The “No-Spender November” lie I told myself (lasted 9 days, still proud)
- Paying myself first—like, $50 straight to savings the second my paycheck hit, even if that meant eating rice and hot sauce
- The 50/30/20 rule but make it 70/20/10 because rent in this economy is a war crime
- Deleting Uber Eats, Postmates, and Grubhub apps while drunk (highly recommend)
The Most Embarrassing Financial Planning 101 Moment of My Life
Real talk: I once called my mom sobbing because I thought I’d never recover from a $400 vet bill when my cat ate a hair tie. She goes, “Honey, that’s why you have an emergency fund.” I said, “An emergency what now?” That was the day I started one. Currently it has $1,008 in it and I guard it like it’s my firstborn child.
Building Credit Without Wanting to Die
My credit score was 520. Five-twenty. Lower than my GPA in college, and that’s saying something. Here’s what actually moved the needle:
- Got a secured credit card with a $200 limit (felt like a joke but whatever)
- Put Netflix on it and paid it off every month like clockwork
- Twelve months later I hit 682 and literally took a screenshot and sent it to my group chat screaming
Investing? I Thought That Was Rich People Pokémon
Turns out you can start investing with $5 now. I use Acorns because it rounds up my purchases and I’m too lazy to do it myself. My first “investment” was $1.37 from a pack of gum. Iconic. Now I’ve got like $2,300 in there and I still panic every time the market dips, but I leave it alone because I learned the phrase “time in the market beats timing the market” and it’s basically my financial mantra.
The Realest Financial Planning 101 Advice I Can Give You
- Track your spending for one month. Just one. You’ll want to unalive yourself on day three but push through.
- Automate everything. Savings, bills, whatever. Out of sight, out of “oops I spent it on Taco Bell.”
- Forgive yourself for the dumb shit you already did. I still flinch thinking about the $800 I spent on festival tickets in 2022, but it’s gone. Moving on.
- Read this book — no, seriously, Ramit Sethi doesn’t yell at you for liking nice things.
- Check out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when you’re ready to adult harder.
Anyway, I’m still a mess—yesterday I almost bought a $68 candle because it “smelled like confidence”—but now I pause, laugh at myself, and don’t buy it. Progress, not perfection, right?
So yeah, financial planning 101 isn’t sexy. It’s just… doing the thing even when you feel dumb. If my chaotic ass can get it together, you definitely can.
Tell me in the comments—what’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made? No judgment, I’ll go first: $300 on a tarot reading in 2021. Still waiting for that soulmate. 😂
Let’s fix our money together. You got this. (I think. Maybe. We’ll see.)
