My New Money Routine: One List, Two Focused Hours Each Month
I'll be honest with you: going from freelance to full-time has been a big adjustment.
For years, I had autonomy over my time. If a financial task popped into my head on a Tuesday afternoon — update the business financials, research a new bank, pull a report — I could just… do it. My workday had room in it.
That's not my life right now. My days belong to my work, and by the time I close my work laptop, the last thing I want to do is sit back down at my computer to look at my money. And for the last two months, that meant my own financial to-dos kept slipping — not because I didn't care, but because there was never a "right time" to get to them.
So I built a new routine. And it's actually working for me.
The whole system: capture it now, work it later
Whenever people ask me what my favorite system/app is, my answer is always the same. The one you stick to. And I have found that the simpler the system, the chances of me sticking to it are much higher.
Here's the entire thing. When a financial action pops into my head, I don't try to do it in the moment, and I don't try to remember it. I add it to my reminders app. That's it. That's step one.
I'm not sitting down to "do my finances." I'm just catching the thought before it floats away — cancel my life insurance policy (since I have new one), find a new credit card, see that all my benefit deductions hit my paycheck — and letting my phone hold it for me.
Then, twice a month, The Pledgettes hosts our Wealthy Working Sessions: two focused hours where we all show up virtually and actually do the money thing we've been meaning to do. And that's when I dust off my list and get to work.
I cannot tell you how much I get done in those two hours. Because the thinking is already done. The list is waiting for me.
What actually lands on the list
Sometimes it's small. I checked whether our bank had been paying our home insurance twice — and it was. (Caught it. Fixed it.) Or I'll pull my aged receivables report for my financial coaching and follow up with who's outstanding.
Sometimes it's big. Switching banks has been on my list, and that's not one action — it's several: researching each bank's offerings, their fees, their locations, and their values. That's exactly the kind of project that never happens in a stolen ten minutes at the end of a workday. But it fits beautifully into a Wealthy Working Session, where I can go deep without distraction.
And then there are the routines — the quiet, steadying ones. Updating the business financials. Checking in on Monarch to see my net worth. Looking at how my investment accounts have been performing. None of it is urgent. All of it is the kind of thing that builds Financial Confidence when you actually look, instead of avoiding.
The shift that surprised me
Here's the part I didn't expect.
I used to arrive at a Wealthy Working Session and spend the first five minutes just… figuring out what I wanted to do with the time. Staring at a blank hour block, trying to remember what needed attention. By the time I got going, I'd already lost a chunk of my focus.
Now? I show up and dive straight into the list.
Those five minutes don't sound like much, but the difference in energy is huge. I'm not starting from scratch and hoping I remember the thing. I'm starting from a running list of my own Big Financial Goals and loose ends, and I get to spend my focus on the doing, not the deciding.
And the feeling has changed on both sides of the session. During the Wealthy Working Session, I feel accomplished — heads-down, actually moving things forward. Between sessions, I feel confident because I know I can spend thirty seconds adding something to my list and trust that I have a scheduled time to get it done within the next two weeks. The worry that used to come with "I really need to deal with that" is just… gone. It's on the list. The list has a date. I can let it go until then.
That's really the whole lesson, and it's one I'd offer to anyone whose time isn't fully their own right now: you don't need more hours. You need a place to capture the thought when it comes, and a set time to act on it. Let the capture be effortless. Let the action be scheduled. The two hours will carry more than you'd believe.
Come work your list with us
If this sounds like the structure your money life has been missing, this is exactly what Pledgettes Membership is built for. Our twice-monthly Wealthy Working Sessions give you the blocked-off time, the focused company, and the gentle accountability to finally get to the list — whether that's a tiny fix or a Big Financial Goal you've been circling for months.
Start your own capture list this week. Then come dust it off with us. You don't have to do this alone — and you'll be amazed at what a focused hour can do.
If this sounds like the structure your money life has been missing, start your own capture list this week. Then come dust it off with us. RSVP to our next Wealthy Working Session.
