MONTHLY MONEY UPDATE: Taking money from my savings, Money feels, + What I spent August 2022 💸 

Love the healthy mindset! Savings is there to help you! I had that struggle before also but THE RELIEF I FELT when I took money from my savings to pay for my credit card debt… there was nothing better than that feeling of relief.

Girl, are we the same person?! 😭 I literally had the same conversation with my Mom about not feeling secure even though I have savings. I totally have attached my self worth to the number in my savings account so I totally get the resistance to dip into it!

Had so much fun watching this video Zoe! Can't wait to see your trip and learn more about your new job! So excited for you 💓

I love watching these videos and seeing your mindset towards money evolve over time. I completely agree with everything you said re: savings. There is this saying that’s like saving is just delayed spending, and that’s how I try to look at it. You’re meant to spend that money at some point! It’s just up to you to decide when and what to spend it on.

Ur excitement about the Harry Potter play was so cute, I’m a Harry Potter freak too! & yes savings are meant to be leaned on whenever you need. Totally agree with that outlook.

I love love love the monthly finance videos! Also, please have no regrets regarding the haircut--it looks soooo good! This length makes your hair look super healthy and it's really chic! I cut mine just about the same length because I love how yours came out!

Ahhh your upcoming trip sounds so exciting! Looking forward to videos about it! :)

I also struggle with taking money out of my savings. Like you've said in the video, it's there for a reason and we should not be afraid of spending it as long as we're spending it for emergencies or for our needs.

I LOVE this 💗 what calms me from spending is grounding myself with some self care and listening to David Ramsay podcast. I am proud of myself this month too. I managed to make good profit on Vinted and added to my savings and said no to several spending opportunities and managed not to spend when going into stores which is SUPER difficult. I also purchased a lunch box so that when I leave the house I always have snacks and food with me to avoid restaurant temptations. 💫

So glad you're feeling more positive about your finances. I definitely go through roller coaster emotions with my finances. My favorite purchase in August was probably white water rafting and a massage! Sooo excited for your travel vlogs!

Such an important reminder about mindset with money. Makes me want to read The Psychology of Money even sooner which has been on my list for a while!

I had a very similar situation this month. My husband is going back to school and went part time in his new job. We were in a tight spot with our monthly budget, and pulling from our savings was a total game changer. I reminded myself that our situation is temporary, and this is exactly why we worked so hard to build our emergency fund. Like you mentioned, I also had in my head that the EF was for “extreme emergencies.” 🤦🏼‍♀️

As always loved the monthly money update!♥️ And congratulations on the new job 🍾

Hi Zoe! Thank you for sharing! Also I’m from MTL living alone and immigrant. With you sharing your tips, financial goals and mental health also helps me. I feel like I have a sister here which I don’t have. Love your channel. I’m so motivated ❤💜

Always the video of yours that I look forward to the most! I so appreciate how candid and transparent you are and that you’re willing to take us along on your personal finance journey. RU-vidrs who have “perfect” budgets just aren’t as relatable and I personally find that kind of content monotonous to watch

always loved watching your videos, can not wait for more to come!

YESSS, COME TO SOUTH AMERICA, ZOE! I’ve said this before, I’m in my 30’s now, so I don’t relate (anymore) to the emotions you go through with money. But two things: I find you so entertaining, you’ve got a great personality. Keep up :) and number 2: giiirl, aren’t you 26? You’ve paid off your student debt, is independent, self-employed, is doing what you love, has an emergency fund… I mean, it see it being hard to put in perspective when you’re comparing yourself to your friends/people on the internet, but honestly, the world is chaos, you’re doing AMAZING! Hope you have a great week! 🇧🇷🙂

Glad you are feeling better about finances Zoe 🙂

Thanks for continuing to share your finances ✨ It's super helpful! Enjoy your trip, experiences are worth spending money on. Interested to see how things go with the new financial methods that you try out. Personally don't use cash, but I have found success with a year long no buy. Really helps to reorient your spending habits!

Yay - Love the money talk videos!

so glad you're in a better mindset about these budget videos 💖 i love the clothing analogy - i think this is a great example where an extremely frugal mentality can also be hurtful! also, do you have sinking funds set up? at the start of each year, i set up various sinking funds for upcoming payments (i.e. car insurance, health insurance deductibles, vacations, birthday/holiday gifts etc) and it's truly changed my budgeting game. have fun in South America! xoxo

Oh my gosh. 16:05 This may seem silly but I was today years old when I learned that AMEX is American Express. 😆😆😆

August has been a big spending month for me as we leave for vacation soon. I feel like it’s all the last minute Amazon and target purchases that add up quickly!

This video made me want Subway. 😂 And I love the short hair on you! You’re absolutely glowing lately!! 🥰

Love the money talk videos! I'm glad you were able to bring a new perspective into your money/savings relationship and lessen the money anxiety. Definitely a big fan of the individual spending breakdown, it's like a mini recap of your month which is fun to hear. August has been my most expensive month for this year yet. The most expensive was my car payment. I had a little over 2k left in my balance and I decided to knock it all out this month since I was able to. Excluding the car payment though, my spending in other categories have spiked as well. Especially in the shopping category. I got back into running (since the start of the pandemic) so I dropped $200 buying workout outfit and gear.

Love these videos, it keeps me honest about my finances too 🙏

Thanks for including your income! I find budgeting videos that don’t include income/ don’t include entire income entirely disingenuous.

Hi Zoe I like these videos your real about it. Going forward keep your income to yourself for sure. Your doing great. You've come such along way. Proud of you. Wow South America that's awesome.

So so loving your channel, I am binging watching your videos

Do you use Excel spreadsheets for your finances/budget? If so, do you have a video talking about how to make your own?

Zoey I love your budgeting spreadsheet! Is there a template you used or that you could share? Thanks sm for sharing with us!

The last months I was pretty good with saving and budgeting but this month my car didn't get through inspection and I have to pay way more than I thought so it's stressing me out. But that's okay, because I have my Emergency fund. But yeah, I'll have to save up more in the next months to make up for this expense. Thank you for sharing your finances with us!

Love to see a happy, healthy, thriving, Zoe. I watch these videos all the time but was finally inspired to do a deep dive money date this weekend. Created a detailed budget and plan. I'm feeling super good about it, thanks for the inspiration!

This was a really interesting video. $400 on groceries is quite expensive for one person. But it should at least equate to 3 meals per day I would think. That being said, how are you also spending $400 on eating out on your Koho? That’s around $800 a month just on food for one person. Woah! That’s a lot. Emergency Funds should be for emergencies, not rent. Rent is a recurring expense that you should always prioritize. You shouldn’t be spending $400 on just eating out in one month when you can’t even afford rent and car payments. That’s insane for me to hear someone do! You should always pay yourself first. If you make $5k in a month, maybe $3500 after taxes or something, you should account for rent, utilities, transportation, investing, and savings first (amongst other things like any other recurring expense like maybe subscriptions). After you subtract that total amount from the $3500, that’s how much money you should allow yourself to spend on fun stuff! It seems like you do it the opposite way- you make sure you budget $400 for your frivolous spending on your koho, and then you make savings an afterthought. It should definitely be the other way around. I’m 24 years old so we’re around the same age. But I save $10k a year for my emergency fund/house down payment because I take out $416.67 from each paycheck and put it into my Goldman Sachs Marcus High Yield Savings Account. I also take out half my rent per paycheck and set it aside for next month’s rent. So, I take out half my rent/utilities on August 15 and August 31, which is when I get paid, so that on September 1, when rent is due, I’m not taking out money from my savings account/emergency fund. Then after I put savings and rent aside (my 401k contributions are automatically taken from my paychecks, so the $10k I save a year is separate from 401k savings), I have money left over for putting aside for traveling, eating out, and other fun stuff. I’m also going to start putting extra money aside for investing, because that’s important too. I’m going to dollar-cost-average the S&P 500. Meaning, every paycheck I’ll put $250 in $VOO in my Vanguard Investing Account. So I’ll now be prioritizing investing $6k a year. Only after putting all this money aside will I spend on fun stuff. Maybe you should try this method of budgeting so that you’re actually able to save and invest every month! Hopefully it works out for you! (p.s. I’m a software engineer making $95,000 a year. So you don’t necessarily have to save/invest as much as I do, but definitely try following the method of “paying yourself first”!)

Great video, can’t wait to see where you travel to ✈️

The bixi annual pass is 92$ or 18$ for the month, so it can easily be worth it and it is so convenient.

Cool video! . Maybe next time you can talk about Canadian tax/the tax system ? I think that would help put your income into perspective too

My budget is currently not going well 🙃 I had to move apartments after a breakup and now I'm spending more than double on rent... I can luckily afford it but seeing that I can save way less, is stressing me out a bit. Trying to spend less on day to day life but it's tough in summer. For the most expensive purchase, no idea 😅 But my best purchase was for sure my travel to see my family in Germany

Hi Zoe, I'm glad that you're happier this month, it's a struggle but you can do it! We support you and I encourage you to keep working on yourself, I hope you can be more secure financially on the path you choose to work with very soon. Will you come to Chile? 👀✨☺️🤞

How do you feel about taking trips when you don’t have a fully funded emergency fund? I watched a video recently where a guy said not to take any trips until all debt has been paid off and emergency fund is all set. It has made me feel like I can’t take trips. I’m excited to see your vlogs when you go though!!

Love your top, Zoe. Angelic! Where's it from?

You 're so funny. I love your videos

♥️♥️♥️

Not sure how it works in Canada but since you pay about 160$ for therapy have you thought instead about health insurance?

Zoe, are you going to Colombia? If you are, you’ll have an amazing time ❤

Great video

check out personal finance with leila on youtube, she keeps her spending real and honest like you and also does budgeting

Always give the video a 👍I want to suggest that you watch the channel called personal finance with leila which might help you out with budgeting.

Did I miss the savings video?

Free mental health resources at Wellness Together Canada!

First

Are you going to 🇨🇴 ?🫶 can’t wait for the vlogs

this might be a dumb question, but what is a KOHO card? prepaid?🥹 love ur videos btw!!!