No guru hacks. Just a forgetful person trying to not get their phone cut off again.
I didn’t automate my finances because I’m super organized.
I did it because I kept forgetting to pay stuff.
Like… regularly.
Like “why-is-my-phone-suddenly-off?” levels of forgetting.
So one day, out of sheer frustration, I sat down and tried to idiot-proof my money.
Here’s exactly how I did it — and what actually worked.
Step 1: I Made a List of Every Financial “Oops”
First, I pulled up my bank account and went full detective.
- Credit card late fees
- Missed rent (twice)
- Spotify randomly stopping mid-shower
- Subscriptions I forgot I had
I literally highlighted every moment that made me groan, “Ugh, not again.”
That became my starting list — not goals, not budgets. Just real-life mess-ups.
Step 2: I Opened a Separate Checking Account Just for Bills
This was a game-changer.
I created one account just for fixed expenses.
- No eating out
- No online shopping
- No “treat yourself” Target runs
Only bills.
I even nicknamed the account “Don’t Touch This.”
(Honestly, that helped more than it should’ve.)
Then I hid it from my banking app homepage so I wouldn’t “accidentally” spend from it.
Step 3: I Set Up Auto-Pay (Even Though It Scared Me)
Auto-pay gave me anxiety at first.
What if the money wasn’t there? What if something changed?
But I realized: the real anxiety was forgetting to pay, not paying.
So I started small:
- Credit cards (minimum only)
- Phone bill
- Internet
- Spotify (yes, still bitter about that shower)
Within a week, I felt a noticeable difference.
I wasn’t panicking about dates or digging through emails for payment links.
Step 4: I Synced Everything to Payday
This was the magic move.
I get paid on the 15th and 30th. So I made sure:
- Most bills hit on the 16th or 1st
- Transfers to savings happened the next morning
- I gave myself a 24-hour buffer to shuffle money if needed
No more guessing.
No more “Wait, when’s the internet due again?”
It’s all on autopilot now.
Step 5: I Auto-Transfer to “Forget It Exists” Accounts
Here’s what I automated next:
- 💰 Savings account I never check
- 🧾 Roth IRA that quietly pulls $150/month
- 🦖 Emergency fund literally named with a dinosaur emoji so I forget it’s money
I don’t track them daily. I don’t obsess.
They just grow in the background.
Was It Perfect? Absolutely Not.
I still made mistakes:
- Once I got charged twice for insurance.
- Another time, Netflix bounced because I changed cards.
But the thing is: I never missed a bill again.
And that’s a win in my book.
The Real Win? I Don’t Think About It Anymore
Money used to feel like this constant weight.
Like I was always forgetting something. Failing at adulthood.
Now?
It mostly just runs in the background.
I’ve got more room to breathe.
More time to care about things that aren’t due dates and overdraft alerts.
Final Thoughts: Automate Your Money, Especially If Your Brain Hates Money
You don’t need to be good with spreadsheets.
You don’t need a finance degree.
You just need to take you out of the equation — a little.
Automation isn’t lazy.
It’s smart.
Because you’ve got better things to do than remember if your car insurance is set to “auto-renew.”
💬 How do you stay on top of your bills (or not)?
Tell me — I promise not to judge. Unless you’re still paying for Quibi. Then maybe a little.