You may have heard of Meal Prep Sundays. Either from people who are avid health and fitness fans or those budget-conscious people looking to minimise their spending and maximise their meals for the week.
When I was working, I spent Sunday afternoons cooking meals for the first part of the week. It was a bit to save money and a bit to save my waistline. But the focus on preparing and planning my meals set me off on the right foot for the week ahead. I knew that it would be at least Wednesday before I needed to make further choices and that I’d have half the week being intentionally good.
Much like preparing your meals, being intentional with our money is core to saving as much of it as possible and core to putting it to work for us. When was the last time you sat down and ran the numbers on your budget? When did you check on your investments? Or when did you truthfully look at your household bills and see where you can save even just a few pounds?
Building wealth and maintaining wealth isn’t about the grand gestures of paying off your mortgage or selling your business. It’s the small frequent changes that maximise the money you can save and invest for your future. It starts with pennies, but it grows to become many pounds incredibly fast. If you focus on it.
So here’s my challenge to you. What if you spent 20-30 mins every Sunday planning and getting everything in your finances prepared for the week ahead? Would you be in far greater shape this time next week, than we would be if we left things to chance? I think we both know the answer to that.
Remember small, frequent changes. That’s all it takes! But I appreciate this is new to most people and below I’ve put an idea of what my Sunday money prep looked like during the 10 years I was working towards financial freedom. It’s slightly different now, but if I had to start again, this is exactly what I would do once a week to keep my mind focused on moving the needle just a little bit each week.
My Money Prep Sunday Checklist
- Login to my investment accounts and check for any messages about fees that need paid or dividends that need to be reinvested.
- Transfer in any money that I may have remaining from an underspend on my budget
- Check my budget for the upcoming week, planning what I might need to spend money on and if possible, how I can save money on the tasks/activities I have planned.
- Take one household or personal expense and look at cheaper alternatives or decide whether to cut it out altogether
- Actually, still prepare my meal plan for the week, because this is a great prep for the week ahead
- Look for new opportunities to invest or to build wealth through a side hustle or business.
None of these tasks should be challenging and nor should the full list take you more than a few minutes to prepare each week. Though if you are like me, the food prep element might take a few hours from start to finish…
What I personally love about making my budget part of your Sunday routine is that while a budget sets boundaries on what I can spend overall, it gives me the freedom to spend within it during the week. If I know I have dinner out with friends, I can plan for this well in advance, so that I don’t go over budget. That’s just one example of course, but preplanning your week is the most effective way to stick to the plan and to stay on course financially.
If you’re serious about your finances, leave nothing to chance. Know your large goals and ambitions, but focus on making small frequent changes that you can affect here and now. Over time these will compound to become great assets working for you.
Ask yourself this. Are you going to let another week go by coasting through life? Or are you going to make the changes now that could mean retiring early, or sadly, retiring at all? When you prioritise your future well-being it should become your priority now.
You’ll find me over on Threads these days, continuing the conversation from the site. Do let me know if you agree with these or if you have your own Sunday money prep routine.
