Hey, guys!

It's Chelsea from the Financial Diet and this week's video is brought to you by Credit Repair. And this week I wanted to talk to you guys about the little tools that help you get good with money even when you're not that good at staying on top of things, or when you have a hard time following through.

Basically, if you tend to be a little lazy, like myself, it's best to just accept that truth, lean into it, and put things in place that allow you to get out of your own way and to accomplish the things that you want. At TFD, we love talking about the little ways to make productivity, money, and your professional work more painless and easy, because we know that one of the biggest obstacles to people getting their adult life in order tends to be just thinking it's too hard, or that they don't have the right tools to do it.

But the truth is, especially when it comes to money, about 90% of the battle is just getting things started, or putting a few key routines or automations into place. Once you set them up, most money actions don't need to be thought about that often.

And we believe that putting those fail-safes in place early will allow even the laziest person to achieve their money goals. So without further ado, here are six money tools every lazy person needs. 

Number one is apps that help you form and keep a habit. So one truth that we all must accept as we become adults, is that, especially when it comes to money, putting good habits in place is going to be the deciding factor between whether or not we get what we want. But starting where you are today, i.e. a little lazy and not that good at managing money, it can feel really hard to get over that "getting started" hurdle, to the point where making the right financial decisions and moves feels like second nature. So we recommend starting by picking three small, specific money things that you need to make a habit.

For example, let's say - going over your account transactions, checking your net worth, and sending invoices if you do any freelance or self-employed work. So you pick those habits and you commit to making them a regular, timed routine. There are several great apps that will help you create and maintain a habit, and we'll link you to a few of those in the description. But they all do similar things: they work with your calendar to remind you; they send you encouragements and reinforcements when you do what you're supposed to; and they allow you to course correct, so that you don't make one missed appointment become an excuse to derail your entire progress. You should use the right apps to essentially be your backup brain.

And force you into the habits that, once they become second nature, will make managing your money feel a thousand times easier. 

Number two is an advocate for when you get in trouble. So something you probably already know about me if you watch this channel, is that I ruined my credit when I was younger. And the thing that kept it ruined for years – while I was being hounded by collection agencies unable to make financial decisions on my own and riddled with anxiety about it – is how afraid I was of getting started.

I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know what my options were, and I didn't know how to advocate for myself. But in running TFD, I've learned that there are a lot of options in terms of finding an advocate for yourself, when you need to accomplish something really big financially, such as repairing your damaged credit.

Credit repair is one of those options. Basically credit repair is your own personal mentor for repairing, building, and maintaining your credit. They help you build a customized strategy for improving your score, work directly with the credit bureaus to dispute any dings on your report, and teach you how to understand both your own score and the rating system. If you feel like you're struggling to build or rebuild good credit and want someone to guide and advocate for you the whole way, check out credit repair at the link in our description to learn more.

Number three is automated investment and savings. Remember when you were a little kid and you used to put your spare change into one of those big jars every day, up until you had enough change to go to the grocery store and use that super satisfying coin dump machine, to dump all your money in, and find out you have exactly 42 dollars and 85 cents – aka enough money to buy exactly three forever21 dresses that very afternoon. No? Just me? Okay.

Well, basically, there are now apps that do that exact same thing for you, without you even having to think about it. They help you manage your savings, hit your goals, and invest using only your spare change. We'll link you to a few good ones in the description, but whichever ones you choose the idea is the same.

You set a few simple savings and investment streams up that you don't have to think about every day, and you simply check in on your progress about once a week either through the app or with an emailed report that they send you. It's one of the easiest ways to make sure you're always making those little right decisions without ever having to think about them.

Because any lazy person knows that the easiest way to kill progress on those small important daily tasks, is to have that feeling of like "ugh I'll do it later" and make the indulgent choice in the moment. Before the end of the day put into place at least one investment or savings stream that is totally automated. And I guarantee you that the rest of your week and year will feel infinitely more achievable.

Number four is a make more money day. So one thing that I have found is an extremely helpful tactic, as an extremely lazy person, is to set into place a very specific day and time for those activities that can feel kind of vague. And one of those vague but important goals is make more money – which is something that all of us should be striving to do at least a little bit outside of our main source of income. And not just because it's super helpful for reaching bigger and more diverse money goals but also because it's really good for building skill sets and our mental flexibility.

That said having a general goal of make more money can feel paralyzingly broad. So we recommend finding one specific chunk of one specific recurring day to make your make more money time. You can even schedule something really fun every week right after you finish that make more money moment so that you really look forward to doing it. There are a ton of low barrier to entry side jobs that you can easily add a few hours a week to make more money.

Things like dog walking apps, Amazon review hubs, cater waitering, tutoring etc. But the point is that you dedicate a specific day and time to this task every week so that your brain learns to expect it and not avoid it. And more importantly the task feels contained enough so as not to feel overwhelming and guilt inducing. We'll link you to a great list of easy to pick up side jobs that you could start right now.

But no matter what side job you pick studies show that it is infinitely more easy to achieve something when it comes at a specifically scheduled and planned for time. So make sure that make more money is something you schedule as if it were a dentist appointment.

Number five is a strong relationship with your bank rep. We've mentioned it before but one of the best things you can do for your long-term financial health and sanity is to create a strong personal relationship with your bank representative. This person should know you be familiar with your money situation and goals and care enough to actually advocate for you if you should need it.

Most bank reps are actually empowered to do things like waive fees, excuse a late payment on a card, or even extend payment on something if you need it. If you go through a hard time one week. forget to do something, or make a small mistake you need someone at your bank who cares enough to work with you to get it fixed.

Sitting through hours with a phone operator from your bank who needs to be brought up to speed on your entire life story is going to be a lot less effective. And you're much less likely to actually make that call and try to get it fixed. Being able to just walk into your branch and say "hey Ashley, I'm so sorry I totally forgot to release my credit card payment and it came in a couple days late, could we just waive this one so it doesn't show up on my credit report" is a huge advantage.

These are real people and they understand that you're a real person but only if you take the time to work with them. And if you tend to be forgetful or make mistakes as most lazy people do, then this personal relationship is even more advantageous. Trust me, you will want that buddy at your bank.

And speaking of buddies, number six is buddies for your targeted money goals. One of the biggest life hacks to getting things accomplished when you tend to be a little lazy, is to have forced accountability for that thing. And the easiest way to do that is to have specific buddies, for specific money goals that you want to achieve. If you're working on a few specific goals this year that feel overwhelming – like hitting a certain savings goal or earning a certain amount inside cash etc – find a buddy to go on this journey with you.

I can almost guarantee you that you could definitely find someone immediately around you – whether that's your partner, a friend, or even a co-worker, who is also really looking to work on their financial health. And who will honestly be relieved at having someone with whom they can be accountable and honest. And with whom they can celebrate achievements.

You are way more likely to stay on target for a goal when you're not doing it alone. And using that accountability as a way to stave off your worst procrastinating tendencies is totally okay. The buddy system works damn it, so use it! We did a whole video on how to use the financial buddy system to your benefit and we'll link you to that in the description too.

Whatever your financial goals are remember that being a little lazy is never an excuse not to reach them or to work toward them every day. You just have to learn to be more creative and proactive about how you approach them and to get out of your own way.

This video is brought to you by credit repair if you want to learn more about how you can rebuild improve or overhaul your credit score today follow the link in our description to learn more about it.

As always guys thank you for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday and Thursday for new and awesome videos. Bye!