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I want to begin with a caveat.
I do not believe that everyone in the world
should wake up at 4:00 AM.
I began this routine due to particular circumstances.
And now, after following it diligently for a year,
I've realized that it has helped me to save money
in a variety of ways.
You don't need to adopt my routine in order
to adopt these money-saving strategies.
And I hope others will be able to tailor these
to their schedules, too.
All that being said, I wake up at 4:00 AM every weekday.
This is primarily because I work in finance,
so I'm expected to work market hours despite living
on the West Coast.
This is also partially because I've
chosen to live in San Francisco, despite the fact that my office
is located farther south.
Furthermore, I do not own a car.
I'm from the East Coast, and the act
of moving across the country was daunting enough to me
without having to also buy a car,
find parking, and get insurance.
As such, I wake up at 4:00, get ready for work,
catch a bus to the train station,
get on the first train that leaves from San Francisco,
and walk 10 minutes to my office once I've reached my station.
All in all, I can usually get to work at 5:45 AM.
I don't always need to be in the office at 5:45 AM, though.
Sometimes I have meetings at 6:00,
and do need to be in the office that early.
But for the most part, I stop by the gym at 6:00
before heading to work, and manage
to be at the office at 7:00 every morning,
giving me enough time to prepare notes for our daily meetings
at 8:00.
I can leave work as early as 3:00 PM, which I generally do.
And if I'm able to time the train and bus correctly,
I get home by 4:00 PM.
What this schedule means for me is that I typically
need to be in bed by 8:00 PM if I
hope to get a sufficient amount of sleep.
I know there are a lot of people who can function on seven,
even six, hours of sleep.
But I need a full eight, ideally even a full nine.
As a result, from Sunday to Thursday,
I find myself declining invites to happy hours, dinners,
or other events that would otherwise cause me to rack up
spending during the week .
Most of my friends in the city work for tech companies.
So they get off work around 6:00 PM.
If they want to meet for happy hour
at 6:30, even if I manage to pack my breakfast and lunch,
and lay out an outfit for the next day before I leave,
I almost never want to stay for just one hour.
What's more, I need to commute back to my place,
change into pajamas, remove my makeup, brush my teeth, etc.
I enjoy having my nighttime routine.
And having to rush it and sacrifice
sleep just to spend an hour or two with friends
isn't worth it to me.
Not when I can make plans with the same friends on a Friday
night, or sometimes during the weekend.
Just think about how often during the week
you go to happy hours, meet friends for dinner,
see a movie, or participate in some other type
of after-work activity.
Even if your meal prepping your own breakfast and lunch,
there is still ample opportunities
to spend money after work hours.
Now think about how much money that adds up to, especially
over the course of a full year.
If you're spending $10 to $25 a night on happy hour or dinner,
that's easily $40 to $100 a week outside of meal prepping
or weekend expenditures.
In a month, that adds up to $150 to $400.
And in a year, that's close to $1,500 to $5,000.
My schedule has allowed me to prioritize
my health, my budget, and my overall well-being.
I spend my afternoons and evenings cooking myself dinner,
catching up on TV, speaking to my East Coast family,
and volunteering, since I have a lot of spare time
during which other people are typically at work.
What's more, the fact that I don't spend extra money
at all between Sunday evening and Friday afternoon, outside
of my transport costs, which I count
as monthly costs versus daily or weekly costs,
since I pay for monthly transit passes,
means that I'm able to make the most of my weekends
and spend during them guilt-free.
After all, I don't get to see those friends
or participate in those activities otherwise.
As I stated, I don't think the schedule
will work for everyone.
But I do think perhaps others who
work in finance or investment banking can relate.
Having to work specific hours or specific days of the week
means you likely have a different schedule
than other young professionals and your friends.
But for me, that lack of alignment with schedules
makes it easier to save money than if my schedule was
similar to my friends.
If you're really hoping to save money in a big way,
try changing your schedule.
Maybe begin going to the gym before work
and going to bed earlier, or begin
going to the gym afterward during typical happy hours.
Or find volunteer opportunities to occupy your time outside
of work on weekdays, so that you're
busy pursuing passions, rather than spending
your hard-earned money.
Despite the many difficulties and trials of my schedule,
it has allowed me to save a significant amount.
I genuinely believe that modifying your schedule
can be the major difference that allows
you to begin saving hundreds of extra dollars every month.
It's certainly worth a try.
For two weeks, adopt a different schedule
and see if it allows you to save more.
I almost guarantee you'll see a change somewhere.
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