Happy frugal Friday, friends. If you’re ready to take control of your money before the new year even begins, you are in the right place. Today, I’m sharing seven simple ways to reset your finances for the new year. No overwhelm, no guilt, just calm, practical steps to start strong.

So, grab your coffee, grab your notebook.

Let’s get into it. Step number one, reflect without regret. Before we jump into our new goals, let’s take a little quick look back at the year we just went through. Not to judge, but to learn what went well last year  and what didn’t and what kind of surprised you. I always say reflection isn’t about beating yourself  up. It’s about figuring out what worked and then doing more of that. More of that. Here’s something practical that you can do that was actually kind of fun. I sat down with Kaden, and I whipped out my phone and we went back through the pictures starting in January, starting January 1st, and just kind of talked about what went on, what kind of made us smile.

And you can do this with your phone.

look back through your year and you can kind of tell like when you’re looking through the pictures, what made your heart pitter-patter when was like, “Oh, this was great.”  Or what was I spending my money on?

Like if you see an experience that you were like, “This was awesome.”

Do more of that in the new year. If you had pictures of new things that you purchased and now looking at it a year later, you’re like that wasn’t even worth it. Like take note of that. Grab a notebook, look through your phone and note what made you the happiest. Who made you the happiest?  Who were you spending time with? Um what were you spending your money on? You can kind of tell by the pics. Were you going out to restaurants? Were you going on vacation? Were you just hanging out with friends at your house? You know, what were you doing and what sparked the good vibes and what kind of triggered the bad vibes?

Like that’s a really great overview to do of your year.

And when we sat down and looked through everything, you can tell what you want more of and what you want less of. That’s just one practical exercise to help in kind of cultivating a better year when you know what was good and what was not so great. You might not even realize when you’re looking through these that it’s only been a year. Like this has been kind of a long year. I don’t know if anyone agrees it’s been kind of a long year. And when you’re looking back, it’s very good to take note.

Take some notes. That’s what I’m going to encourage you to do.

Take out a notebook, write it down, and really highlight the highlights.

Step number two is to simplify your finances. If you’re feeling like your finances are a little messy, you’ve got to declutter your finances like you declutter your house. Close out any old accounts that you don’t use. If you moved and you started a new bank account and you left the old one open just in case and you don’t even know what’s in there anymore and you never are going to use it, close out the old accounts. Move it over.

If your kind of in your head were like, I’m going to open an account here, an account here, an account here, and then you haven’t logged into any of those accounts because you can’t remember the password or the username.

You know, those that know what I’m talking about, you know, I’m talking to you.  Let’s tidy this up. Let’s clean it up. Let’s declutter the finances so that you have a really good look at where you’re at. And it’s just less it’s less passwords. It’s less juggling. It’s less to look at. I highly recommend you simplify your accounts. Cancel subscriptions that you forgot about. Tie up any loose ends that might have gotten a little looser as the year went on. The simpler your money setup, the easier it will be to stay on top of it. Number three, now that you’ve narrowed things down, automate what you can. Automate like a boss. I have just about every bill automated except one Kohl’s.

I don’t know why I have to do that like right as we click out of this video. I’m going to go set up my auto pay for Kohl’s. I don’t shop at Kohl’s all the time.  But I don’t know why I never set up autopay for Kohl’s specifically. And it stresses me out every month if I do make a purchase because I’m like, I didn’t set that up.

Why haven’t I? I can’t explain it. I don’t know why.

I can’t explain it. So, I will take my own advice after this.

It’s the only one. It’s the only one that’s loose. So, I’m going to tie up that loose end for the new year and make sure everything’s on autopay then. Okay, like my oil, my oil comes to my house when it’s running low. I never think about it. I have a friend that’s like, “Oh, I got to call and get oil.”  I never have to call and get oil.

It’s coming. It’s coming. It comes automatically.

I don’t have to think about it. All my bills come out automatically. It makes life so much easier, you guys. Automate, automate, automate. Think about it. less late fees. Do not be paying for late fees in the upcoming year, you guys. We’re getting on top of it. If you’ve lost a little footing, we’re getting back on it in the new year, okay? No late fees, less mental clutter, having to remember dates. And I know there’s some people that write down this is due, this, this is do. Listen, and I  know some of you are going to say, “Well, I don’t want to do that because what if I overdraft?” You  know the answer to that if you’ve been following this channel, and that’s the budget buffer. If  you’ve never heard of the budget buffer, that is one month of expenses in your checking account at  all times.

If you do not know what I’m talking about, please type in Kate Kaden budget buffer when you get out of this video later.

I’ll actually leave it on the end screen so that you remember because the budget buffer has changed many of the K squad lives because we weren’t thinking about that. You will not overdraft if you have the budget buffer in place. This might take a little time to build, but it’s actually quicker than you think. You’ll be more consistent in the new year. You can set it and forget it. You’ll have that budget buffer to back you up should you make a little error. No worries. We want to make everything simplified. We want to be calm going into the new year. We want to have our money in check, and this is how to do it. Step number four, pick one main financial goal. Now, I could really argue both ways on this one but hear me out.  What I’m talking about is if in the new year you have one thing that you relentlessly think about.  Maybe it’s a debt, maybe it’s a vacation you want to have.

There’s like something that drives you,  you want to either crush it or you want to save for something. Pick one and go at it relentlessly.

What happens is sometimes we get all this money noise and people are telling you you need to do  this, you need to do that, but what about this, but what about that? And I get it. I talk about it  all the time. Talk about it literally every week on this channel. But in the new year, if you want to reset your finances and achieve something big, pick that one thing and throw it all at that this year. Maybe you want to pay off debt. Hi, Slate. Maybe you want to start saving for a house. Maybe you want to start investing if you haven’t started investing yet, and you should. One of these, one of these things. Pick one. One clear goal can create one clear path. It’s simplified. It’s  focused. And if you do it right, it’s relentless because you want that to happen.

And you’re not  going to waste your time on things that aren’t going to get you to your goal. Another method  I highly recommend is the Kate method when you’re trying to reach a big goal. That stands for keep  focus, adjust, track, and eliminate. I also have lots of videos on the Kate method to reach all your goals in the new year. I will leave another video for you on the end screen if you want to look at life a little bit more simplified and get to the main goal faster by using the Kate method.

If you’ve made it this far in the video and you are ready to reset your finances for the new year, type in the comments reset exclamation point and I will know that you’re really thinking about how you can reset your finances for this upcoming year and have your best financial year yet.  Okay, moving on to number five. Create a simple budget that fits your life. Budgets are not scary, or if they have been, they don’t have to be. Budgets are just a plan for your money. And a plan is power. Don’t aim for perfect, aim for practical. If you hate spreadsheets, don’t make a spreadsheet. If you love notebooks, write in your notebook. If you need more visuals, try an app like Every Dollar.

That’s what I use. Obsessed. I use the free version. It’s the best thing that ever happened to my budget. Whatever keeps you consistent is the right system. So, don’t let anybody tell you, not even me. I’m not telling you have to use every dollar. You don’t. I just prefer it. But if you want to write it down, if that’s like you like a notebook, you like a piece of paper, my goodness, get out a pen and paper. Do it that way. Do the system that you can stay consistent with and keep it simple. Step six, choose a word of the year for your finances or just for your life. This is one of my favorite things to do every single year. If you’ve been with me for a bit, you know that we pick a word of the year. And the end of the year is coming, the new year is beginning. So, that video is going to come out in a week or two with my word of the year.

And I cannot wait to hear what your word is. I will reflect with you guys in a future video on what my year looked like this past year in regard to my word. My word was alignment for 20125 and I can’t wait to share with you my takeaways for that being my focus of the year. I have had some good outcomes. I can’t wait to share that with you. If you don’t want it to be about like life, you could have a a life word, you know, just like your overall theme, or you could have it in regard to just your finances. If that’s like eyes on the prize right now, all you can think about is getting your finances in order. Have it been a word that you want your finances to reflect like peace, steady, freedom. Freedom. Every time you spend or make a financial decision, think to yourself, does this match my word? Are my actions aligning with what I said my focus is? It’s a very simple but powerful way to stay centered in focusing on your finances in the new year. If you already know what your word is, you’re welcome to share it with me or you can wait and let it marinate here for another week or two and let us know come beginning of January what that word is.

It’s a game changer in my opinion and it’s super fun. Number seven, celebrate your fresh start. You guys, there’s nothing that gets me more excited than a fresh start. I love a calendar flip every month, a fresh month, but a fresh year. My heart is going pitter-patter just thinking about it. Listen, you’ve made it through a year of ups and downs. And you’re still here showing up, trying again, reminding yourself that I have got this. I can do this, and I’m not giving up. That’s something to celebrate. Do something simple. Light a candle. Cook yourself a delicious meal that you love to eat. Maybe journal down a couple words of encouragement. Something to reflect on how you’ve been doing and what the focus is going to be for the upcoming year. It’s so exciting. I love I love this time of year. It’s one of my favorite times of year because I love a fresh start and I love the reflection. I’m not going to lie. I love looking back and seeing what’s happened in the year and what was a complete and epic fail and what was delightful and how can I do that more. Frugality isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress. So, celebrate that progress. It’s time for recap. Number one, reflect without regret.

Number two, simplify your finances. Number three, automate what you can. Number four, pick one main financial goal and hit it head on. Number five, create a simple budget that fits your life. Number six, choose a word of the year for your finances or for your life in general. Number seven, last but not least, celebrate that fresh start. This is your clean slate moment. Wait, did somebody say Slate? Don’t mind if I do. Oh, my Slate.

He’s such a good boy, you guys. He has been the perfect addition to our family. I cannot even tell you. But back to what I was saying, you don’t need to be perfect. You just need to begin. If this gave you some motivation, hit the thumbs up. Hit subscribe so you never miss a video because you guys, we have so much come up in the next few months. If you’ve already picked it, let me know. What is your financial word for 2026? I cannot wait to read them. Maybe it’ll give me more ideas.

I have a word right now that is marinating that I think I want, but I don’t know. I got to I got to let it marinate just a teensy bit longer. Let it cook. And uh I can’t wait to talk about it. So, you guys, I’m going to leave you some videos right here to watch next, depending on what you’re in the mood for. And I’ll see you in the next video. Bye, guys.

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