4 Money Rules That Financial Activist Dasha Kennedy Says Keep Her Sane
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Amber Barkley
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Like many rules, money rules are meant to be guidelines rather than something you should follow precisely throughout your life. For example, a popular money rule is the 50/30/20 budget rule, which recommends putting 50% of your income toward essential expenses, 30% toward discretionary spending and 20% toward savings. But while the rule can be helpful, it’s not set in stone.
The key to successful money rules is that they fit your own financial situation, according to Dasha Kennedy, the noted money blogger, influencer and self-proclaimed “financial activist.”
“I cannot stress enough the importance of creating tailored financial rules that work for you,” Kennedy wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Personal finance is exactly that — personal. … We all have different triggers, needs and preferences when it comes to managing our money.”
Kennedy has four money rules she says “keep her sane” and shared them in the post.
$200 Limit on Autopay
To stay in better control of her larger expenses, Kennedy doesn’t set any bill over $200 to autopay. She said this gives her time to double check the charges before they’re taken out of her account, so she’s never caught off-guard.
The ‘Three-Month Rotation’ Rule
Kennedy rotates her monthly subscriptions every three months, switching which ones are active and which are paused or cancelled. This gives her a chance to decide which ones are worth keeping, she said, along with keeping her from paying for too many subscriptions at once.
She also noted a related “30-day unsubscribe” rule: If she hasn’t used a subscription service in the last 30 days, she cancels it — “no excuses, no hesitation.”
The ‘Delayed Upgrade’ Rule
If her phone or laptop or other item breaks or is just outdated, Kennedy waits 30 days before she buys a new one.
“This gives me time to evaluate if I really need to replace it or if I can make do with what I have,” she explained. “It’s saved me a lot of unnecessary upgrades and forces me to find creative ways to extend the life of my stuff.”
The ‘Bill Split’ Rule
This is a particularly useful one for anyone on a tighter budget who can’t afford bigger yearly bills when they come around.
“I don’t pay large, once-a-year bills with my current month‘s income,” Kennedy wrote. “Instead, I divide them into smaller amounts and save monthly in a dedicated account.”
By saving little bits over time, she has the money set aside and ready to pay those bigger bills when they come due, so those big expenses don’t catch her off guard.
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