Spend your money, time, & energy on purpose.

If you’re looking for advice on budgeting spreadsheets, coupon codes, or investing apps – this is not the blog post for you. ?

When people ask me for money tips, they’re pretty surprised when I tell them that one of my favorite money-saving tools is … Google calendar? Or more specifically setting up reminders in Google calendar.

If you’re a human who has good intentions to cancel those free trial memberships, follow up with unpaid invoices, or book flights when they’re cheap, but then you just … forget? Keep reading!

These tips are, of course, also applicable to Outlook, iCal – whatever online calendar system you use.

Here’s how to set up reminders in: 

• Gmail
• Outlook
• Ical

5 Google calendar reminders that will save you money

A preface: Make sure you’re setting up a reminder, rather than an event. If you ignore the event, it’ll pass and you’ll forget about it. But a reminder will get kicked to the next day if you don’t mark it as done!

? Reminders to cancel “free trials”

Who among us hasn’t signed up for the free, 30-day trial, forgotten about it, and then realized 6 months later that we’ve been paying $17 a month for that thing we never use? WE’VE ALL DONE IT.

Set this reminder for several days before the trial’s actually up so you have a bit of wiggle room. If you start getting charged on June 1st and you set the reminder for May 31st, it’s too easy to forget about it.

Missed the cut off and they started charging you? Contact them and ask them to refund you! I’ve had 100% success asking to be refunded for new monthly payments (though I usually contact them within a day or two of that first payment going through. I’m not sure how much luck you’d have if you’re three months past the end of the free trial.)

Either way, self-advocacy is a muscle! The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Calling customer service is emotional weight lifting for other areas of your life!

? Reminders that you should have received that check, rebate, or refund by now

They said the refund would go through in 5 – 10 days. Did that ever happen? Weren’t you supposed to have a check from that freelance client by now?

Give your brain a break and just schedule these reminders into your calendar.

?️ Annual reminder to price check pretty much every monthly bill you have

Has your internet bill gone up? Does Verizon have a better deal than Tmobile? Make a list of all your monthly bills, order in some pizza, and block out two hours to research competitor prices and make some calls.

Does this make you feel cheap or awkward? It costs a company three times as much to convert a new customer as it does to retain a current one. YOU are in the position of power here, not them.

Also? These are gajillion dollar companies. They can reduce your bill by $15 a month. IT’S FINE. If you want literal scripts for what to say to customer service reps, I included them in this free workbook!

? Reminders to reconsider annual subscriptions a month before they’re due

Lots of us opt for the discount that comes with annual billing vs monthly billing, right? Annnnd then we forget we even have that subscription or membership till we see the charge on our credit card bill.

For example: If my Planoly annual membership comes due on July 15th, I’ll put a reminder in my calendar for June 15th to double check that I’m using the platform enough to justify the price and see if I’m already subscribed to another platform that does something similar.

? Monthly reminder to follow up with potential customers, clients, and employers

When someone emails me about booking a coaching session, I reply with a Loom video message and then move their email to my “Follow up” folder. If I don’t hear back from them in five days, I’ll send them another Loom.

What do I do when coaching clients end our session by saying “This was awesome! I’d love to book another back in three months or so!” I put a reminder in my calendar for three months from now to reach out to them.

You can do the same with potential customers, clients, or employers who said you were great, but they didn’t have any open positions right now. Whoever said “the fortune’s in the follow up” WAS CORRECT. Click To Tweet

✈️ Reminder to book book flights, hotels, events, etc.

Have you ever waited till the last minute to book something, only to discover that

• there’s almost nothing left
• the stuff that’s left is $$$$

If you always do a friends’ weekend at a cabin in August, don’t wait till July to book it. Put a reminder in your calendar to start looking in March when there’s more availability and you won’t be stuck overpaying for more than you need because that’s what was open.

There’s a lot that goes into paying off debt, saving money, and advocating for ourselves + our bank accounts, but these Google calendar reminders will really help! Get started by adding just one reminder to your calendar – cancel a trial, follow up, reconsider annual subscriptions, or price checking – and let me know how it goes!