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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: episode is a reminder that while there are always four

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Speaker 1: of each day in a month, there are thirty to

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Speaker 1: thirty one days in most months, which means that in

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Speaker 1: every month except February of non leapeers, there will be

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Speaker 1: a fifth of something. Being mindful of using these days

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Speaker 1: can allow for some fun tweaks to repeating schedules. So

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Speaker 1: if you read a lot of personal finance literature, you

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Speaker 1: know that one frequently mentioned hack is about using the

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Speaker 1: extra two paychecks many people get each year. What are

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Speaker 1: these extra paychecks, you ask, Well, people who get paid

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Speaker 1: every two weeks would get twenty six paychecks a year.

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Speaker 1: If you budget monthly, then in two months of the year,

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Speaker 1: your expenses will be the same, but you will get

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Speaker 1: three checks instead of two. You could use these two

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Speaker 1: paychecks to accelerate paying off debt, or to save and

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Speaker 1: invest without any actual financial pain. Now, I haven't gotten

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Speaker 1: an every two week regular paycheck in years, so this

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Speaker 1: particular life hack doesn't help me. But there are other

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Speaker 1: ways that the fifth time of something in any given

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Speaker 1: month can be different. For instance, I know some houses

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Speaker 1: of worship do something a little different on the fifth

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Speaker 1: Sunday of a month. If there is a fifth Sunday

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Speaker 1: which happens a few times a year. Maybe there is

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Speaker 1: no Sunday school and it's an intergenerational service or something

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Speaker 1: like that. You might also use the fifth week of

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Speaker 1: the month to reduce recurring meetings and build in extra

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Speaker 1: space for anything. Where the cadence is every other week.

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Speaker 1: You switch that to twice a month. It sounds the same,

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Speaker 1: but it isn't exactly the same. On your calendar. Instead

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Speaker 1: of every other week, you set the meeting to happen

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Speaker 1: during the first and third week of the month, or

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Speaker 1: the second and fourth week of the month. That way,

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Speaker 1: if you have a meeting every other Monday during the

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Speaker 1: months in which there are five Mondays, you will get

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Speaker 1: extra space in your schedule where that meeting would have gone.

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Speaker 1: You are still meeting fairly regularly, which is the point,

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Speaker 1: but just not quite as frequently. During some months we

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Speaker 1: actually get five full weekends. This could be nice if

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Speaker 1: that extra weekend comes during a particularly busy time of year.

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Speaker 1: For instance, this may That is in twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 1: when I am first recording this there are five full weekends.

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Speaker 1: As May weekends often get really booked up, it is

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Speaker 1: good to know that these things that need to happen

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Speaker 1: in May and need to happen on a weekend might

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Speaker 1: be a little more spread out than usual. Retailers are

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Speaker 1: excited when there are four December weekends before Christmas. If

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Speaker 1: the twenty fifth is a Monday, which it was in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, this means you get weekends on the

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Speaker 1: twenty third and twenty fourth, the sixteenth and seventeenth, the

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Speaker 1: ninth and tenth, and the second and third. Those of

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Speaker 1: us who have a lot of holiday events get to

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Speaker 1: enjoy the extra space two. Anyway, most of the time

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Speaker 1: we don't notice these things about the calendar. We tend

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Speaker 1: to be in the weeds with our schedules, just knowing

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Speaker 1: that it is Monday, so I need to do my

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Speaker 1: usual Monday meeting, or that the December schedule feels less

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Speaker 1: crunched in a particular year without really thinking about why.

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Speaker 1: But looking at the calendar ahead of time can create opportunities.

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Speaker 1: So as you look ahead to any given month, think

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Speaker 1: about which days of the week will happen five times,

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Speaker 1: see if there might be opportunities to use this additional

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Speaker 1: frequency to your advantage. Maybe not, but five weekends does

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Speaker 1: feel like a little extra, and skipping a regularly recurring

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Speaker 1: meeting can feel kind of nice too. You may as

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Speaker 1: well think about these things in the meantime. This is Laura,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.