During a recent drive around town, my wife and I were talking about money and were able to quickly get on the same page about some upcoming changes. After we came to agreement, I had Siri take an audio note to ensure I wouldn’t forget to share how we got there with you.
After six months of unemployment, I finally landed a job. That means that we’re getting back to being a two-income household and get to look forward to being able to build savings again.
The discussion at hand was simple: what are we going to save for and how will we do it?
It was June, so we were already half way through the year and realized that we had spent down some of our rainy day funds, most notably our healthcare deductible and car maintenance categories. We also have some older wish list items that we’ve had to put on hold, like maybe finally painting our walls.
After a cursory overview of all the things we could save for, the conversation shifted to the the big idea I’m excited to share with you: Do we save for a bunch of things at once by putting a little money into each every month, or do we focus everything we have on a single savings item at a time?
Sequence vs. parallel
Stepping away from money for a second, anytime you have a set of projects to complete you have a choice to make for how you approach the work.
You can choose to work in parallel, where you decide to do a little work across several projects in one go, effectively taking a small step in several directions at the same time. I like to think of this as a form of multitasking.
Alternatively, you could work in sequence, where you list and prioritize those projects and then focus all of your energy on finishing one before moving onto the next.
I’ve found that social media (and therefore common wisdom) tends to favor doing as much work in parallel as possible. Apparently people love the feeling of keeping several plates spinning without having to make hard choices about where to place focus.
The truth is that both approaches have the strengths and weaknesses, and it’s a matter of knowing which is best to apply to a given situation.
When to work in parallel
In a word: maintenance.
Doing work in parallel is great for process-related tasks that never end and that contribute to maintaining some kind of standard. I like to think of this as work that keeps the trains running on time. Some examples:
Tidying around the house where you spend an hour doing a variety of small bits of work that keep the house livable. Wiping down surfaces, running the vacuum, and starting the laundry just to name a few.
Running errands that include a stop at the grocery store, picking up nails at the hardware store, and filling the tank ahead of the weekend. All of these small tasks can fill a productive afternoon that, taken together, help keep your life moving forward.
When to work in sequence
In a word: progress.
Sequential work is ideal for breaking down a big lofty goal into a set of smaller, more achievable milestones that can be taken one at a time.
Unlike that process-related work mentioned earlier, this type of work doesn't go on forever and usually has some kind of deliverable to show for it. In other words, it tends to be some kind of project. Examples include:
Moving to a new home (big lofty goal) where you break down the project into a sequence of smaller projects like scouting, packing, loading/unloading, unpacking, and finally meeting the new neighbors.
Doing deep work that puts you in a flow state. This can include writing, building a spreadsheet, or preparing for a presentation.
Save in sequence
This relationship between working in parallel and sequence was running in the back of my mind as our car discussion was in full swing. I put it to my wife and, to my surprise, we quickly saw eye to eye.
We decided that it would be best to work in sequence. The answer was obvious for a few key reasons:
Fast rate of completion - This one is pretty obvious but still important. Building savings for a specific item happens much faster when it gets all of your excess income and doesn’t have to share with other savings categories.
Prioritize completion - once something has been saved for, it’s done. If something happens in the future that redirects our income, we’d both prefer to have a few items checked off the list than to have a bunch of partially saved-for items.
Focus - Saving for one thing at a time allows you the space and clarity to optimize the task at hand. That might look like doing extra research when saving for a gadget or finding creative ways to cut expenses if you’re in a hurry to meet your saving target.
Satisfaction - This is the big one. Saving money is largely an emotional game where the feeling of progress and momentum are paramount. It’s much easier to stay the course when you can see tangible progress from filling a savings account every few months.
I expected the conversation to be heavier since whatever we decided would affect the next several months, but the four items above made the choice easy. They each speak to security and momentum, which are values that we most covet.
We made a list of all the items we knew we needed to either replenish or start saving for and put them in order. To give you a taste, here’s a sample of the items on our list:
Replace the gas range with a new induction unit
Top up the 2025 Out of Pocket Max fund for our health insurance
Paint the walls
The list is longer but you get the idea. We've prioritized according to what we currently find most important in life: our health. For instance, gas ranges are increasingly regarded as a public hazard, whereas the items at the bottom are nice-to-haves.
With this clarity in place (a nod to the fast rate and focus bullets above), we got to work and were able to take advantage of a great 4th of July sale. We’re excited for our new range and look forward to faster and safer cooking.
Next time you're feeling like you're getting pulled in too many directions at once, ask yourself, is this a project or is this maintenance? That’ll help reveal if it’s best to work in parallel or in sequence.
Once you make this very early choice, the rest will take care of itself. You might also find that your road trips become more enjoyable, too.