TIPS FOR STICKING TO YOUR BUDGET

PURPOSE OF A BUDGET

Living on a budget does not mean we are struggling financially. A budget is just a plan that you create deciding where your money will go. When we earn money and have no plan for it, we end up spending it but don’t really have a grasp on where it went. Earning money and then spending it all, but not knowing where it went can cause stress, even if it was spent on the right things for us. By having a budget we can see exactly where our money has gone. This helps us feel better about our financial situation. When you know that how your money is being used you can feel good that you are making the best of what you have. If you are not making the best of it, you can see where it is going so that you can make changes.

WHY IS IT HARD TO STICK TO A BUDGET?

Sometimes it can be hard to stick to a budget. There is a lot of discipline involved in sticking to a budget. We have many outside influences that we need to deal with. These can cause us to want to spend money we might not have planned on spending. This might be friends or family wanting to do an activity you were not expecting. Or it could be going into a store and suddenly deciding you need to take advantage of a sale that was going on. It might be having a tiring day and deciding to go out to an expensive restaurant. There are many situations that can come up that might cause us to make money decisions that we would rather not make. But, the more you practice sticking to your budget, the easier it will get.

CREATE A REALISTIC BUDGET

When you create a budget that says you want to spend $100 on groceries per week, but you know that you always spend $150 on groceries your budget will not work. One of the most important parts of sticking to your budget is to set a realistic budget. Unless you know that you have room to cut back in a category don’t shortcut yourself. Using the grocery example, if you know that you are buying some expensive items that you can cut back on to lower your cost, then yes go ahead and budget a lower amount. But, if you feel like you are already doing everything you can to lower your cost, then you can’t expect that you will suddenly spend less.

If you are cutting your budget on groceries because that’s all that you have left in your budget, then you might have to make other changes. That might be cutting some other discretionary spending, or figuring out another way to increase your income. Budgeting expenses lower than what is realistic sets you up to go over budget each week.  This will be very discouraging and will cause you to likely ignore your budget over time.

TRACK YOUR EXPENSES ON A DAILY BASIS

You might think you will remember all of the things you spent money on during the week. But, if you are like most of us, you will not remember what you purchased a few days ago. For this reason, it is really important to record your spending against your budget on a daily basis. This is especially true when you are new to budgeting and might not yet have your spending habits where you would like them to be

When I first started budgeting, we would go over budget every single week. This was because I would think we were doing great with our spending. Each purchase I made on its own seemed insignificant. But, once I added everything up for the week, it would always come to much more than I had expected. When you track your spending daily you can see you are about to hit your budget which will allow you to stop spending before you go over budget.

CREATE SINKING FUNDS

Over the years as I got better at budgeting, I realized that it was often the irregular expenses that would cause me to go way over budget. I would think we were doing great, and then I would realize I had to get two gifts for family members that had a birthday that week. Or maybe I would realize that our annual Amazon prime membership was renewing that week. I would get so frustrated because even though I knew that these things would be happening, I never really specifically budgeted for them on a weekly basis. Somehow I just thought we would have the money to cover them. Then I started creating sinking funds when each of these things would occur.

For example, when my amazon prime membership came up I didn’t have the money for it.  So, I would determine how much per week I would need to save going forward so that the next time the bill came up I would have that amount saved. I started creating these sinking funds each time one of these expenses with irregular timing would occur. That way I was including that expense as part of each weekly budget instead of waiting until they suddenly occurred.

ALLOW YOURSELF A WAITING PERIOD BEFORE MAKING A PURCHASE

Impulse purchases can really have a negative impact on your budget, so it is important to control them. One technique to control impulse purchases is to implement a waiting period before you make a purchase. You might want to wait 24 hours, or even a couple of days before you purchase something. Often the excitement of buying something wears off and you might not even care too much about making the purchase after a while. If you decide it’s something that you still want and have the budget for it, then go ahead and buy it after you have allowed some time to pass.

I like to add things to my amazon shopping cart and “save for later”. That way, I know I won’t forget about them, but I don’t have to purchase them right now. Quite often things sit there for a long time because I end up forgetting about them. I was listening to another podcast, maybe Work Life Glue, I can’t remember for sure.  But, she shared a great idea to control impulse purchases. At the end of the week, she would look to see how much money was left in the budget.  Then she would like at her amazon “saved for later” and decide if she wanted to purchase any of those items with the money available.

SHOP WITH A PURPOSE

Unless you are very disciplined, only go to the store when you specifically need to purchase something, not just to go looking around. It’s also generally a good idea to limit your number of shopping trips. So, try not to run out every time you need something. The less often you are in a store, the less temptation there is to buy things that you had not planned to buy.

Make it a fun and challenge yourself to only buy what you needed when you entered the store. This doesn’t mean that if you remembered you also really needed shampoo that you shouldn’t grab it while you are there. But, don’t allow yourself to purchase anything else that you had not already planned to buy. It feels great to walk out of the store with only what you went in for!

BUILD FLEXIBILITY INTO YOUR BUDGET

As you start to really get to know your budget, you will be more in tune with the categories you may be able to pull from if you really want to make a purchase or spend money on an experience. For example, maybe you know that you spent a lot less on pet expenses this year than typically so you might be able to pull some of those funds for something else. You can reallocate funds to other expenses or increase your savings.

This also helps when an emergency comes up, it’s a good idea to see what budget categories you may be able to pull from before having to take money from your savings. When your spending is detailed out, you can often see opportunities for where you can cut back in the event that you need or want to.

KEEP ADJUSTING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUDGET OVER TIME

There always seems to be something unexpected that comes up, no matter how long you have been budgeting. Don’t be discouraged by needing to adjust your budget. It takes time to get to the point where your budget needs little adjusting. So, don’t allow yourself to get discouraged when you did not meet your budget expectations. It’s a learning process and takes a long time. When you miss on your budget, make adjustments and move forward. It’s always better to be trying to improve your budget than to have no idea where your money is going!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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