When you are told all about the benefits of investing and saving money for bigger projects and of course the future, no one ever tells you how hard it will be to put aside your money.
With everything dazzling around you not to mention the temptation to buy good food, more often than not you will find yourself unable to stick to your budget.
You will constantly relapse and make yourself false promises to try and keep up with your budget.
However, creating a budget is one thing but sticking to it is another thing and that is where the challenge lies. If you have a problem keeping up with your own budget, here are some tips that can help you:
Keep it real
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The first mistake you will make when creating a budget it setting up yourself for failure. Putting in place unattainable goals that you know too well cannot come to pass. When you want your budget to work, just keep it real. Do not stretch yourself to limits you know are too high for you.
Be practical with yourself and try and work around what you do every day, so you don’t feel like it’s a burden.
For instance, when you plan on eating vegetables all week and you are not a vegetarian, you are definitely going to relapse on your plan and fail to follow your budget.
Budget per week
When you want your budget to work give it a time frame that is easy for you to keep up with. Budgeting per day is not easy because you won’t be working with a certain amount you set for yourself, instead you will be using money as usual.
Again when you plan for the whole month, things happen in between and you cannot surely plan what you will be doing two weeks from now.
Budgeting per week is easy to work with and also practical to set your own goals. After a week you will be able to assess and even learn your weaknesses and how you can go about them.
Plan your meals
If there is one thing that takes a chunk of your money than any other is food. Food will take up most of your money on the budget because you must eat, every day.
As said before, while budgeting for the week you can also put you meal plan for the week, this way you can control the amount you use and also you won’t easily step out of budget.
When you know what you are going to eat in advance, you are less likely to be tempted to buy food or spend more money while out of the house.
Avoid walking with extra cash
If this will mean ditching your credit card, the better for you. The reason you will probably find yourself spending more money than expected is because you have it at your disposal. When you see a nice shirt, you readily buy it without thinking twice.
However, when you walk with money that is already budgeted for, it will help you stay on track and make it impossible to deviate from your plans.
The reason why you will also need extra cash is because you will want to meet your friends for drinks or dinner, sometimes learn to say no. Not unless you have it planned on your calendar, avoid impulsive get-togethers.
Have a budget buddy
A budget buddy can come in handy to look out for you and help you learn how to stay on track with your goals. Avoid going for a friend who has problems with saving money too, you can easily influence each other into going against your budget plans. Go with someone more goal oriented who will help you focus and follow your budget.
A good budget buddy will also give you tricks on how to hack the saving and budgeting game without sweating or straining yourself.
