3 Budgeting Tips To Keep You On Track
Oh the joys of budgeting.
Who doesn’t love budgeting? Am I right?!
*Silence*
Perhaps not?
I sometimes forget not EVERYONE loves budgeting as much as I do. I tend to get a weird high from allocating the perfect amount to different spending categories. It just feels so nice in my brain. Kind of like how this guy feels about Q-Tips…
If you’re addicted to spending money (or putting Q-Tips in your ear), try saving it! That’s where the juice is.
Though I find budgets endlessly fascinating, (surprisingly) not everyone feels that way. For some, the pure thrill of budgeting can feel taxing overtime. To help you stay motivated, I thought I’d offer a few tips and tricks to support your budgeting journey.
In the end, though they may seem like a chore, budgets are essential for financial wellness.
Tip 1: Review and Adjust Your Budget Regularly
When you start budgeting, there are a lot of things to consider and learn, and overtime you start to get a sixth sense for how money flows into and out of your accounts.
But that doesn’t mean your budget or your budget tracking approach should remain static over the years. Far from it! Life comes at us fast, and remaining flexible in the face of unforeseen change is crucial, especially when it comes to our finances. With this in mind, it's important to review and adjust your budget on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
That might sound like a lot, but if there are changes to your income, let’s say you get a raise, a bonus or you start a new side hustle, these funds need to be added and allocated within your budget. And depending on your streams of income, these changes could happen every month. Alternatively, you might get a new expense or reach a savings milestone which will change your saving allocation and budget breakdown further.
Adjusting your budget regularly is key to staying on top of changing financial conditions. It’s important to remember that budgeting is an evolving process and adjustments are part of staying on track to reach your financial goals.
Tip 2: Automate Savings and Essential Payments
I recently wrote about the benefits of automating savings and payments, but it bears repeating. The more you can simplify your financial life by setting up automatic transfers for savings or regular bill payments, the more it will reduce the temptation to spend and help you maintain your budget.
This is because once your automations are processed you no longer have access to those funds to purchase random items you may want. The funds are already out of your account and allocated.
Automating the saving, investment and bill payment process, it’s easier for you to remain consistent. By setting up a few automations, the hard work is done for you. And with the work completed, it reduces the mental load, allowing you to continue to follow your saving and investing plan without having to spend time moving funds from one place to another.
Some people love automations, some people hate them because they personally like moving their money manually. Figure out what you prefer, try different approaches and see what works. What I can say is that automating my savings definitely helps me stay on track.
Tip 3: Celebrate Small Wins to Stay Motivated
We all have big goals - like paying off our mortgage or saving enough to finally retire - but those goals are oftentimes pretty far away. Will we celebrate those goals when we reach them? Sure. But that might not be for decades. As you flex your budgeting muscles, it’s important to celebrate financial wins of all sizes, not just the big ones.
Celebrating reaching financial goals - no matter the size - is key to staying motivated. Have you recently saved your first $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000? Celebrate, tell friends and family who support you and make a stink about it. When you celebrate, you actually boost motivation and life satisfaction.
Not only will celebrating help boost your motivation, by recognizing progress it helps reinforce positive budgeting habits and build momentum. Which in the end, helps you stay engaged and focused on achieving your financial goals.
Staying On Track
Though it can be hard to stay motivated 100% of the time, there are small things you can do to support yourself and stay on track.
Remember to adjust your budget regularly, as long as you’re hitting your overall savings and investment goals, adjustments and changes happen, that’s life. Be aware of the benefits of automating your finances - set it and forget it - and select an approach that works for you. And lastly, build momentum and positive reinforcement through celebrating financial wins of all sizes, even the small ones.
In a world where living below your means and being financially responsible is not widely acknowledged, be sure to recognize the hard work you’re doing. Stay the course and budget your beautiful butt off.
And remember, you’ve totally got this!
Over the past many weeks of creating content and templates, I realize that to help sustain this passion project I would be grateful for your support!
For those with a dollar to spare, I’ve set up a Buy Me A Coffee account for folks to contribute to here and there. For those frugally focused, I would be incredibly grateful if you were to share my work with your networks and folks you think would enjoy my journey (via email, social media, or homing pigeon).
A special thank you to those who contributed to my Buy Me A Coffee or shared a post! Your support means the world to me - truly.
Whether you're able to contribute or not, I’m so glad you’ve joined me on this journey!
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