11 Ways to Stick to Your Budget Every Month
There are affiliate links in this post, meaning I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information, see my full disclosure policy here.
Be realistic:
One of the biggest mistakes that people often make when they set up their budget is that they simply aren’t realistic with themselves. They budget based on what they’d like to spend in their world rather than what they really are able to spend.
People tend to get a little over-ambitious when it comes to their budget — trust me, I’ve been there too.
So, we’ve finally, sat down and admitted that the amount I wasn’t budgeting realistically. I love going out and it’s something that I value. And my budget can and should reflect on that.
If you find that you’re having a difficult time sticking to your monthly budget, go through and see if there are any categories you weren’t being completely honest with yourself.
Budget differently for every month:
If you find budgeting hard budgeting app can be a massive help when dealing with that issue.
Traditional budgeting such as Mint give the impression that a budget is a set-it-and-forget-it tool. You create it once, and then you’re meant to stick to it each month.
But the fact is, no two months are the same. And as a result, you budget shouldn’t look the same as the month prior.
At the start of each month, sit down and look at the month ahead. What’s on your calendar? Look for special events, holidays, birthdays, etc. that might mean you’ll be spending a little extra money in one spending category. Then you can figure out where you can cut back this month to make up for it.
Use sinking funds:
You know those pesky expenses that you don’t budget for because they don’t come up every month? But then when they do come up, they totally break your budget? It’s okay, we’ve all been there! I used to go over budget nearly every month because of an unforeseen expense that honestly, I should have foreseen.
That’s where sinking funds come in. Sinking funds are a way of saving up for annual expenses all year long. Let’s say you spend $600 every year at Christmas. Instead, of trying to find room for $600 in your December budget, you can set aside $50 per month all year long.
You can use sinking funds for tons of different expenses, including:
· Holidays
· Birthdays
· Vehicle registration
· Car repairs
· Medical expenses
· Pet expenses
· Association dues
· Home repairs
· Tuition
· Annual subscriptions
Budget fun money:
So many people avoid budgeting because they think it’s restrictive and prevents them from spending their money on things they enjoy.
But that doesn’t have to be the case!
Rather than looking at my budget as restrictive, I look at it as incredibly freeing. I can spend money on my hobbies without the slightest bit of guilt because I know I’ve budgeted for them.
If there’s something that brings you joy and you enjoy spending money on, make room for it in the budget!
You can even budget for spontaneous purchases. If you know you and your partner love a last-minute Sunday brunch, set aside money every month for exactly that.
Schedule your purchases in advance:
Impulse purchases can kill your budget faster than just about anything else. An easy way around that is to schedule your purchases in advance.
Let’s say you’re at the store and I see an outfit that you absolutely must have. You can totally buy the outfit, but don’t buy it on the spot. Instead, go home and look at the budget.
Even if you know you have the money in the budget, going home and scheduling the purchase for a future date is still a good idea since it prevents you from impulse purchasing. It forces you to really make thoughtful purchases.
Identify your spending triggers and avoid them
We all have our unique spending triggers. For some people, it’s sale emails in their inbox. For others, it’s their favourite influencer rocking a new outfit or accessory on Instagram. Chances are, you know what your biggest triggers are.
Once you know what your triggers are, you can work on avoiding them. Examples might include:
Unsubscribing from store emails
Unfollowing people on social media who make you want to spend money
Removing your credit card information from your favourite store’s website
Use a zero-based budget
The premise of a zero-based budget is that you give every dollar a job, and budget down to zero.
Let’s say you bring home $4,000 per month. You wouldn’t just budget for your monthly bills and then leave the rest as spending money. Instead, you’d decide exactly how much you plan to put toward discretionary spending, saving, and your debt payoff plan.
Using a zero-based budget can help you stick to your budget because there simply isn’t extra money to work with. You’ve already allocated your excess money to debt or savings, so you can’t afford to impulse spend on food or clothes.
The budgeting app You Need a Budget is hands-down the best app out there for zero-based budgeting!
Plan your meals ahead of time.
I used to never believe in meal plans. Instead, I’d head to the grocery store each week and stock up on foods I liked. But then I’d either end up throwing the food away at the end of the week and would end up letting food go to waste It would end up eating out.
Planning your meals ahead of time ensures that:
· You can estimate the budget ahead of time
· You’ve accounted for every meal
· You only buy what you need
Pay yourself first
It’s easy to tell yourself that you’ll transfer whatever money you left over at the end of the month to savings. But when the end of the month rolls around, and there’s nothing else.
That’s where the concept of paying yourself first comes in. When you pay yourself first, you decide how much you want to save each month. Then, you transfer the money to your savings as soon as you get paid. And you only have what’s left over to spend the rest of the month.
Track your expenses
Tracking your expenses is important If I’m being honest, I was a little horrified. I couldn’t believe how much i was spending on take-out each month!
Once I knew where my money was going, I could decide where I wanted my money to be going instead. And started tracking my expenses throughout the month helps me to make sure I’m sticking to my plan.
I use the budgeting app You Need a Budget to track my expenses throughout the money.
Figure out your “worth-it” expenses
One trick that helps teaching people how to save is to keep a spreadsheet of their expenses and then go through it later to decide whether each expense was worth it to them. In other words, are they glad they made that purchase, and would they ever make it again?
A good example of this comes into play when you go out to eat. You may be hungry and decide to buy a quick meal to eat while this will satisfy your hunger, a healthier that will also help you save money is to cook.
You can use this tool for so many things.
How to Set Financial Goals for Your Future
Setting short-term, midterm, and long-term financial goals is an important step toward becoming financially secure. If you aren’t working toward anything specific, you’re likely to spend more than you should. You’ll end up short when you need money for unexpected bills, not to mention when you want to retire. You can get stuck in a vicious cycle of credit card debt and feel like you never have enough cash to get properly insured, leaving you more vulnerable than you need to be to handle some of life’s major risks.
Even the most prudent person can’t prepare against every crisis, as the world learned in the pandemic and many families learn every month. What thinking ahead does is give you a chance to work through things that could happen and do your best to prepare for them. This should be an ongoing process so you can shape your life and goals to fit the changes that will inevitably come.
Annual financial planning gives you an opportunity to formally review your goals, update them, and review your progress since last year.
