This post is part of our 21 Days to a Better Budget Series! To view all the posts in our series, please click here.
If you’re struggling with the whole living a real life on a budget thing, I get it. It’s not easy to make managing your money a part of your everyday life when you’ve gone so long without doing so.
But, I’m a firm believer in making small, daily changes that can add up over time. These small changes can and do make budgeting and managing your money easier.
Round Up
This is a little trick that I learned from my Daddy when he moved out in the middle of nowhere. When you budget say, $300 for your power bill this month, but when you receive the bill you only owe $250, you still pay the $300 towards your power bill.
Why?
Because this will build up a credit on your account with your utility provider and those months when you’re struggling to make ends meet will be made a little bit easier when your utility bills aren’t so high. Or if you make a budgeting error – you won’t have to stress too much about how the bill will get paid.
Automate Savings
If you haven’t read my $5 Savings Plan post yet, go read it now. It’s all about making the habit of saving money easier and if you aren’t already automating your savings to make saving money even easier, you should be. The more out-of-sight, out-of-mind your savings is, the easier it is to save money.
Related Post: Why You Should Automate Your Savings
Stop Waiting
“When I make more money then I’ll budget.” I’ve heard this phrase a thousand times and in fact, it used to be my motto…and then I about went bankrupt so yeah…don’t wait until you “have money” to budget. If you don’t know how to manage your money when you have none, it won’t matter how much money you make, you’ll still fail with money.
Related Post: The Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting
Make Goals
I’m a firm believer in setting goals and financial goals are a must in my opinion. If you don’t know where you want your money to take you, it’ll be very difficult to achieve your version of financial freedom. Determine why money is important to you and then sit down and determine where it is that you want your money to take you.
Is it paying in cash for a car? Paying in cash for yours or your children’s college education? Is it paying in cash for a home? Paying in cash for a vacation? Saving up a fully funded emergency fund?
You determine what your goals and develop a road map to get you there.
Related Post: 3 Steps to Setting Financial Goals
These are just a few of the things that you can do to help make budgeting easier. Living life by a budget doesn’t have to feel like a prison sentence. In fact, budgeting can free you from the insecurities that arise when you don’t know how much money you have or if you’ll have enough to cover this month’s grocery bill.
So, don’t put off making a budget until tomorrow when you can get it done today.
What is a small daily habit that you use to make budgeting easier on yourself?
For me, it’s obsessively checking the numbers every day. It helps to have that dose of reality staring me in the face. 🙂
I love the tip from your father, and may try it out with the propane company this winter!
It’s really easy to fall into the trap of, “When I make more, I’ll save more.” My husband’s a CPA and financial planner. He will tell you, there are plenty of people who make waaaaay more money than you do who still don’t save and still wonder where it all went. I remember reading an article a few years ago from someone who was on 6 figures, as was his wife, who complained that he was tired of people calling him rich, because yes, they made a lot of money, but they also “had” to spend it on a nice condo, two new luxury cars, a nanny, expensive bottles of wine, private preschool for their infant, etc. etc. etc. And there was a brilliant reply to the letter which said, basically, “Don’t spend all your money and tell me you’re poor.” Not everyone has the luxury of saving – some people really do make just enough to cover the basics. We can’t condemn them; they are doing the best they can with what they have. But there are also a lot of people out there who could save, who choose not to, because they can’t differentiate between necessities and luxuries.
Becca, you always have the most beautifully written comments! And as always, you’re so right – saving is a luxury and way too many people in various income brackets think they can’t save money because they have to keep up a facade because they live in XYZ income bracket, when in fact most people who live well below their means are richer than the folks pulling in six figures.