Best Ways To Stick To Your Budget

A budget is made up of income, expenses, and savings. These savings can be determined on how much money you have left after you’ve subtracted your expenses from your income. 

UBOMI has put together some handy tips to help you get into the habit of budgeting, stick to it, and make it more fun! 

Use tools and apps

Do the budgeting with technology. There’s no need to painstakingly input every purchase and expense you make into a spreadsheet or manually write it down. There are some online platforms and best budget apps that track every transaction going in and out of your account.

You can then categorise them and get an overview of your spending in simple graphs and diagrams. Set budgets for each category of spending, and get real-time updates on whether you’re going to stay within your monthly budget, or you need some adjustment to do.

Include commonly forgotten expenses in your budget

It’s easy to get confused on the amount of expenses we made, or where our money actually went. You’ll always play catch up if you create an unrealistic budget and conveniently leave off expenses you usually forget you spend on. You’re more likely to run dry days before your next paycheck arrives so make sure to include all your expenses in your budget.

Take a positive mindset

Not keeping up with your savings goal is one of the main reasons your budget slips. Here are what you can do to improve your self-discipline towards your savings:

• Use the rewards method and consider putting money into savings as ‘paying yourself’. This is a reminder that you are actually rewarding yourself and will keep you motivated to keep going. You can structure it fortnightly, where you take a small amount and buy yourself something pretty for your diligence.
• If you receive a bonus at work, a significant portion of that should go straight into your savings.
• Treat the money that goes into your savings account as like paying a bill. It’s gone! You can’t dip into it again unless you hit your savings goal or you really need it for an emergency.
• To make it feel more real, visualise your savings goal by creating a vision board. They really work.
  
  

Put copies of your budget everywhere

Put copies of your budget around your home and workspace. This will constantly reinforce your will to save. A single copy of your budget sitting in a drawer somewhere won’t do you much good.

Flexibility

Being overly strict can sometimes be more damaging than being extravagant. When an urgent expense comes up, whether it’s a broken household item that needs replacement or a hospital bill, pay it now before they pile up.

Provided that you are able to manage these tips, you should have no problem keeping your spending in check to put you one step closer to your savings goal.

If you liked our “Best Ways To Stick To Your Budget” and find it useful, check our blogs regularly for more info on how to get out of debt and updates on the best budgeting apps in Australia.