Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Consider how to live on a budget so that you can save and have a bit of a financial cushion.
Track Your Expenses
First, you need to track your expenses for the month so that you can see where your money goes. You can use a budgeting app or a simple spreadsheet to track your transactions. Either way, you need to know how much you spend on different things each week or month.
After a month of tracking your expenses, go over them to help direct your budget. If you don’t have much money, you may need to be a bit stricter with yourself. However, if you have a bit more money to spend, you can be more flexible. That way, you don’t have to feel like you can’t spend any money.
Track Your Income
You should also track your income to know how much you can afford to spend each month. While you may only have one job, more people now have at least one side hustle. If you have extra income streams, be sure to track each of them separately.
That way, you can see how much you can expect to make each month. After a few months, you may be able to spot trends with the growth of your side hustle income. Then, you can adjust your budget to save more as you make more money or splurge on something special.
Know What You Can’t Change
As you track your income and expenses, figure out what you can’t change. For example, you may have a day job with a set salary. You probably have rent or a mortgage that you need to pay each month. Those things won’t change, unless you move or get a different job or a raise.
You should put the things you can’t change on your budget first. Then, you’ll know you’ll have enough money to cover those costs for the month. You won’t have to worry about missing rent or not being able to pay another consistent bill.
Change What You Can
Next, think about your income and expenses that you can change relatively quickly. For example, you might take on an extra side hustle to earn an extra $100 a month. Or you might decide to look for insurance quotes for your car and home to see if you can save money.
You can also look at how often you go out to eat or go shopping. If possible, try to cut back so that you save that money or put it toward other expenses. You can still treat yourself to those things occasionally, but you don’t need to do that every week.
Find an Accountability Partner
Learning to live on a budget can be hard if you’re doing it alone. So find a friend or family who can hold you accountable to your budget. If they also need help budgeting, you can hold each other accountable as you learn to manage money.
You can meet each week or month to go over your income and expenses. Ask each other questions about how your spending is going. Before you make a big purchase, consider if you’ll feel ashamed to tell your accountability partner. If so, you maybe shouldn’t buy that thing, or at least not right now.
Be Patient
Learning to use a budget can be hard, and you will probably mess up at some point. However, you can always get back to budgeting the next day or week. Try not to beat yourself up if you go over your budget or if you don’t save as much as you wanted to.
As with any habit, you won’t be an expert at budgeting your first month. Give yourself time to adjust and learn how to set healthy spending and savings goals. Soon enough, budgeting will become second nature.
If you want to save money or reach another financial goal, you should use a budget. Then, you can understand where your money is coming from and where it’s going. And you can learn how to manage your money better.
If you want to save money or reach another financial goal, you should use a budget. Then, you can understand where your money is coming from and where it’s going. And you can learn how to manage your money better.
As you track your income and expenses, figure out what you can’t change. For example, you may have a day job with a set salary. You probably have rent or a mortgage that you need to pay each month. Those things won’t change, unless you move or get a different job or a raise.
You should put the things you can’t change on your budget first. Then, you’ll know you’ll have enough money to cover those costs for the month. You won’t have to worry about missing rent or not being able to pay another consistent bill.
