5 Tips on How to Budget
Budgeting can be confusing and daunting when you’re looking at it for the first time. It’s hard to know how much to save, how much should you spend, are there areas where too much money is going out the door. As you continue to support and follow your budget, you’ll see different trends that might help you understand where you can cut back or allocate more funds to, but starting is the hard part. Of course, we are happy to assist you in creating a personal budget, but if you’d like to create one yourself, here are some tips!
Start the budget at the beginning of the month. Starting your fresh budget on the 1st and ending on the last day will help you gain a full perspective of what your expenditures are. It’s easier to understand and track when you can set it per month.
Begin with the most important categories first. Rent, utilities, and food are much more important than Netflix and buying a new pair of shoes. Be sure to input your big and most important categories first, so you know how much you have left to allocate to fun stuff.
Pay off your debt. If you have debt, evaluate how aggressively you can pay that off. Debt will continue to accrue with interest, so knocking that out might be difficult at first but have a great payoff.
Evaluate how you did. At the end of the month, check on how you followed your budget. Did you allocate too much in one area and not enough in another? Make those changes until you find exactly where you need to be. Also note, it might change throughout the year. For instance, leading up to Christmas time, you might need to change things around to fit the season.
Remember why you started. Budgeting is not always easy, so remember why you’re doing it. Whether it’s to have financial freedom, go on a vacation, or become debt free, the reason why you started will help you keep going strong.
Not feeling confident creating your budget yourself? Don’t worry! We’re here to help! Let’s chat on how we can assist you.
