Doing something new and different with your money, like starting to budget, can seem difficult or discouraging at times. If you are feeling like your new budget doesn’t work, I’d like to offer some encouragement.
I was talking with someone today who was starting to budget for the first time. They said they didn’t think the budget they had come up with was the best. The first one usually isn’t. I’ve read that it takes a good three months of working on it to get your budget fine-tuned. I’ve found that budgets are constantly evolving creatures. It takes time to build your confidence in creating your budget. So if your budget doesn’t work just right at the moment, don’t despair! Keep trying. You will get there!
Here are some of my thoughts on the early stages of budgeting.
Applaud yourself for your efforts!
Even if you went over in some budget categories on the first budget you created, how much more money would you have spent had you not had your budget and spent time accounting for each dollar that came in and went out? Unexpected things happen. Learn from them and apply this knowledge to your next budget. Going over on your budget in the beginning doesn’t mean that your budget doesn’t work. It means that you haven’t been budgeting long enough to work out the kinks yet.
When I was first starting to budget, I found that things cost much more than I’d anticipated. Things like toiletries and household goods. I had to increase my budget amount for these things. I also looked for less expensive options for some things and pondered if there were ways to decrease usage of some things, like using reusable storage containers instead of plastic bags for some items. As time has gone by, I’ve gotten a better idea of how much it costs for the things we need.
Have a clear goal.
Few of us spend time working on our budgets because we just want to see how we spend our money. The common reason for starting to budget is to gain control of our finances, and we usually have a reason for wanting to do so. In our home, we stick to a budget for two main reasons. First, it enables me to remain a stay-at-home wife and granny. If I worked outside the home, I’d be less available to help care for my grandbabies and help older family members. Second, we want to pay down our bills, increase our savings and eventually add onto our home or move to a larger one. I know this would happen faster if I were to go to work, but in this season of life, I feel I am meant to be home caring for my family.
We’ve chosen to live on one income, and to do so successfully, we need a budget. Maybe your goal to is save money to purchase a newer car, or you want to put a down payment on a home, or you dream of paying down debt. Keeping in mind why you’re starting to budget can help you stick to it when you’re tempted to spend on things outside your budget.
Try to work some things you enjoy into your budget.
We are trying to still have things we enjoy while we are working on our budget. I can get a little extreme wanting to cut things out completely. Grampy reins that in and reminds me that we should have some of the things we enjoy, even while we are trying to save money. So, if you can, find room in your budget for some of the things you like and enjoy. Just have them less often. I think that an occasional treat can help you keep from burning out on budgeting.
Don’t look at your budget as a negative thing.
Your budget is not there to tell you all the things you cannot buy or do. It is there to show you the things you can do within the guidelines you’ve set based upon the money you have available.
Grampy and I differ vastly in our opinion of restaurant food. I could go months without going out to eat. He would happily visit a restaurant any day. If I were to completely remove the restaurant category from our budget, we would have a problem at our house! Grampy will go along with just about everything else in our budget as long as we have our monthly weekend lunch date. This way, we stay within our budget and he has restaurant food occasionally. We could go more often, but we are choosing to save that money or put it toward bills. Having a budget puts you in charge of your money.
Starting to budget may help you make positive changes.
I have a good friend who lives almost an hour away from me. We were both members of a writers’ group that met once a month. After the writers’ group meeting, my friend and I went out to lunch and then went shopping. This little outing usually ended up costing quite a bit of money for each of us every month. (Because, Hobby Lobby.)
Eventually we began attending the writers’ group less often, and about the same time my friend and I both decided to pay more attention to our spending. Instead of meeting in town and having lunch, I now pack a lunch and drive to her house. We meet at her house because the grandbabies are usually at my house. Her house is more calm and quiet. She makes her lunch at home and we spend the whole afternoon visiting. We’ve found it’s much more relaxing to do this than to run around town shopping for things we probably didn’t need anyway. Because we started budgeting, we found a way to enjoy our time together more.
Give yourself grace.
Don’t give up on yourself or your budget, especially if you are just starting to budget. I’ve been budgeting for a while, and I still go over sometimes, but I know that overall, having a budget helped me spend less than I would have if I’d just spent money willy-nilly. Also, having a budget helps you see areas you might want to try to improve. It’s all a process. Keep working and you’ll get there!
