Getting into The Budgeting Habit

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Image Credit: BlankBelly Photography

“It’s natural to think that boosting your income is how you win with money. After all, a larger paycheck never hurts. But you don’t necessarily need to earn more to start winning. In fact, learning good budget habits will make you feel like you got a raise. Once you know how to handle your money, there’s no stopping you!” –  everydollar.com on 6 Budgeting Habits You Can Put into Practice Today

People can talk all they want, but to really get into the budget habit seems to be beyond reach. The answer to why this is the case is easy. It’s certainly not because people don’t ever have cash, rather it’s because budgeting calls for discipline. Strictest discipline.

It’s one thing to sit down and decide you need to budget and another to execute it. Most people realize that, even though they don’t successfully manage to budget. Many will even sit down, look at their expenses and bills and come up with ideal budget that allows them to continue to spend money on the things most important to them. The key to really being successful at budgeting is to take a multi-step approach to budgeting and to stop making budgeting excuses or serious budgeting mistakes. –Miriam Caldwell on How to Budget Successfully

Ever heard of this phrase; “Needs vs Wants?” Needs are those things that life can be hard to live without, whereas wants are in a sense a cherry on top. Wants includes all the things we buy not because we need them, but because we feel like buying.

We should smarten up in as far as money is concerned. Month-end frustrations and familial conflicts should in themselves be a signal for a need to really care.

According to Miriam Caldwell the following steps can help us get into budgeting habit:

  • Before you budget: one of the reasons people fail when they begin to budget is that they don’t believe in the budgeting process and have a difficult time determining how a budget will help them improve what they want to do. They may feel like they are too poor to budget or that things will work themselves out.
  • Set up your budget: once you have decided what you want your budget to help you do, then you can set up your budget. The clear goals and guidelines you just set up will help you make SACRIFICES necessary to make your budget work.
  • Track your budget: once you have created your budget, you are ready for the hard part: following it! This is the place when people who attempt budgeting fail. It can be time consuming to record your transactions each day and subtract them from your account and correct budget category.
  • Evaluating your budget: after the first month you will need to evaluate your budget. This is essential to getting a working budget. You should also be able to identify your budget weaknesses. This allows you to make adjustments to areas where you may have estimated the wrong amount.
  • Setting goals for your budget: after you have reached the goals you originally set you may want to set new goals to reach. Additionally, you can set goals that allow you to reward yourself for meeting new spending limits.
  • Cutting Spending: each year you should evaluate areas where you can cut your spending.

It is, therefore, imperative that we learn and get into budgeting as soon as possible. There’s no such thing as the right time. The choices you make today, will determine your future. Don’t believe? Try ignoring the call to getting into budgeting habit, see where you’ll be in six to five months. Without good budgeting habits, you’re bound to be an unhealthy spender.

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Teboho Polanka
Teboho is a Social Worker, Writer and Inspirational Speaker. He is in pursuit of MSc. in Managerial Psychology. Graduates are able to apply psychological principles and methods to tackle challenges in the work environment and provide effective practical solutions. Acting as industrial-organizational psychologists.