Why You Never Stick To Your Budget
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Before I begin if you haven’t yet started the process of creating a budget and you’re just at the starting stage of trying to get your financial life under control, and you’re finding yourself overwhelmed, I have created some great resources for ya’ll that will make this process a lot less stressful.
I have created a handy little Budget Worksheet printable, for you to use when trying to figure out your monthly expenses.
I also created an Account Tracker printable. When I started this process I didn’t have these resources and I was constantly having to search for my account information when the bill-paying time came around, so I made one for you guys that will save you so much time while also getting you more organized!
The last thing I have for you is my Daily Agenda printable, you’ll realize why this is so helpful when you read my post on 8 Tools to keep you motivated and productive during the day, but I’ll tell you right now I use this baby daily!
All of these resources I spent time creating, I am giving to ya’ll absolutely free, in hopes that they’ll be as helpful for you as they are for me so be sure to check them out and use them!
Ok, let’s continue to the whole point of this post now…
Alright, so you’ve sat down crunched all the numbers and spent a good amount of time creating a budget for your family that you were sure was going to finally help. All to find out that you continue to deviate from your budget and not make any progress, or at least not the kind you were hoping for.
Believe me, I have been there. But I want to tell you there’s a reason for it, and it’s similar to the reason why people fail to stick to a diet.
Here it is.
You’re not allowing yourself to spend money on fun things!
Now hear me out.
I know that is probably the last thing you would think is the problem. But think about a diet as an example. You’ve decided you want to lose a few pounds to fit into that bridesmaid dress you have to wear for that wedding coming up in a few months.
So you sign up for a gym membership and cold turkey you cut out all foods you think caused the problem in the first place. But OH NO! two days into the diet and you black out for a second, when you wake up you look down to find a half container of rocky road ice cream eaten and a spoon in your left hand.
This same idea works with budgets. Do you really expect that if you make a budget and don’t allow yourself a chunk of change put away for what I call “Fun Money” that you’ll actually never spend any money on those things that you really want?
The answer is no.
And I can say this from experience. There was a time when I was really trying to buckle down on my finances and thought that I just didn’t have the extra money for things like going to the movies with a friend once every couple weeks or a new pair of sandals. You know what would happen?
I’d go into Sephora or some other store I loved just to “window” shop, and I’d end up coming out with two tiny bags and a receipt for $300 in makeup I just purchased.
It wouldn’t be until I go home that I’d realized I’d just spent $45 on a Becca Bronzer I really didn’t need or even like that much.
Expecting yourself to stick to a budget that doesn’t have any room for spending a little money on the things that make you happy is unrealistic, and you’re bound to fall off the wagon like I would do.
Now I’m not saying to allow yourself to spend money on non-necessities all the time, in fact you need to treat “Fun Money” as everything else in your budget, you need to figure out how much you really can afford to give yourself and be sure to make it a rule that once you run out, that’s it, it’s all gone.
A great way to help with this is by using the cash envelope system. I wrote a post on the cash envelope system you can read HERE.
And just another friendly reminder don’t forget to use the awesome Budget Worksheet, Daily Agenda, and Account Tracker printables I created for ya’ll, trust me, they will be incredibly helpful for you and will eliminate a lot of the stress that comes along with starting this process.
I hope you found this post helpful in some way, leave me a comment below if you try it out and let me know how it worked for you!!
Thanks for joining me on the blog today guys, I can’t tell you enough how much your support means to me!!
