{"id":1793,"date":"2015-01-21T00:15:17","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T08:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2015-01-20T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T20:18:13","slug":"how-to-actually-stick-to-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/how-to-actually-stick-to-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Actually Stick to a Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Do<\/a>The month is more than half way over and I\u2019m feeling great about the progress I\u2019ve made. While I normally do in-my-head budgeting I decided to switch things up and instead create a written budget this month.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also once again tracked my expenses down to the penny. Although this time around has been so much easier than the last.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are the things that have helped me to stick my written budget this month.<\/p>\n

Set a Realistic Budget From The Beginning<\/h2>\n

Sometimes you can get a little overly ambitious, thinking you\u2019re going to spend a third of what you normally do. I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019m sure you have, too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s usually the biggest culprit to budgeting failures.<\/p>\n

You need to be realistic from the get-go. If you know you\u2019re going to spend $3,000 on basic living expenses this month don\u2019t budget $2,000.<\/p>\n

You can definitely make your budget a challenge but it needs to be realistic.<\/p>\n

Determine What System Works Best for You<\/h2>\n

The last time I tracked my expenses for an entire month I used an Excel spreadsheet. It was a total pain. There were some evenings where the last thing I wanted to do was open up my computer. So, this time I decided to make a change.<\/p>\n

I printed out several expense tracking sheets along with a budget sheet and sat them on my kitchen table. Since I live in a small home and am constantly in the kitchen, they\u2019re pretty hard to miss. I mean, how I can I not<\/em> fill out these sheets that are staring right at me?<\/p>\n

Determine what system works for you and stick with it. Don\u2019t try to force yourself to do something that doesn\u2019t come naturally.<\/p>\n

Create a Habit of Reviewing Your Spending<\/h2>\n

Since my expense tracker and budget sheets are on my kitchen table I look at them literally every day. This entire month I have known how good (or bad) I am doing when it comes to spending.<\/p>\n

While you don\u2019t necessarily have to review your finances every day you should do it at least once per week. You\u2019ll then know what sort of changes you need to make to stay on track.<\/p>\n

Post Your Goals in a Conspicuous Place<\/h2>\n

When you just don\u2019t feel like properly managing your money, review your goals.<\/a> This has been instrumental for me!<\/p>\n

Since I have a big goal this year of saving money for a down payment on a home I\u2019m constantly thinking \u2013 do I want to spend $20 for pizza or do I want to save $20 for a house?<\/em> And when I\u2019m really feeling tempted to spend money I shouldn\u2019t be I check the local real estate listings for an added bit of motivation!<\/p>\n

Realize It\u2019s All About Trade-Offs<\/h2>\n

If you created a budget you did it for a reason. That could be to pay down debt, invest more, or save for a large purchase. Think of the reason behind the budget.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have a strong enough goal then making those little trade-offs like not buying new clothes, skipping drinks at the bar, and warding off impulse purchases will become easy.<\/p>\n

What tips do you have for sticking to a budget?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The month is more than half way over and I\u2019m feeling great about the progress I\u2019ve made. While I normally do in-my-head budgeting I decided to switch things up and instead create a written budget this month. I\u2019ve also once again tracked my expenses down to the penny. Although this time around has been so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[188,447,446],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}