When most people hear the word: budget, they get a little squirmy inside, because budgeting is awful. It’s grueling, it’s tiresome, it’s so strct, and it basically means no fun allowed. It’s worse than a strict diet that cuts out all of your favorite treats.
But it doesn’t have to be. Budgeting does take time and effort, and you have to stick with it. But budgeting is actually very much like fitness. It hurts for now, but it’s worth it later. You just have to focus on the end goal, and look forward to the pleasure to come. (Of course there are those of us who actually love the burning pain of a workout, but I hear those people are crazy. 😂 ) You can learn to love a budget too, it does make life simpler when you think about it. Your house will be less cluttered with all the things you would normally buy, you already have a plan so you dom’t have to do things last minute, and you can save faster.
So let’s start with why it’s good to have a budget. One, what’s your end goal? Are you trying to get a new car? Buy a bigger home? Get that motorcycle or sports car that you’ve always dreamed of? Or even just trying to get out of debt and pay off your student loans? And of course, there’s the desire to budget better when you find that all your wonderful little angels that you and your husband brought to this world, are more expensive than you thought.
Picking a goal is critical to begin budgeting because it’s what you look back on when you have low motivation. Similar to when you look up the “beach body” pictures that is your goal for losing weight. Once you have your goal in mind, you can move forward with a budget with determination.
Two, there are some things that you can live without. It might not seem like it sometimes, but there actually are. You might not need to eat out all the time, or as often. Or go to the theaters and pay high price for a movie you can own at a cheaper price once it’s older news at your local Walmart. You might even be able to pull it out of the dollar bin. Figuring out what you can live without, that isn’t an actual need, is really good for helping your budget planning.
And three: what are some things that may seem like a luxury to some people, but are a necessity for you? For me, it’s my gym equipment. I am a fitness addict, so I have to have my equipment to work out. It’s how I burn off my stress and frustration. (Especially with a new baby in the house and sleepless nights) And to give you an example, I don’t pay for a gym membership. I workout in my home. I have a set of BowFlex dumbells (you can change the weights) a stability ball, a Bosu ball that Paul bought for me when we were dating, and resistance bands. That’s all you need. If you want to get fancy, you can get a lot more. But I can do killer workouts with or without those. You can get an incredible workout with bodyweight exercises, no weights or fancy equipment needed. My personal preference is weights, and that’s for me.
It’s easy to find online programs for fitness too, that will coach you at home, instead of paying for a gym and a personal trainer. And this is just if you enjoy working out. Find what is necessary for you sanity, whether it’s gardening, working out, baking, walking, or whatever. If you can, find a way to save money on that, while still taking care of yourself, and then cut back on the costs. For example, do you really need that new plant for your already beautiful garden? I know some of you are nodding your heads, but you really need to think about it. How serious are you about budgeting? And for those of you who think this is a good time to start a garden, I wouldn’t recommend it. It will be expensive to start, and we’re trying to figure out ways to save money.
Once you’ve established these three things, then you can move on to actually planning your budget. First, look at all of the bills that you have to pay every month. Add them all up, and be careful not to miss any. Obviously, you’d start with your home, what does the house payment cost every month? What about utiliteis? Are you currently working on need to do repairs? Start there. Add it up. Go to any subscriptions you have. Do you have car payments? Credit card debt? Anything that you pay every month, add it up. When you finish, you’re not done. We’re just getting started.
Do you have any idea how much you spend on food a month? I’m not even talking about eating out. I’m talking about your grocery bill. Is it pretty consistent? If not, you might need to really think about that. Personally, to make a really good budget for your groceries, I highly recommed meal planning. It does take more time out of your day to do that, but it saves you time later when you’re frantic and tired and have no idea what to make for dinner. You already have a plan. Meal planning can be a little challenging at first. You have to think of all of the meals that you want to do for each day. Make sure that it isn’t too extravagant for you after a long day of work, and then write it down. You can always make changes. If you’re short ideas, talk to your family, see if they have a specific meal they’d like to have.
Then, I highly recommend doing all of your grocery shopping in one trip, it saves you money and stress. Go through the recipes you picked and look at the ingredients. What do you already have? What do you need to pick up on this shopping trip? Add it to your grocery list to save you time and energy later. If you forget something, no worries. Allow yourself some grace, it’s tough handling everything. Once you have your ingredients, you’re all set for your week. Another benefit of meal planning and buying your groceries accordinly, is that you are likely to eat healthier and have a more diverse diet. Let’s be honest, after a long day, with kids, and a husband who wants food after his long day, it’s easy to pop a frozen dinner in the oven and say “I’m too tired.” But if you have a plan, and it’s not too complicated, and you already have the ingredients, it takes some of the stress away.
Then I recommend you look at your subscriptions list. How many entertainment platforms do you have? Amazon Prime, Disney +, Netflix, PureFlix, etc.? Do you have several of them? This can be a difficult step, but you might sit down with the family and discuss maybe just having one platform. Pick one with your favorites, and then save money by canceling the others. You’d be surprised the difference that that alone will have on your finances.
Then figure out clothing and other shopping. I’m not talking about having a splurge mall day in your budget. That’s not a very effective way to create a budget. But, kids grow bigger. You or your husband tore your clothes doing some hard work and now you need new ones. Set aside money for that. You will need it.
I love listening to Dave Ramsey, and he recommends that you have a six month emergency savings account. And I think this is very sound advice. If you suddenly lose your job, this will help you stay calm while you find another job, and you don’t need to max out credit cards while you look.
And then, I highly recommend this step. Set aside “Fun Money.” Money to go out to a restaurant or a family night. Limit it so that you don’t do it all of the time, but you will very likely need this. Beginning a budget when you’re not used it is difficult. Sticking with it is hard. You’ll have had a long day at work, with the kids, didn’t get enough sleep. The groceries that you bought went bad faster than you thought. There will be times that you throw it out the window and go out to eat. If you don’t factor it into your budget, knowing that this is okay, you will feel like a failure. People do quite often. It’s the same thing with fitness. People think that if they mess up and have that donut, they just through their whole diet and exercise program out the window and want to give up. You didn’t ruin anything. Think of it this way: Budgeting (or fitness) is taking several steps forward. The more you stick with it, the more steps you take. An occasional splurge is the equivalent of one tiny step back. Did it set you back? Sure! Is that tiny bit going to be easy to overcome if you stick with your budget? You bet! It’s not the end of the world. You’ve got this.
Get your kids involved too. Turn it into a game for them. Teach them the value of the dollar and they will grow up with a headstart in life that many of us wish we had had. Involve them in your cooking. Kids are far more likely to enjoy a meal without complaint (even if it’s new) if they helped prepare it. They’ll be so excited that they helped Mommy in the kitchen, they’ll hardly be able to wait to eat the food that they helped prepare. It’s a pretty clever trick to help your kids eat those greens.
And “Fun Money” or no, remember to give yourself grace. Life is tough right now. Especially with gas prices continuously going up. You’ll notice I didn’t list budgeting gas. The only tip I have in regards to that right now, is drive as little as possible, and fill up at the cheapest station near you. Hopefully it’ll go back down soon, and then we can factor that in too. Everybody slips up, and money is one slippery slope. The market is designed to convince us that we desperately need something that we likely don’t. And we don’t realize until later that we really didn’t need that item, why did we buy it? Give yourself grace, take a deep breath on the hard days, and keep your end result in mind. It might help if you wrote it down, framed it, and hung it on the wall. Then when you’re having a tough time, you’ll see it and remember.
That’s all for this post, have a wonderful day, and God bless you!