Welcome back to “Ask Dr. Gertrude” I imagine you’ve been on pins and needles, waiting for this next episode to come out! Hop on to my “Magic School Bus” and I’ll take you through the ins and out of personal finance. Many of you might be asking yourself, “why would someone discuss budgeting through the guise of an old British lady?” Typically, we hear the word “budget” and roll our eyes and release an audible “teenage” groan. The reason I decided to transform into Dr. Gertrude is to make personal finance and budgeting more fun.
5 Ways to keep Momentum with Budgeting
Beginning the budgeting process is hard! Many of us avoid it and think we are making our lives easier. In actuality life is still hard when you’re not budgeting, it’s just a different kind of hard. For instance, it’s like sweeping all your dirt and clutter under the rug and every few seconds tripping over your pile. As a result you’re bruised and battered and have no clue why. When you take control of your finances you proactively sweeping throughout the day, which is a lot of hard work but you’re not falling nearly as much. I want to give you a leg up and share my tips to “keep on keeping on” with budgeting.
1. Find your “Why”
Simply put, you have to have an important reason to totally change your lifestyle, otherwise you will give up. Budgeting isn’t just a one time thing, it’s something that requires self control for the rest of your life. So, find out why you want to make this change.
My “Why” includes these awesome “goobers” right here!
2. Discover how to Budget
This is an important tip. Dave Ramsey gives excellent advice on how to budget. I’m not exaggerating when I say his book, Total Money Makeover, changed my whole perspective on personal finance. When I started out, I realized I had no idea how to actually budget. I remember tracking my spending (most of the time) and that’s all I was really doing. I through out a few numbers for groceries but didn’t really stick with the budgets I set because I didn’t set aside time to really plan things out. Frequently, I would say, “I spend about this much” but really I had no idea how much I was spending!
Check out my “How to Become a Budget Boss” post to get you Started!
3. Create a Visual
When you have any goal, creating a visual can be very helpful. If the reason you are trying to improve your budgeting skills is that you want to travel more, then put a picture that dream vacation on your fridge. We are trying to pay off our 6 figure student loan debt and so we have a nerdy chart to help keep us motivated. I feel like I’m in elementary school but it really works. Dave Ramsey says, that personal finance is 80% behavior. It’s only 20% head knowledge.
4. Celebrate the small Victories and “Treat Yourself”
Budgeting can be a difficult adjustment. Josh (my hubby) and I give ourselves a small “personal spending” allotment each month. Right now it’s $30 (we gots to pay off debt) and we can do whatever we want with it. The balance carries over each month and so we can save for some bigger purchases if we want. It means I have to be pretty patient but I’ve gotten used to it.
Rachel Cruze says that a budget is permission to spend. If you have this “fun money” fund in your budget, there is no guilt with your purchases. We also make sure to have a date fund ($30 to $50 a month) as well. I have been babysitting the past 2.5 years and Josh is taking on “fill in work” when he can and so we have been working pretty hard. This amount might seem small but it’s important to date your spouse and gives us some excitement during the monotony.
5. Remember that Budgeting is Freedom and Control
Don’t we hear the word “budget” and immediately, see flashing signs of the word “NO!” in bold letters. Or you see a nerdy fellow pushing up his taped black frame glasses, preaching, “uh, according to my uh, calculations, it’s uh, not in the budget!” I used to think budgeting was all about being confined. Now, I see it’s about intentionality and telling your money what to do! You can control everything (wait until you hear about our year of 2018). It feels good to control what you can control. When you manage your money, you become a budget boss. I have 9 budgeting tips that will help you get started on this journey!
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