How To Stick To A Budget

Collaborative Post

If you’re concerned about your income, are managing debt, or are simply saving a bit of money, one of the most common pieces of advice that you will receive is that you should plan a budget.

However, that’s often easier said than done. Even with the best will in the world, your budgeting plans can easily go awry. If an unexpected expense comes in, or you realise that you haven’t set aside enough money for bills, this can quickly become demotivating and see your budget go up in smoke.

So if you need help not just designing a budget, but also sticking to it, we’ve pulled together some top tips.

Write down or track all of your spending

When you think about planning a budget, it’s normal to set yourself spending limits on certain ‘categories’ of spending.

 

To make this work in reality, you’ll need to be very disciplined about actually writing down every single time you spend money. You could do this the traditional way by keeping a notebook with you to track your spending, but there are also a number of apps for smartphones that can sync up with your bank cards if you prefer to track all of your contactless or card spending.

Use cash

If you find it difficult to control your spending on a card, there are some well-thought-out strategies that you can adapt to suit your particular budget plan. One of the most common is to set yourself a weekly budget and draw out that amount of cash at the start of the week. Find some way to divide that cash up for different purposes (different wallets, different envelopes etc.) and then restrict yourself to only spending the cash for its allocated purpose. 

This might seem a bit draconian, but it can be a very impactful way to help you carefully consider every single instance that you are about to spend money.

Set a savings commitment

If you regularly find that you get to the end of the month without having gone into the red, but that you’re also not setting any money aside, then it might be worth reframing the way that you look at savings. 

 

Try treating savings as a bill, so a regular amount of money that you expect to come out of your account every month. The best way to do this is to set up a direct debit to transfer a set amount into a savings account. Forcing yourself into this kind of behaviour change might feel painful at first, but your bank balance will definitely thank you in the long run!

You might also want to consider other saving schemes like the ‘1p a day challenge’. This simple challenge means that you save 1p on day one, 2p on day two, 3p on day three etc. If you do this for a year, you’ll only need to set aside £3.65 on the final day and by the end of the year, you’ll have saved up over £600 – hopefully without having noticed it putting too much strain on your wallet!

There are some more similar savings challenges you could try shown here.

Make a list

This doesn’t just apply to your food shop. Whatever shopping you are partaking in, you can really help maintain your savings discipline if you plan ahead and make sure that you stick to your list.

Another way to interpret this is as a ‘delayed gratification’ list. If you tend to fall in the trap of impulse purchases, the idea of a delayed gratification list is to test whether you really want a particular item, or if it is just a passing fancy.

 

This means that every time you are tempted to make an unplanned purchase, for example on new clothes, household items or anything that is not essential, you instead write the item down on a list. Review the list regularly, and if you still want to make the purchase 30 days later, allow yourself to budget it into your next month’s financial plan. 

 

This strategy also works for kids, so if you’ve got a big family, this can be a really helpful way to limit your spending and provide a valuable life lesson that will fare them well in their future.

Set aside some emergency money

One of the most common reasons that people fail when they try and budget is that an unexpected but unavoidable cost comes in. 

 

This might be a bill or an unexpected repair for a vehicle or appliance in your home, which could see you needing to borrow money from a friend or family member, or seeking out an emergency loan.

 

If repaying this expense chips away at your monthly budget, it can be easy to let your motivation slide for the rest of the month. This quickly becomes a slippery slope, and you can easily end up not sticking to your budget at all. Try setting aside a little money every month into an emergency fund. Even if it’s just a few pounds, it can be a real help.

If you get hit by an unexpected cost, this emergency fund should give you a little bit of wiggle room, meaning that you can pay the bill without chipping into your normal budget.