Becentsable is discussing a series to help readers tackle the dreaded “B” word. BUDGETING!
FRUSTRATED?! I was too. When I first started budgeting, I was very frustrated because our budget would not balance. I couldn’t understand WHY my budget didn’t balance. I had all my categories, with all of my set monthly expenses. It took a few months to figure out that I was making a big budgeting mistake.
The proverbial light bulb went off! I was using the same budget every month. BIG, HUGE mistake!
I learned every month was different and my budget needed to be adjusted every month. Gain CONTROL here!
I had the same expenses every month but the amounts needed to be adjusted. Therefore, my categories stayed the same but adjustments were made to the amount I would budget every month. DING, DING, DING!!!
For example, If we were having a birthday party that month, I needed to adjust the amount of money we would spend on “Entertainment” or if we were going to have a big family dinner, I might need to increase the “Household” portion of the budget.
The first thing I do when I sit down to do my budget is to look at the calendar and check to see:
- What events or activities we have coming up?
- Are we going to be driving more or less?
- Do we have any family dinners planned?
- Do we have gifts we need to buy?
If an area of my budget needed to increase, then another area would need to decrease. The budget process became much easier once I figured out this mystery.
Thanks for tackling your budget with us and making the word “BUDGET” worth talking about!
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I had to tell you that your idea of a different budget each month based on the needs of the family that month was brilliant. It’s so simple, but I had never considered it. That tip may have really saved my budget 🙂
This really helped me! It is a simple idea, but one that really helped me stay on budget!