Have Trouble Making or Sticking to your Budget? This will help!

"I swear there was more money in that account." I think we've all said this before. Then we open our bank statements and say, "Oh yeah. Yup. Uh-huh... *Sigh*" When you're in college this seems to happen fairly often. There is a way to stop that cycle though: make a budget! A budget will put you back in control of your financial situation. A budget should be realistic. You plan out what your monthly expenses are, what your income is, and you set goals to improve your financial state.

          The most important thing with a budget is to make sure you have enough money coming in to pay for all of your expenses. If you can't pay your bills, you need to either figure out where to make cuts, or figure out how to make more money!

"I'm able to pay my bills, but I can't seem to build up my savings account."

What are you saving for? Because I'm supposed to isn't a good reason. If you don't have a good reason to save money, you will find a good reason to spend your money. You need a reason to save, and it has to motivate you. Your reason to save might be: to pay for school, to buy a car, to buy a ring, to put a down payment on a house, retire, invest in ____, and the list could go on, and can go on in any direction depending on what you want. If you don't have a goal or a dream, you won't be driven to save. If there's no reason to save money, you won't save any. It's that simple. Find your reason, and start saving.

Make your plan:

Once you have your expenses figured out and have a reason to save, create a plan. Go back to your bank statement and classify all your purchases into different categories. Figure out where your money has been going, and figure out what lifestyle changes you need to make to stop your money from going in negative or wasteful ways. If you know how much you need to save per month to meet your goal, figure out what you need to cut to get there. A big killer for my wife and I right now is eating out. Last month we doubled our food budget by eating out. We can fix that moving forward by doing a few different things: 1. Plan out a dinner menu. 2. Make a little extra at dinner so we have food to take for lunches. 3. Wake up a little earlier so we have time to make a lunch, or make it the night before. 4. Schedule time in the day for one of us to make dinner. 

Write it down:

If you haven't written your plan down, it is just wishful thinking that will be forgotten. Here's a link to the google sheets page. It'll help you get started on a simple budget. Click on the template at the top of the screen that says monthly budget. It's free and it's the one that I use. Follow the instructions on the template, and it'll help you set it up. It's a google spreadsheet. You can access it on your mobile device and your computer. If you look at your budget often, you remember it, and you stick to it. If you are married, share the document with your spouse. It doesn't do any good if you're not on the same page (Relationship advice 101)

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Other things to consider in your budget:

An Emergency Fund: set aside some money for a rainy day. It is better to have funds on hand, building interest for you to use in an emergency than to pay for an emergency on a credit card, and then pay someone else interest. If you get bogged down paying off debts, it'll stop your progression to your dreams until you pay that off. Make an emergency fund so you're free to dream.

Fun Money: If you have no money you allocate to yourself, things can get dull. I want money so I can do what I want. Money is freedom. Budget so you can be free to have fun. 

Date Night: This one is a must, and it goes along with fun money (at least your dates should be fun). Dates can be expensive, but they are important. Budget for them. Also, check out my blog post about Cheap Date Ideas. They don't have to be expensive, but they have to be fun!