Budgeting
Budgeting tip #1 Take your time!
When you do a budget make sure you take your time. Set down and take at least 10 to 15 minutes working everything out. This is one of those things where being meticulous really comes in handy. If it's your first time doing a budget then take at least an hour or more thinking of everything that you spend your money on every month. Remember a budget doesn't have to be perfect, but the closer it is to the actual number the better. BTW if it's your first time doing a budget then don't be worried when it doesn't work. It's very rare that a budget ever works on the first attempt. Give yourself at least three months to refine and improve upon your budget
Budgeting tip #2 Count the costs
Are you doing a budget but it's not working, are you having trouble finding leeway for your money. Is every penny going somewhere and you cant seem to find where you can possibly squeeze out more?
If this is the case then you probably aren't counting your costs. What I mean by this is examining every single individual item on your budget and deciding whether or not you need it and how much you want it.
Keep in mind when doing a budget every dollar counts. A common example is buying a candy bar. If someone pays $1.50 to buy a candy bar every time they go to the store, lets say about once a week. Then the average month they will spend $6 that they could be spending on something else. That adds up to over $78/year just on a single candy bar. So think to yourself what if I had that $78 right now, this month? Is it worth it to you to spend $78 to get a candy bar whenever you go to the store. The same can be said for many things. People buy snacks and little things that don't seem like they cost a lot in the short term but in reality costs much more than they think .Every dollar counts when doing a budget.
Next look at your other expenses like eating out. When doing a budget I always tell people no to count eating out in the food budget but instead to put it in the fun section of their budget. You don't eat out usually because you need to, you do it because you want to. Putting this in your food budget is usually just a way of justifying it to yourself.
Budgeting tip #3 Don't pay monthly.
So this is a common trap that people fall into that I always warn against. There are some payments like mortgages, utilities, large loans that you have to pay monthly. Cable and internet usually fall into this category as well.
There are also many many subscription services out there that trap you into making monthly payments. Things like Netflix, and Hulu are big offenders here. But also subscription magazines, subscription food services, and "gift boxes" that are occasionally sent to you in the mail.
What these services do is charge you directly to a bank account every month. This doesn't seem like a big deal but it tricks your mind, because when it charges directly you aren't actually seeing that money leave your account unless you're constantly watching it. Even then it's different from paying for it directly. As far as your brain is concerned these services might as well be free, even though they definitely are not. This makes it very difficult to budget around them because you think you're getting a much better deal than you actually are.
Now I am not trying to say that you should not have or use these services at all. I'm just saying that you should not pay for them monthly, except on a trial basis. If you know that you want one of these services than pay for it on a yearly basis. Many companies will actually offer discounts if you do this rather than purchasing on a monthly basis. This does mean that you can not cancel the service later to save money. However, it also means that you are getting a much better understanding of the exact cost of this service or program, it also means that you are actually the one making the payments, so your brain is not being tricked into thinking you're getting a better deal than you actually are.
So unless you have to, you should never pay for anything monthly! You should always pay a year in advance.
