Setting a Budget and Sticking to it!

​#moneysavingtip

A great money saving tip, as many people will tell you, is to set yourself a monthly household budget and stick to it! Most people think that sticking to the budget is the hard bit, but actually I think setting the budget in the first place is harder. Let me tell you why.

​Click here for your FREE budget planner to get you started with budgeting

FREE budget planner

Budgeting

​Budgeting is a difficult process, it makes you look at all the income and expenses you have, and if the expenses are more than the income it can bring home to you that you will have to do something about the situation! This may mean cutting back on some of the things you love in order to reduce expenses. Or it could mean you have to find a way to bring in more money. These are hard decisions to make.

If you are forced to face up to having more expenses than income, it can be really hard to see a way to change that situation. For this reason I believe setting a monthly budget can be a really hard process.

It can also be hard to know exactly how much you usually spend on some essential items, like food and fuel. I want to encourage you to make the best estimate you can so you can get a place to start from.

Deciding you need to cut back on what you are spending can also be a challenge. How do you decide what needs to go? Some costs are essential costs like bills, food, fuel, clothes which are pretty fixed and there is not much you can do about it. In this case it can be a case of trying to reduce your spend perhaps by buying second hand clothes for example.

See my blog post on saving money on your food bills

Free meal planner

Aside from the essential bills, it is then up to you to choose and prioritise which things you are paying for that are important to you.

I would like to encourage you to start setting a monthly budget to see what situation you are in, especially if you always seem to have too much month at the end of the money!

Problems Sticking to your Budget?

• Perhaps you underestimated your expenses. Check what you have been spending and if those essential costs have risen then revise your budget. For example council tax in the UK usually rises in April each year. Or maybe you spend more on your food shopping than you realise.
• Have you overspent this month? Perhaps eaten out more than usual. Or maybe the kids have been on school holidays and you have had more days out than usual. Is it a one off or likely to continue every month?
• ​Or maybe an unexpected cost landed this month.

For more money saving tips go here and for how you can earn extra money from home go here.

I hope this has helped you to get started with a budget. If you would like to ask anything feel free to contact me. Don't forget if you are experiencing financial difficulties you can get help from Citizens Advice, who can help you with debt and budgeting.

​Love Teresa xx