It’s always hard around holiday season to stay on budget. You’re balancing your normal expenses along with added expenses of gifts, dinners or drinks with friends, and travel. Many times it comes to the end of the month and you realize you have spent  more than you intended to. So here are three tips to stay on budget.

Have Small & Large Financial Goals

We all have big financial goals, whether it be buying a car or having a worry free retirement, however many people do not focus on the small goals. Setting smaller financial goals makes larger financial goals more achievable along with helping you stay on budget. After studying my budget I discovered I was spending way more than necessary on coffee. So, I set a small financial goal of only allowing myself to purchase two coffees a week. Setting a small goal of only purchasing two coffees a week when I was normally purchase four, saved me $10 per week, that is $40 per month, and $480 per year. Take a look at your spend habits especially around the holidays can help you figure out where you can compromise, whether it be eating out, entertainment, drinks, or cab rides, you will be surprise when you break things down by category and learn how much you are spending. To learn more about setting financial goals check out our post on Accomplishing Your Financial Goals.

Check Yourself

Set aside 30 minutes each week to check your spending and budget. Doing this allows you to see if you are meeting both your financial goals as well as letting you know where you are at financially.This also creates a much easier end of month calculation of expenses and no surprises when you get your bank statement.

Keep it 100

It is important to have a budget that is not only realistic to your income but also one that best suits you. The main goal of budgeting is to allow for you to pay all you need to monthly and to also save money for your future (either short or long term goals). So, when you are creating your budget take an honest look on where you spend your money. There may be areas where you do need to cut your spending but that does not mean you need to get eliminate a category completely. For example, I love to eat out so my eating out budget is larger than the average person. I also do not have a car so all associated costs with a car I do not have, however I do need to budget money for the metro, buses, and cabs. So keep it 100 with yourself and your budget to make sure you never end up in the red.

Staying on budget can be hard but if you have developed a good budget to begin with and then identify steps to take to stay on budget it becomes a lot easier.

 

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This blog post is provided for discussion purposes, and is not intended as professional financial advice. It’s intent is not to be used as the sole basis for your investment or tax planning decisions. To get more information please speak with a financial planner. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.