It’s one thing to build a budget and it’s a whole different thing to actually stick to it and get into the habit of keeping within the limits of the budget. It’s important to find purpose for the budget and find ways of motivating yourself to stick to it that will help you build consistent spending habits that help you maximize the power of your money.

Research has found that the majority of people carry debt and yet only about half of them use a budget for their personal and household expenses. The main reasons why people budget are to control their spending, understand their spending and save money. These are great reasons but they are hardly enough to get you to build a lasting habit of successful budgeting. Setting specific goals that motivate and inspire you as well as being intentional about your budgeting plan will be the secret to making the most of your hard earned money.

So how do you go about setting these goals and being intentional about your budgeting? Many people build habits differently but there are a few valuable tips we have to get you started with your budgeting and good spending (and saving!) habits.

Habit Building Budgeting Tips:

• Schedule specific times to budget

Whether you are creating your budget for the first time or simply needing to keep track of your current one better, scheduling time to do this is crucial to forming a successful habit. When you block out time to sit down and really go over everything, it is not only easier for you to focus on the task at hand, it’s habit forming when you have a regular scheduled sit-down time.

Your budget and your finances are serious and scheduling a regular meeting enforces the importance by making them a priority. Having finance committee meetings with your spouse, entire family or even just by yourself can be extremely useful for setting goals, making a game plan and reaching your financial goals.

• Check your progress regularly

If you really want to build solid financial practices and budgeting habits, be sure to check in on your progress often. You can do this by setting reminders for yourself and other members of the household to stick to budget goals or review spending. If you wait too long to check in with your progress, things can get overwhelming to fix. Check in early and often especially at the beginning of a new budget and set of goals so that you can see where you need to adjust.

The more you check in with your finances, the faster your budgeting habits will be ingrained in your schedule and in your mind and made much easier to stick to. Overspending is one of the biggest reasons why people fail to reach their goals and accumulate debt over time. This can be almost always be avoided or rectified quickly if you’re keeping close tabs on your progress.

• Team work makes the dream work

It’s impressive how much people can accomplish when they put their minds and skills together to make things happen. Building good habits will be much easier if everyone in the household is on board. If you and your spouse and even your kids are involved in the process it will be a lot easier to work towards family goals.

Even if you don’t have a family it’s a good idea to reach out for financial accountability buddies. See if any of your friends are interested in setting goals and keeping each-other accountable. This will make it easier to stay on track if you have other people on board with you and helping you build good financial habits and budgeting skills.

• Budgeting for fun

Most people think budgets are too restrictive and keep you from having fun and flexibility in your life. This couldn’t be more false. In fact, building a solid budgeting habit can not only allow you to include budget areas for fun (without overdoing it) but it can also allow you to prioritize your finances to help you reach awesome goals you never thought you could get to.

Budgeting isn’t just for controlling spending and paying off debt, it’s about freeing up your finances and optimizing them so that you can take a dream vacation or buy your dream house. Challenge yourself to stick to a budget using these kinds of things as motivation and you’re on your way to creating a lasting habit. Celebrate reaching small goals and big goals alike because this will keep you motivated.

 

Many people think that their income is too limiting and doesn’t allow them to save, some think they don’t need a budget. Two of the biggest reasons for debt are attributed to lack of a cash flow and overspending. However, a good budget that is constructed with purpose and pursued intentionally is going to help you find more ways to save even if you are on a tight budget. It’s hard to understand your spending and how much you may be spending unnecessarily until you actually give yourself time to make a budget and stick to it for a while.  To create those positive spending and budgeting habits it’s crucial to commit to making it work or it won’t happen.

In order to make your budget work you need to put it on the schedule and stick to it. No bailing on your plan. You need to be regularly checking into your budgeting to evaluate and fix things to make it efficient and make sure it works for your specific needs. Bringing others in to encourage and keep you accountable will also be part of what makes the habit building successful. Then you need to make sure you build fun rewards into your budgeting efforts that keep you going and give your hard work a pay off and fun factor. Celebrate your success and keep challenging yourself to do better. In the end, you will have built good habits and saved more money than you may have thought was possible.