Are you a dieter? I’m not so much. I like eating healthy, but I’m not a super fad dieter. I think my body weighs what it weighs. I could starve myself and weigh less, but when I stop starving, I’ll gain it all back again. So I usually eat that cupcake. (Can I get an amen?! Yum.) But, the curse of swimsuit season comes around every year, and every year I challenge myself to lose a few pounds.
Through my yearly ineffective attempts at resembling a swimsuit model in 3 weeks by limiting my caloric intake, I’ve learned that you have to write down everything that goes in your mouth. If you don’t, you risk easily consuming an extra 500 or so calories a day just through nibbles that were seemingly harmless.
Keeping a budget is the exact same. Each dollar matters. Each dollar counts. Each dollar definitely adds up. If you make a budget, but you don’t track your expenses, you will not be successful. It might feel successful, but then a random, inconspicuous Wednesday comes along, you check your account, and in a week you’ve spent and extra $300 dollars on 473 random things. BOOM! Budget blown.
So write it down! And make it so simple like all the other parts of my budget advice. Grab notebook paper, your budget book, or your kid’s half empty primary journal from kindergarten, find a few colored pins if your fancy like me, and record each and every dime that leaves your bank account. I use my fancy colored pens to color code my categories.
Pick a day at the end of the month to add up each category and compare it to your plan. See where you spent less than you expected, and definitely notice where you went over budget. This is where the flexibility comes in! If you’ve gone over budget, figure out why. Maybe you know you went to Buc-ee’s one too many times (Guilty!). Try again next month. But, say you just spent more money than planned in the grocery category. You know you didn’t buy anything extra or unnecessary, yet still you overspent in that category. That’s okay! You might need to move money from a want category into the grocery category for the next month until you figure out exactly what you need to spend.
It’s all about the flexibility. And remember, practice makes progress!
Happy budgeting!
