Budgeting Hacks: Ways to Start or Improve Your Budget
- UpdatedNov 25, 2024
- A budget can help you manage your expenses and work toward your financial goals.
- Popular ways to budget include the 50/20/30 rule, zero-based budgeting, and envelope budgeting.
- Having an accountability partner might help you stick to your plan.
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A budget is your plan for how to use your money. It’s a way to manage income and expenses, and improve your financial situation. You can select any budgeting method you like. The important thing is to follow it.
Why is budgeting so important?
Budgeting isn't about denying yourself. It’s about allocating money for different purposes. You can identify your priorities and decide where you want your money to go.
Here are some of the benefits you’ll get by mastering your budget:
Achieve your goals
You may want to take a vacation, pay off debt, buy a house, or retire early. A budget lets you save and invest money to reach your goals.
Develop good spending habits
Spending less than you earn can help you avoid debt and reach your financial goals faster.
With a budget, you can separate your needs and wants, set spending limits, and resist impulsive buying.
Pay off debt
A budget can help you plan for your debt repayments. It's also one way to stay on top of your monthly payments.
Cover unexpected expenses
Your budget can include setting aside money to cover unplanned expenses like a sudden medical bill or car repair.
Reduce stress
A budget tells you how much you have coming in, and where you want every dollar to go. Having and executing a plan that you’re happy with can relieve financial stress.
Why is budgeting so hard?
Many people know budgeting is important, but making a budget and following it is challenging. Here’s why:
It’s hard to face the financial situation
To make a budget, you need to analyze your finances. This may not be appealing if you’re in debt or don’t feel financially secure. But making a budget can be a good starting point to improve your personal finances.
Most of us are susceptible to impulse buying
Nowadays, we can buy something with a single click. Developing conscious spending habits so that your money is spent on your priorities takes some effort.
Money management takes time
Your spending plan will require an investment of time. The most time will be in setting it up, but you’ll also spend time tracking and reviewing your plan daily, weekly, or monthly. The time commitment can seem large when you first start and tempt you to give up.
We get complacent
Some people get comfortable when they’re earning enough to cover their monthly expenses, and a budget doesn’t seem necessary. But with a plan for your money, you can break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, save money for unexpected circumstances, and create wealth.
3 popular ways to budget
There are several ways to create a budget. Select one that you’re comfortable with and will likely follow.
1. 50/20/30 rule
In this method, you set aside different percentages of your income for your needs, wants, and savings.
50% for needs: expenses you must cover, like rent, utilities, groceries, and monthly debt repayments.
20% for savings: you can also use this to pay down your debt.
30% for wants: non-essential items like entertainment or eating out.
This is a baseline, but you can change these percentages to suit your situation. Some people may prefer to spend less on wants and increase their savings.
2. Zero-based budget
With a zero-based budget, you allocate every dollar of your income toward an expense, including savings.
For example, if your monthly paycheck is $4,000 after taxes, you may set aside $2,000 for your living expenses, $1,000 for debt repayments, and $1,000 for savings. Your cash inflows and outflows are equal.
3. Envelope budget
With envelope budgeting, you put cash into envelopes for different expenses. For instance, your grocery envelope will have your monthly grocery allowance. You can carry any excess cash into the next month or deposit it into your savings account.
This method can be useful for managing variable expenses. It might also be a good way to limit your credit card usage. You can use digital envelopes by downloading a budgeting app that supports the envelope method.
5 steps to creating a budget
Once you select a budgeting method, it’s time to make your monthly budget. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Gather your income and expense data
Write down all of your income. If you don’t have a steady income, check your previous months’ income and come up with a monthly average. You need the after-tax number.
Next, list your expenses. You’ll likely know your fixed expenses like rent or mortgage payments. Using previous bills, estimate your variable expenses, like electricity and grocery costs. Check your bank and credit card statements if you don’t remember the amounts. Be sure to check for any one-off expenses like annual subscriptions due in certain months.
Divide your outflows into categories like rent, utilities, groceries, debt repayments, savings, entertainment, and travel. Make up any categories that you want to track. Some people like to track how much they’re spending on cat food. Others want to track their Starbucks purchases. The categories are up to you! Just make sure they make sense to you because you’ll be using them every month.
2. Write down your goals
Set clear goals. For instance, if you want to take a summer vacation, you can plan to save for it by reducing other spending to create opportunities to save.
3. Create your budget
You can create a simple budget template on a spreadsheet, use a budgeting app, or stick to pen and paper.
You could start by saying you won’t spend more than X dollars in each category, but this only works well if you have a firm understanding of how much that thing costs. For instance, you might want to have a $500 grocery budget, but the reality is that your family of four eats $800 worth of food every month. So review how much you typically spend in each category and start there. Over time, you might find that you can lower your spending in some categories so that you can increase your spending in others.
4. Keep track of your expenses
Now you’re ready to track expenses and compare your spending to the plan you’ve created. It’s helpful to review your spending daily or weekly, when the transactions are still fresh in your memory. You can use an app to do this easily.
5. Adjust your budget if necessary
Sometimes, you may need to adjust your budget if your income, expenses, or goals change.
How to motivate yourself to stick to your budget
Sticking to a budget can be challenging - here’re a few tips to help:
Remember your financial goals
Keeping your goals in mind can motivate you to follow your budget. You’ll likely feel empowered as your savings increase and you get closer to achieving your goals.
Set aside money for activities you enjoy
You might get frustrated and give up if you cut back too much.
Think of ways to add some leisure activities you like at a lower cost. For example, if you like to eat out, maybe you can divide your meal in half and save the leftovers for the next day.
Find an accountability partner
Your life partner or a friend can support you and help you stay motivated to keep working toward greater financial freedom. Consider having a weekly or monthly budget chat when you both review your progress.
How budgeting can help you pay off debt
A good budget is a useful tool to achieve debt freedom.
Stay on top of your debt
If you have debt, include debt repayments in your budget. Timely payments can help you save money on fees and interest costs.
Allocate extra money toward your debt
If you are able to reduce spending in another category, put the extra cash toward your debt.
Avoid adding more debt
Your budget should help you understand your upcoming income vs. expenses. This might help you avoid adding new debt.
If you are experiencing debt stress and you don’t think following a budget will help, consider talking to a professional debt counselor about your options.
Debt relief stats and trends
We looked at a sample of data from Freedom Debt Relief of people seeking debt relief during October 2024. The data uncovers various trends and statistics about people seeking debt help.
Age distribution of debt relief seekers
Debt affects people of all ages, but some age groups are more likely to seek help than others. In October 2024, the average age of people seeking debt relief was 49. The data showed that 15% were over 65, and 17% were between 26-35. Financial hardships can affect anyone, no matter their age, and you can never be too young or too old to seek help.
Student loan debt – average debt by selected states.
According to the 2023 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) the average student debt for those with a balance was $46,980. The percentage of families with student debt was 22%. (Note: It used 2022 data).
Student loan debt among those seeking debt relief is prevalent. In October 2024, 27% of the debt relief seekers had student debt. The average student debt balance (for those with student debt) was $48,703.
Here is a quick look at the top five states by average student debt balance.
State | Percent with student loans | Average Balance for those with student loans | Average monthly payment |
---|---|---|---|
District of Columbia | 34 | $71,987 | $203 |
Georgia | 29 | $59,907 | $183 |
Mississippi | 28 | $55,347 | $145 |
Alaska | 22 | $54,555 | $104 |
Maryland | 31 | $54,495 | $142 |
The statistics are based on all debt relief seekers with a student loan balance over $0.
Student debt is an important part of many households' financial picture. When you examine your finances, consider your total debt and your monthly payments.
Support for a Brighter Future
No matter your age, FICO score, or debt level, seeking debt relief can provide the support you need. Take control of your financial future by taking the first step today.
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What are the three Rs of budgeting?
The three Rs of budgeting align with the three Rs for environmental responsibility:
Reduce: cut down your expenses, especially the non-essentials
Reuse: reuse what you have to avoid spending on new things
Recycle: get creative and recycle items to cut costs.
Are there apps for budgeting?
Yes. Several apps like PocketGuard, Mint, You Need A Budget (YNAB), and the Achieve GOOD app (Get Out Of Debt) can help you set a budget, track transactions, and stay on top of your financial goals. Some apps also let you link bank accounts and creditor accounts.
What’s the #1 rule of budgeting?
Spend less than you earn.