0 What Secrets Does Your Budget Hold?

A personal or family budget can reveal a lot about a person. What secrets does your budget hold? I'll share how to look at your budget along and where to make cuts that will help you save more. 

Stop borrowing and start saving

Our natural inclination when we are faced with a large or unexpected bill is to borrow the money to get out of a fix. What you are doing of course is actually making your financial situation worse in the long run simply as a way of dealing with an immediate financial crisis. The vast majority of us really don’t like budgeting as it is not a very exciting or pleasant way to spend an evening going through what you spend and how much money you don’t have any more after just getting paid. If you can bear the pain of your finances being laid bare you will be potentially be rewarded with savings that you make and the chance to build a stash of cash that will help you deal with an emergency when it comes along.

Make a budget and set up a savings strategy

To make an accurate budget you have to make a comprehensive list of all your expenditure and that means not just the rent and the car payments but also the amount you spend on donuts and coffee so you can see exactly what you spend compared to how much you earn each month. In preparation for the savings you are looking to make from your outgoings set up a separate savings or deposit account so that you can transfer any spare money into there. Having a separate account for your savings is vital and you will often be pleasantly surprised how quickly even $30 a month will build-up a bit of a buffer against the unexpected.

Cash is king

We all love the convenience of credit cards but try leaving the credit card at home and taking out a weekly amount of cash that you have worked out will cover all your basic and discretionary expenses not paid by standing order such as fuel, food and entertainment.
It is amazing how difficult it becomes to part with $50 in hard earned cash for a fancy pair of sneakers that you would have readily charged to your credit card and suddenly that bag of late night pizza take-out seems more expensive when you have to part with notes from your wallet.

Bad habits cost money

Now we have all got to have a bit of fun in our lives and there is nothing wrong with a night out with friends but if you could consider cutting out smoking (obvious health benefits and a very expensive habit) and even just reducing the amount of alcohol you drink, you could save on the sore head the next morning and also make some serious savings. If you like a coffee from the shop on the way to work why not get a branded flask so it looks like you have just bought your favorite brew but actually fill up at home, it will save you a small fortune in no time and still feel like a treat.

Keep on track

Having recorded all your expenditure make sure you keep receipts for everything you spend and at least once a month, add up what you spent against what you budgeted for and make adjustments where possible. Credit card debt is a burden most of us have to bear at some point but make a conscious effort to pay more than the minimum payment and you will soon start to eat away at your balance. With a bit of hard work and discipline but without taking the fun out of your life, you could start to save more and wouldn’t it be nice not to panic when the car breaks down or the boiler breaks, knowing that you have it covered with some emergency funds from your savings.

Guest post contributed by Stacy Pruitt, a freelance finance writer. Stacy also has an interest in investing and Forextrading.