Build a budget you can stick to.We all know that the hardest part about a budget is sticking to it. After all, life is full of surprises and often times these surprises are the kind that are hard on our finances. It is usually only a slight derailment that causes most people to abandon their spending plan. Rather than trying to set your budget and stick to it forever you should set an overall plan with a set time to review and adjust it each month. Don't view it as a failure if you don't meet your initial goals. Use your actual spending as a guide to how you can change your spending. The simple action of reviewing all your spending in a month will open your eyes to spending that you may not have expected. Try the following simple approach for the next six months. 1. Sit down and draw up a plan of what you would like to spend for the following month. 2. Review your finances at the end of the month and write down what you actually spent. 3. Set a new plan for the following month keeping in mind what your actual spending habits are. 4. Use cash for the things that you went over your spending goals on for the previous month. 5. Compare each months spending while on your budget to your spending when you had no plan. Set up a reward fund for yourself and begin adding your savings into it. 6. Use your reward fund for something that you otherwise would have financed.
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