HORRIBLE at Budgeting

Does anyone have anything that someone who has been absolutely horrible at budgeting her entire life that may help/assist??????

Please help if you think you can :).

Thanks!

Kari

@Carolyn V. As I often tell others I try to help online, I will tell you. First of all, I am no expert and everyone is different. What might help one person may not help [or even harm] another–psychologically speaking, at least (which in my opinion is actually a big factor in budgeting).

With the disclaimer aside here are some things that may help start.

• Know that a budget is simply: Budget = Income - Outgoing [expenses, donations].
• Negative-balance budgets DO exists. (These are often what people think of when they say they cannot budget. Even if the result is a negative amount, it is still a budget).

So, you believe you cannot budget? If you handle money in any form, that is your budget. Congratulations. You've got at least one step down.

Turning a negative budget into a neutral or positive budget.
Once again, mainly believe this is mindset-oriented but there are some things that can help. Know:

• There will be differences between planned and actual.
• Even the most experienced positive-results budgeting people have negative budgets, at times.

STEPS TO TAKE:

• Start tracking spending habits if you haven't.
• Continue learning about finances (SaverLife does pretty good giving bite-sized overviews on different topics, but it is not an end-all).
• Start off small. It can be overwhelming and discouraging to make big changes. If you often overspend by large amounts try: 1) determining if any expenses can be cut out completely or lessened. If so, start with one small change to cut expenses and then add another. It may not completely turn your budget into the black [positive number], but it'll at least help stretch your savings muscle without feeling totally discouraged to continue. 2) If you have cut back as much as possible [not likely, but some do reach this point] it may be that your budget needs rebalancing.
• Rebalancing a budget is common. It does not mean you did not do it correctly, just that that particular budget did not fit your needs.

Personally, I found that Kakeibo has been the simplest method to start with (writing down budgets). It not only has four simply categories, but a reflection for how to do better next week/month.

When I first started budgeting and I was afraid of overspending on personal/fun stuff that works take away from other parts of my budget like savings etc. I just pulled that money out as cash and did that until I got into the habit of watching what I was spending. I'm now comfortable enough with my finances managing abilities and it's now routine to balance my finances at the end of the week to make sure everything still checks out and can now just stick to using my cards carefully and paying them off at the end of the month. This won't work for everyone but I believe budgeting and following your budget is a habit that has to be developed; it takes time and some trial and error.

It’s all about consistency

I'd write up a weekly spread sheet and try to be consistent. See what bills need to be paid when and when you are getting paid. Then you can better guide yourself to what you really need for budgeting. Also when you go to save money, write it off like it is a bill, best advice I have gotten. My savings keeps growing. It's great!!

It's hard to budget I think we you have to spend your savings on emergencies.

Yeah consistency is the secret just like any behavior you're trying to build…but why does it have to be so hard

A person's mindset (and mental/emotional state) is a big part of finances. I think part of the reason why savings seems so difficult for many people is perceived cultural expectations. Additionally, thousands are spent on market research to try and get consumers to buy more. But, the more one is aware of these the easier it can be to change one's spending mindset to savings.

Great ideas

An automatic savings deposit account can help