Budgeting Tips

Understand Your Expenses:

To build a solid budget, it’s important to keep in mind not all expenses are alike. Break down your expenses into fixed, flexible, and fun categories to better understand where your money is going. Categorizing your expenses this way makes it easier to prioritize adjustments.

Track Your Progress:

Use these tips to help yourself stay – or get – on track:

• Find a budgeting method that works for you and stick to it.
• Update your budget frequently, it gets easier each time!
• Forecast spending for each month to account for life!
  • Attend graduations, baby showers, weddings
  • Weekend getaway
  • Routine car maintenance – oil change, etc.
  • Holiday spending
  • Milestones for children – graduations, sporting events

Maintain Momentum:

Here are a few budget hacks to ensure your changes stick.

• Differentiate between needs and wants.
• Pay yourself first. Setup automatic allotments or direct transfers to make this easier.
• Each month is different, so adjust your budget to account for changes throughout the year.
• Budget for the most important categories first, which are usually large fixed and flexible expenses.
• Adjust payment due dates to help you better manage your cash flow.
• Create some space in your budget for life’s unexpected moments.
• Periodically review and cross-shop flexible expenses since they can often make a significant impact on your budget.
• Be sure to include fun money in your budget but set limits in advance for things like entertainment.
• Revisit your goals. How you budget your money is not as important as why you budget!