Hello and welcome to March Your Way to Success month! I am very excited about this month because I will be helping you march your way to success through interviewing people who I know and trust (and love!) to help you be more successful at the end of this month! At the end of every blog, I will provide you a worksheet that will recap the blog’s topic and main points as well as give you an actionable worksheet to begin your march towards success.
Today I am going to discuss budgeting. I know, scary word right? When I began to think of my topics for the month, I knew I had to talk about budgeting. Budgeting is one of my weaknesses and I wanted to encourage both you and I to get on a budget. I knew immediately I had to get my mom, Beth, on the post.
Why my mom? Let me tell you a few things about my mom: My mom was an accountant and a bank clerk before she decided to stay at home and raise us children. Since my dad was the sole provider for the family when she made that decision, she was forced to place our family on a budget. She has managed the money very well; we were always well provided for, we took once or twice a year vacation and always received great gifts for birthdays and Christmas, which I am grateful for.
When I got married and moved to Europe, my parents were able to budget, save and come to Germany to spend 10 days with me and Nathan; however, five of those days were spent on a cruise ship visiting Barcelona, Spain, and other parts of France. And they still had money to spend on me and Nathan while they were visiting. Since moving to Wyoming, they have saved, budgeted, and visited me twice. Each time they had money to spend and spoil us during their stay (they make great company! I enjoyed having my dishes washed everyday!).
Since my mom has been budgeting like a pro for over 20 years, I knew she would have some incredible insights on budgeting, how to get started, and why one should budget. I hope you enjoy this blog as this will be my mom’s first appearance on any website 😉
Me: What is budgeting?
Beth (aka Mom): Itemizing your income and expenses for a given time or period between a month or a year. Budgeting to me means knowing what’s coming in and knowing what is going out of my account.
Me: Why is it so important to budget?
Beth (aka Mom): It’s important to budget as it gives you true freedom! Freedom that I don’t have to worry about money when something breaks down or when I want to buy me a Starbucks coffee! The money is already is a fund and I know it’s there for me to buy something. There’s no worry, stress, or guilt with money anymore! And budgeting will affect your credit score and your confidence in knowing you have money in the bank to spend or pay for your overhead.
ME: What are three actionable tips you can give people who want to start today?
Beth (aka Mom): Tip 1: Have money goals.
Work towards a goal – a short term goal such as a buying a new dress, a pair of shoes, or a item you’ve been wanting for quite some time now. You want to make sure you have the money so you don’t overspend or become tempted to put it on a credit card (which is overspending since you don’t have the money anyways!).
Beth (aka Mom): Tip 2: Get control of your finances.
Know what’s coming in and know what’s going out of your bank account. Be honest with yourself, once you have a good idea of what your monthly expenses should be, keep track of every purchases, withdrawal and deposit for a least three months.https://c2105.allprowebtools-l30.com/console4.2/blog-content.php?id=59
Here are two links that will help you wrap your mind around budgeting and why you should gain control of your finances:
https://www.key.com/personal/resources/articles/3-quick-tips-for-monthly-budgeting.jspÂ
The second link will provide an online budget calculator to use when you’re first starting on your budget, which I encourage you to use as it’s simple and easy, which is what you want in the beginning.
Tip 3: View Money as a Gift.
Money can be a gift. You want a healthy respect for money, rather than fear it. It will reduce arguments and improve relationships because you and your family will know where your are going financially.
How do you overcome the fears and emotional attachment that people have with money?
Some people become fearful of money, letting fear control their money which leads to second guessing their money decisions. When in doubt, pray and make better and wiser decisions such as if you don’t have the money for a purchase, then don’t buy it.
Getting on a budget is no easy task; the first year of budgeting is always the hardest! You’re tracking what’s coming in and what’s going out and that can be frustrating. Budgeting takes between one – three months to become a habit for you. Don’t be scared of making this new habit.
Since it’s tough the first few months, take it easy and begin real small; save for a new dress, or a new pair of shoes, or something you’ve been wanting for a long time, but haven’t brought yet. Create a system that will allow you to pay yourself first (for the entrepreneurs out there) before paying your expense and overhead. Work your hardest to stick with your budget; it takes 21 days to create a new habit! Stick with it!
Â
I hope you were able to take away how you’ve been viewing money and how it has been affecting your budget making skills (I’m speaking to myself here). I have created a FREE downloadable worksheet that will ask you some tough questions and will give you a challenge to work on this month. If you have any budgeting tips or tricks, let me know as well.
This week on my social media, I will be talking about money, so be sure to like my Facebook and Twitter accounts to get in on the conversation.
Before I let you go, let me know via email ([email protected] of via Facebook) if you would like to have a personalized tutorial with my mom, Beth Railey, on showing you how to make a budget, step by step. I will be home in Georgia on March 30 – April 6 and would love to put together a free Zoom class on for those who are interested in learning how to budget like a pro. I would need to know this information before March 20, 2016, so my mom and I can work on how to teach you how to work a budget.
