"Free from financial stress"
How I did it
I was in desperate need of a budget. Basically, I was in quite a lot of debt, and I just spent everything I earnt with none left over to pay my debt. So I set my goal as sticking to a budget.
For the first month, I pretyy much spent as normal, but wrote down everything I spent. At the end of the month, I added everything up, using categories like "eating out", "drinking", "food", "utilities" etc to understand where I was spending moeny and where it would be possible to cut back.
Once I had done this for the first month, it took me a couple of days to come up with a meaningful budget where I cut back on certain areas (such as dining out), and increased areas like paying off debt and saving. It is useful to cut back as much as possible, but be realistic or you will find that you will always go over budget and this will demotivate you from continuing.
It meant I had to make some tough decisions - like chosing going out with friends over new clothes (I love new clothes!).
I printed a copy of my budget and took it with me everywhere.I would make a note of everything I spent, and each evening add up my spending and subtract it from the relevent category. When I ran out of money in each category, I would have to use all my will power to prevent me from spending any more in that month.After a while, I had more self control, and even found that I was begining to save in each category.
After a while, I started using an online budgeting program to keep track of my expenses as it took me too long with the paper way. I kept to my budget religiously for some time, and then I found that it started coming more naturally. Now, I don't have as much need for a buget as I have developed th will power to keep my spending well within my predetermined limits.
It was so worth it for me - I finally feel free from stress about my finances, and a lot more in control of my future.
I was in desperate need of a budget. Basically, I was in quite a lot of debt, and I just spent everything I earnt with none left over to pay my debt. So I set my goal as sticking to a budget.
For the first month, I pretyy much spent as normal, but wrote down everything I spent. At the end of the month, I added everything up, using categories like "eating out", "drinking", "food", "utilities" etc to understand where I was spending moeny and where it would be possible to cut back.
Once I had done this for the first month, it took me a couple of days to come up with a meaningful budget where I cut back on certain areas (such as dining out), and increased areas like paying off debt and saving. It is useful to cut back as much as possible, but be realistic or you will find that you will always go over budget and this will demotivate you from continuing.
It meant I had to make some tough decisions - like chosing going out with friends over new clothes (I love new clothes!).
I printed a copy of my budget and took it with me everywhere.I would make a note of everything I spent, and each evening add up my spending and subtract it from the relevent category. When I ran out of money in each category, I would have to use all my will power to prevent me from spending any more in that month.After a while, I had more self control, and even found that I was begining to save in each category.
After a while, I started using an online budgeting program to keep track of my expenses as it took me too long with the paper way. I kept to my budget religiously for some time, and then I found that it started coming more naturally. Now, I don't have as much need for a buget as I have developed th will power to keep my spending well within my predetermined limits.
It was so worth it for me - I finally feel free from stress about my finances, and a lot more in control of my future.
Tips & Advice
Stick with it, it gets easier!
Consider using a computer program to help you with this - it is really beneficial.
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Done this
Stick to a budget
I want to save more money - in fact I am spending more money than I have incoming!
The main issue is that I don't have good control of what I am spending on what and exactly what I have coming in.
For this reason, I know it is key to my saving that I now set and stick to a budget.
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