It is one thing to create a great budget, it is another thing to stick to the budget. We have identified key activities that will aid you in sticking to your budget
Sticking to your budget
“Creating a budget says, I am in charge of my money while stick to it demonstrates that your are in charge.”
To effectively and successfully execute your budget, you should ensure that you;
Create a realistic budget
Create a realistic budget informed by an understanding of your daily/monthly income and expenses. Tracking your daily expenses helps give you a good understanding of your financial activities. Click here for steps on how to create realistic budgets.
Automate funds distribution
Ensure to set automatic debits from your salary/income account to your savings account. Also, where possible, create another debit for payment of bills and outstanding debts. This will ensure that you do not get tempted to buy stuffs you may not need.
Create an emergency fund
Ensure that you create an emergency fund different from your savings account. The emergency fund is designed to cater for short term unplanned surprises with adverse financial implications.
Minimize holding cash
Hold cash just enough to cater for your weekly expenses i.e. if you budget N10k for transport monthly, then ensure that every week you do not hold more than N2.5k for transport.
Maximize promo purchase
As much as possible, plan the purchase of heavy utensils (fridge, TV etc) and properties (Cars, furniture) around promo periods such as Black Fridays
Avoid unplanned expenses
Learn to say, "Not now" instead of "No". For most people it is difficult to say "No" to unplanned request however, learning to say "Not now" means you are not rejecting the request just pushing it to a period when you would have the resources. This will help reduce the chances of agreeing to take up unplanned favors.
Get an accountability partner
An accountability partner is someone who is encouraging enough to cheer you on and bold enough to call you out. This person has to be someone whose opinion you respect. Share your budget, your budget objective, progress and challenges with your accountability partner so that he/she can pull you back into track when you fall out of line.
Track your progress
Finally, track your progress and celebrate achievements when you make them.
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