Sticking to a budget can be one of the most challenging things for pretty much anyone who is trying to budget for the first time.  Heck! You can struggle with your budget every single month if you are missing a few key things.

After years of refining my own budget, there are three simple tricks we use to stay on budget every single month.  If you implement these changes, you will easily be able to stick to your budget!

I would even dare to say, you will come in under budget!

There are certain things that can sabotage your budget throughout the month and cause you to spend more than you had planned on.

Related Post:

10 Things That Will Sabotage Your Budget

Some of these can be emergencies or irregular expenses you forgot about.  Those less frequent expenses can be planned for so they aren’t problematic anymore.  This is accomplished with sinking funds. If you want to make sure you have planned for those expenses you know will come every year, but they don’t happen every month you need to set up sinking funds.

Okay, so let’s say we are in a month with no emergencies and no sinking fund expenses.  Within this month, you should have no problem sticking to your budget. With no unexpected expenses or emergencies, life should be good.

But guess what?  You are still failing to stick to your budget!  Why does this keep happening? Chances are you are just missing a few simple things to help you stick to your budget month after month.

3 Simple Tricks to Stay on Budget Every Month

1.  Live One Month Behind

This has been one of the most beneficial things we ever accidentally did!  When I got my first real job, I only got paid once a month. This seemed like torture.  I started work on May 1 but then didn’t get paid for May until the end of June (every month I was paid for the previous month of work).

This forced us to start living a month behind.  Meaning, what I was paid in May, we used for our July budget.  But, this has been such a huge blessing!

This completely eliminates the stress and confusion of how to budget paychecks throughout the month.  When you live a month behind, you already know exactly how much money you have to work with for the month.  There is no guessing if you have an irregular income because you already know the exact amount you have available for the month.

The other added bonus for this way of living is you will have a month of expenses hanging out in your checking account (you can put it in a separate account if you lack self-control not to touch it until it’s time).  This gives you a sense of security knowing you aren’t going to overdraft. The money is already in your account!

You don’t have to stress out about the timing of your paychecks and when your bills are paid. It is totally freeing.

This will help you stick to your budget because you know the exact amount of money you have to work with.  You can’t say, “Oh, I think my next paycheck will be $XX.xx, so I can spend this much today.”

None of that!  You know how much money you have and there is no question about it.  No wiggle room to lie to yourself and make excuses to go over budget.

Related Posts:

4 Steps to Save One Month’s Income and Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

The Secret to Eliminate the Stress of Living Paycheck to Paycheck

DON’T HAVE YOUR BUDGET SET UP YET?  SIGN UP FOR ACCESS TO OUR FREE BASIC BUDGET SETUP SHEETS.  GAIN INSTANT ACCESS WHEN YOU SIGN UP BELOW!

2.  Use the Cashless Envelope System

The envelope system is the ultimate self-control enforcer.  If you struggle with self-control, you need to be using the envelope system.  

The envelope system is a visual accounting system to keep your spending in check.  Every month you will decide how much money you will spend for each of your envelope categories (food, restaurants, clothes, etc.).  

This money is tracked and when it is gone, it’s gone.  You can use the cash form of this with actual dollars in the envelopes.  I prefer to use the cashless method and just keep track using index cards.

This is the ultimate way to curb your spending.  You are telling yourself how much you want to spend in the month and then you have to listen to yourself.  You set the rules and then you follow them.

The envelopes will reinforce the budget you decided on.  When the money is gone. You are done spending it. No way around it.

Related Post:

How to Use the Cash Envelope System Without Cash

3.  Set a Realistic Budget

This is it.  This could be the one thing that turns it all around for you!

If you are cutting your budget as low as you possibly can, you need to make sure you aren’t setting yourself up for failure.  You need to have a realistic budget for your life.

If you know you spend $700 on food every month, you can not expect to cut it down to $300 the next month and actually do it.  It just won’t happen.

If you have decided to make a change and stop eating out for the next month, then it may be reasonable to decrease your budget to $500.  This could actually be accomplished if you stopped eating out.

In my life, I will order toiletries and cosmetics from Target so I can put everything in my cart and see the total before I purchase.  Let’s say my total for the month is $134. I will still budget $150 for that category to give myself a little wiggle room.

This is beneficial because it saves you if you accidentally drop your toothbrush in the toilet and need a new one (has this happened to you too?).  This also makes you feel awesome if you don’t spend any more money, then you actually were under budget for the month.  

This is a win-win!  

This trick alone has changed our motivation toward budgeting.  We feel good at the end of the month because we are right on target.

If you are staying within your budget or even under budget, you will be that much more motivated to keep making improvements and adjustments to reach your goals.  Be realistic and give yourself a little wiggle room.

The benefits will be so worth it!

Don’t try to conquer your budget in a day.  You are not going to go from never budgeting to being a perfect budgeter in a month.  It is a constant work in progress. If you start to use these simple budgeting hacks, you are definitely going to be able to stick to your budget every month.  Start living a month behind, put together your envelope system and give yourself a little wiggle room.  Once you have mastered staying on budget, you will be unstoppable!

Do you have any other tips that help you stay on budget every month?

DON’T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE BASIC BUDGET SETUP SHEETS.  START YOUR BUDGET TODAY WHEN YOU SIGN UP BELOW!

PIN FOR LATER!