How do you get motivation to stick to your budget?

[SimplyMum]

Ok, so I'm great at setting up a budget but it's the sticking to it part that I can't do! I always go to the shops and think I'll just pick up a few things and walk out with stuff that WASN'T in the budget. Whether I needed it or not!:p

So how does everyone stick to their budget? Do you have seperate accounts? Do you give your keycard to someone else? Do you put posters up everywhere saying 'BUDGET'...... what do you do?

[Benji]

DP and I have a separate savings account that we put money in the day we get paid.

It's an account that we can't withdraw from unless we both go into the bank and sign a form to take money out so we have never actually gone in to withdraw because one of us will have enough sense not to :laughing:

We also sit down and work out which bills need paying and we pay them before we go out. Anything left over we can blow, of course provided we have full tanks of petrol and a cupboard full of food.

[spark]

The only way I can stick to a budget is to only use cash. When I go food shopping I leave my credit / debit card at home and I always take a list, and I stick to it.


DH gets paid monthly and so on payday I draw out $700 which is what we have allocated for food (includes cleaning products), and I know that once that's gone, it's gone. It's hard but I've found in the past I would budget so much for the month but it would be $200 or $300 more, because I've used my card and have had no way of tracking it.


It's hard and annoying to do, but I also meal plan for the week and I only buy what I require for those meals. If I just buy bits of this and that with the aim of making the meals up as I go I always think “there's no food in the house” and we end up getting takeaway. :D And I would be forever throwing away sad wilted veg every week.


So that's how it works for us, and I guess because I know I only have so much to spend, if I overspend one week I will have to make up for it by being tight the next week.


Hope that helps :)

[SimplyMum]

The only way I can stick to a budget is to only use cash. When I go food shopping I leave my credit / debit card at home and I always take a list, and I stick to it.


DH gets paid monthly and so on payday I draw out $700 which is what we have allocated for food (includes cleaning products), and I know that once that's gone, it's gone. It's hard but I've found in the past I would budget so much for the month but it would be $200 or $300 more, because I've used my card and have had no way of tracking it.


It's hard and annoying to do, but I also meal plan for the week and I only buy what I require for those meals. If I just buy bits of this and that with the aim of making the meals up as I go I always think “there's no food in the house” and we end up getting takeaway. :D And I would be forever throwing away sad wilted veg every week.


So that's how it works for us, and I guess because I know I only have so much to spend, if I overspend one week I will have to make up for it by being tight the next week.


Hope that helps :)

That does Spark. I think I might try and do this from now on. I will be going to be the bank once a week, getting out what I need for the week- taking a calculator to shopping and only spending what I have in my wallet.
I have also put a sticker on my debit card saying 'IS IT IN THEN BUDGET?' Hopefully that helps.

[SweetSerenity]

Hey Lee,

The thing that makes me stick to my budget is knowing what the otucome will be :)

Like I work out how much I will have saved in such and such time, and it gets me so excited, so it then makes me more motivated to stick to it.

For me, just the whole idea of keeping on top of my finances and seeing what my savings could be in the future is what keeps me on the right track :D

Also, every week when my money comes in, straight away I put allocated money into whichever account it has to go in, or bill etc. That way there's no chance of me blowing it on other things :)

[Ana Gram]

I find it pretty easy. If I don't stick within my budget, I will have no money. I find that excellent motivation :D

[Funkychicken]

Something I have learned is to pay my bills and transfer our savings before I go food shopping. I do all my banking on the internet on a weekly basis (only because we are paid weekly).

I have a spreadsheet set up with everything that will need to be paid regularly listed and I fill in the gaps at least once month ahead, so that each time I open the spreadsheet to pay bills, I know what has to be paid that week. It kind of looks like a wall calender.
I pay all the bills, transfer into a savings only (no card access etc...) account and then go shopping.

Prior to the internet I used to do all this manually. I drew up a chart, went in to 'town' once a week and did the banking, paid all my bills etc... and then went shopping.

Prioritizing what is most important is the first step.

Good luck.:)

[HugsAndKisses]

we stick to our budget by having a limit each week of wat we can spend on luxuries....for example every week we have $130 to do with as we please and we stick to it by writing down wat we spend in the week out of this money...even the smallest thing like a can of coke...

also we have a goal to pay our car off sooner which keeps us motivated to stay within our budget...

hope that helps!