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Feeling anxious on what to do with your first pay? Or have you finally found a way to budget your money properly?
Money can also be your friend and enemy at the same time. But do not be confused in these statements. It will be a friend if you know how to manage because it will provide everything that you need. Like you can use it as a payment for your water and electric bills, food, transportation, and many more. However, it can also turn as your enemy if you do not guide yourself about ways on how to deal with your over spending matters.
Here are some of the budgeting struggles that every adult encounter in handling their money as mentioned by the article, “10 Big Budget Challenges And How to Tackle Them”, which will be a great help to maintain your finances:
First, indecisive about finances.
One of the biggest challenges when being an adult is their incapability to save their money. Once you get your monthly salary, of course it is impossible to control your longing to spend it already by purchasing many items including expensive products. Having your own money feels good because it is a reward for your labor in work but keep in mind that just like any other things, money will also disappear from your hands in a couple of seconds if you do not prevent yourself from buying random objects. When you go inside a mall or stores, think ten times if you really needed the product or will it give massive benefits for you in the future.
But there are other ways to combat your indecisiveness in financial matters. You can either have a consultation with a finance expert for guidance or you can search online about different advices that people can help about budgeting money. Get a notebook and write down all the instructions they will recommend so that you will have ideas on how to regulate your money wisely.
Second, is shopping impulsively.
Do you remember the movie, “Confessions of a Shopaholic?”, wherein a woman drowns herself in shopping from different luxurious stores without noticing that she is spending almost her entire income lavishly? Like what I said, it is impossible to control your impulse and save money especially when you finally achieve your first payment. However, possessing money is a big responsibility. As an adult your duty is to ensure that your money and savings will be safe from irrelevant expenses and controlling your action towards it. Set limitations on checking out items in online stores and shopping trips. You may get tempted on that beautiful dress that you sight from them or aesthetic shoes that goes in your newsfeed but shake your “spending” thoughts away and think that there will always be a right time for you to buy those products.
Third, is not having financial goals.
Remember the reasons why you need to make money in the first place. Is it because you just want to buy all of the things that you want? Or are there are any deep intentions about it? Financial goals, on the other hand, means having realistic plans that will decide where will your money go in the future. For example, if you are young and adventurous, you can set a financial goal for your personal vacation trips after working for months. You can build an emergency fund especially in these times where health problems still continue to emerge and affect a lot of people, you can save money for it to secure both your family and personal safety. You can also save money to your bank so when the time comes that you want to establish your own family, a loving partner and kind-hearted children, then it is now finally time to build a house for them.
Preparing a retirement plan should be one of your financial goals too. It will be the overall income that will make you reminisce all your labor, and hardships that you encounter during those days when you are feeling hopeless about your career and entering countless jobs makes it even harder for you to vision your future if you will end as victor or not. But once you finally landed a stable career that can make you feel truly happy in which you think that all your efforts will be recognize until the end. So it is better to be prepared in the future and think activities that you can do in your retiring days and cherish those days in which you can enjoy your serene time.
(Do you still want to expand your knowledge in budgeting? Kindly read “10 Big Budget Challenges And How to Tackle Them” complete article in this link : https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/blog/budget-challenges/)
As listed by the article, “ How to do a budget”, from Moneysmart, here are some of the steps that will help you create a budget:
Step 1 : Record your income.
Record your incoming money and outgoing expenses or make a journal about it. In this way you can track down where your money goes and how you can place restrictions upon yourself. Determine the following questions : how much, where from, and how often. In the “how much” category, check the prices of every product that you want to buy and if it exceeds the amount of your expectations, then do not buy it or chose for an alternative like looking for that product and same quality but offers in a cheap price. And in the “where from” category, check if your incoming money comes from your house if you have a small business, government’s benefits, company’s overtime pay, or even income from investments. While in the “how often” category, distinguish your earnings weekly, monthly or yearly, quarterly and more to see if your money has reach developments or not.
Step 2 : Set your spending limit.
It is important to have a spending limit because if you let your wants dominates needs, then the possibility of having money 40’s and above will slightly decrease because of your rash shoppings and unnecessary costs. But if you are the kind of person who really enjoys going shopping to relieve your stress then, write a schedule about it. For example, you can purchase products on a specific date only, then afterwards your next transactions would be for the following months. Separate your money into two : one is for buying essential goods while the other is for your entertainment reasons only.
Step 3 : Adjust your budget.
Reduce your spending habits and focus on your priorities. Put your money in a safe compartment, like stashing it inside an envelope and everyday fill it with your remaining cash exclusively only for important matters like emergencies, unexpected bills and so forth. In this way, you will not be the tempted to use it for your shopping interests again. With this step, you can now learn the importance of saving money and how to budget it in a proper method.
(This article namely “ How to do a budget”, list all the simple methods that you can do to handle your budget. Do you still want to know more? Kindly read its full content here in this link : https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/how-to-do-a-budget)
Altogether, budgeting is an effective method in protecting our money and also a practice of discipline. Money cannot buy our happiness but we need this to purchase our basic needs. Without it, there will not be a balance in this world because money is the heart of our taxes. Wherein we need to contribute for our country too so that it will make advanced improvements that will help our beloved countrymen in their lives. Since we are young, the adults are constantly reminding us the value of money and now, being an adult also means not just to be responsible in life but also how to strategize our financial matters so that we will not be penniless in our desired future.
REFERENCES/LINKS:
https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/blog/budget-challenges/
https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/how-to-do-a-budget
All images are from : https://www.pexels.com/
