We all want to have tons of money, am I right? Life will be so much less stressful without money worries. I am here to tell you, a budget is going to be your way to not have money stress anymore. Your budget is your plan to make sure you know where your money is going.
However, even the best-laid plans can sometimes go awry. I have found over the years of budgeting, there are a few speed bumps that come up over and over again that can totally throw me off my budget.
As time has gone on, I have learned how to combat these common pitfalls and stick to my budget month after month.
If you are struggling with budget sabotage, this is totally for you!
Why Your Budget Is Failing and How to Fix It:
1. Your food purchases are out of control.
This is definitely the number one budget buster for most folks. I swear, I make a budget, then my pantry just laughs at it and says, “Just wait until the end of this month when you are $200 over budget!”
Most people budget for food based on a guestimate of what they will spend in the month. This guestimate is based on their average food expenses in prior months. Once that number is decided, groceries are purchased and life is good.
BUT, then you have a late night or you are super tired and that drive-thru is so much less effort than figuring out what to eat at home. You and your husband just want to have some quality time so you decide to go to a restaurant together. You forget to pack food for your kid’s sporting events so you go nuts at the concession stand and everyone has pizza, hot dogs and nachos for dinner.
Life happens and before you know it, you have spent your entire food budget and sometimes almost double that amount on other food. You swear you will do better the next month and try again. I lived this pattern for my entire first year of budgeting.
How to fix it:
The answer to this problem of going over your food budget is super simple.
Have a plan.
Alright, there may be more to it than that. You have to be committed to not going over your food budget. You need to have some level of self-control to say no to the drive-thru and no to restaurants.
This becomes way easier when you meal plan. This was a game-changer for my family. Meal planning reduced our grocery budget from $700/month to $250/month for a family of 4.
There are two ways to do this.
Meal plan yourself.
This is totally doable, but you have to keep it simple. If you try to get too fancy with this when you are first starting out, you are will get overwhelmed and give up. I guarantee it. If you want to try it on your own, start with some of my basic plans.
Related Posts:
What’s for Dinner? How to Easily Plan a Month of Meals
Monthly Meal Plan on a Budget: Less than $100 for a Family of 4
The Life-Saving 12 Week Rotating Meal Plan
Have someone else meal plan for you.
After meal planning on my own for a while, I got bored with my meals and couldn’t find the creativity to come up with new meals. This is when I found Tonya with Meal Squeeze. It is a super affordable meal plan service (really, it’s so much value for the low cost!), with creative and delicious meals.
Check out my full review of Meal Squeeze to learn all the details about it!
If you want to go straight to the source, just check out the Meal Squeeze website.
I am in love with this meal plan because the meal plan and shopping list is done for me with zero effort on my part.
2. You have a sudden need for entertainment.
We are all creatures of habit. My husband and I are avid movie lovers. Going to see a movie was our thing. No plans on a Friday? We’ll just go see a movie!
When you are living on a budget, there can be this feeling of monotony like you are stuck in a rut doing the same stuff all the time. Or should I say, not doing anything all the time?
When my husband and I first started budgeting, we went extreme and cut out all fun from our lives. We thought all entertainment cost money so we just wouldn’t do anything.
This is a common misconception that can lead you into doing nothing….ever. This will make you resent budgeting and totally quit. OR, you will do what we did and just go totally overboard the other way out of frustration, and do every paid activity you can think of.
Variety really is the spice of life. You can only do the same thing for so long. It is super unrealistic to think you can just hunker down with no entertainment for a long time without going completely nuts.
How to fix it:
Entertainment doesn’t have to be expensive. If you start paying attention to some alternative options, you will find the possibilities for new activities that don’t break the bank (and tons are free!) are everywhere.
Check out your local area activities (concerts, boat parades, festivals, etc.) for free or super cheap events and put them on the calendar and in your budget. This creates anticipation for a fun event that will keep your hunger for entertainment satisfied. Once you schedule something fun, you won’t feel so deprived.
Get back in touch with nature. Something as simple as going for a hike on a new trail can be stimulation enough to get you through another week of working and budgeting without losing your mind.
Get a little bit creative on what adventure means to you. Check out a frisbee golf course to try something new, look for an old drive-in for a cheap movie night or find a $1 bowling night. Once you start looking for cheap activities, you will find there is an abundance of them available.
Who knows? You may just find a new hobby you really enjoy!
