3 Ways to Get Thinking about a Budget Differently: Part 1
Updates made on March 22, 2024
I searched “budgeting” in Google and got 791 million search results. Budgeting is often defined in different ways, but I like to think about it as a guideline for how you want to spend your money compared to your income. Both your income and spending are key in creating a budget that works for you.
In the budgeting world there are so many rules, methods, percentage breakdowns, etc. I finally found a method that works for me because it doesn’t feel restrictive.
I’m excited to share my thoughts to get other women excited, not fearful, of budgeting! Here are 3 tips to start thinking about budgeting differently:
Think about your relationship with money
Your relationship with money isn’t either good or bad. You can start to think about your relationship with money by answering the following questions:
How does earning money make you feel?
How does spending money make you feel?
Do you feel anxious about money? If so, is this related to a specific event or how you saw others spend in the past?
Do you feel like you need to learn more about managing your money?
Do you feel shame about previous purchases?
These are tough questions and wherever you are is completely okay. Even as someone who loves to talk and read about money it can still be a source of anxiety for me.
It may feel like you never have enough and you don’t know exactly how much money you need for the future. Starting to self-reflect and understand your relationship with money is key to starting a successful financial future. It can also help you uncover challenges you would like to overcome.
If you don’t have a budget, spend 30-45 minutes looking at last month’s statements
Take a closer look at how you spend. I recommend looking at your most used credit or debit card statement from last month. Scan through your charges and answer the following:
What surprises you?
In your opinion, where did you over or underspend?
Did your purchases bring you value?
Were they necessities?
Are there areas you would like to cut back on?
Was there a subscription or autoship you completely forgot about?
Was last month average? Or were there large expenses that made the month unique?
Now, stop and take a breath, you did a brave thing and confronted your money! Examining and uncovering how you interact with money is key to this process.
Find a budgeting method that works for you
It has taken me years to find the budgeting tool that works best for me. I have tried Mint, Google spreadsheets, budgeting notebooks, a planner, etc.
I found Copilot in 2022 and I am still sticking to my budget using their app. Copilot is a user-friendly budgeting tool that allows me to change my budget monthly, easily examine or correct my budget categories and not feel restricted in any way.
The app also makes it easy to split expenses. For example, if I use my credit card to pay for an entire dinner and my friends Venmo me their portion of the check, I can exclude the Venmo amounts so that my budget reflects what I actually spent, rather than an entire group’s meals. You can also exclude expenses. I found this helpful when traveling for my previous job and knew I would get my travel expenses reimbursed.
There you have it, 3 steps to get started on your budgeting journey. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting more tactical steps to continue your budgeting journey. Your future self will thank you!
P.S. This is not sponsored by Copilot and all opinions are my own. I have had a great experience with Copilot as a company and like the product they created. If you want to check out Copilot you can use my referral code POINTS4C to get 2 months free (compared to 1 month free) with this link
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Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. My suggestions are simply suggestions and not financial advice. You should always consider your personal financial situation and what works best for you prior to making financial decisions because personal finance is… well… personal.
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