Budgeting. Is that a word that strikes fear into your heart, or one that causes an excessive bout of yawning? Both are totally reasonable reactions, to be fair.

The bottom line is this – if you want to be able to afford the things in life that you covet, and if you want to live your days relatively free of money-related stress, it’s time to get down with budgeting.

Grab a calculator people, it’s time to get thrifty!

Why Budgeting is no Snooze-Fest

Okay, so anything which involves planning out money and being careful might sound like it will send you to sleep, but look at it this way – if you budget, you can treat yourself. That sounds better, right?

Budgeting is ensuring that you have enough cash to cover the things you need to cover in life, such as rent, bills, insurance, etc, whilst having enough to potentially save, or spend, depending upon your preference. It is advisable to save a little at least, but the ‘all word and no play’ rule still stands.

It’s not exactly rock ‘n roll, but budgeting has some major benefits:

• You will know exactly where you stand with your money
• You will have a little spare every month, to treat yourself without feeling guilty
• You’ll be able to pay your bills comfortably, and on time
• You can wave goodbye to money stress
• You’ll be able to save a little, and watch your nest egg grow – perhaps for something big in the future, such as a house or new car?

How to Budget

Setting up a budget is the boring part, we’re sorry to say, but once you’re past that, life gets easier. So, how do you exactly set yourself a budget?

• Sit down somewhere comfortable, where you’re not going to be disturbed
• Grab a glass of wine if you really need one!
• Write down how much cash you have coming into your bank account every month
• Now the hard part – write down every single thing which comes out of your bank every month. Make sure you’re realistic and you don’t miss any thing out. We’re talking about credit card bills, loans, rent, other household bills, etc. If you need to take another gulp of wine at this point, feel free
• Subtract your total outgoings, from your in total incomings – how much do you have spare?
• From your spare cash, come to a realistic and affordable amount that you can save every month. It doesn’t matter how small it is, the point is that you’re trying. Having said that, it does need to be more than $10 …
• The rest is yours to do whatever on Earth you want to do with it – that’s the fun part

It’s a great idea to look into high interest savings account as a place to store your growing savings. This means you’re not going to be dibbing into them every month, whilst they sit there all easily accessible in your regular bank account, and you’re going to be earning interest on them whilst they grow.

Budgeting Will Actually Change Your Life

As someone who was once very budget averse, I can stand as proof that budgeting really does change your life. The confidence in knowing exactly how much cash you have is liberating, and watching your savings grow is actually strangely addictive. Try it and see. You might even surprise yourself.