Budgeting Strategies

Even if you’re very conscientious about paying your bills on time and generally have frugal spending habits, creating and following a budget can put you so much further ahead. In essence, a budget is a plan for how you want to spend money. It details how much money comes in each month and how much you’ve allocated for spending on each thing. The virtue of a budget is that it puts you in control of financial decisions—so you can avoid surprises at the ATM or at the end of the month. Let’s look at some strategies for creating a budget:

• Be realistic: People are often intimidated by budgets because they’re afraid the plans will be too strict or force them to cut back too much. Though a budget may reveal that you indeed spend a lot of money on clothes, that’s okay—it may just also need to show that you spend very little on restaurants and eating out to make up for it. Again, it’s about making choices and being realistic.
• Choose a timeline: Creating a budget for a fixed period of time will help you monitor whether you’re meeting your financial goals. The timeline you choose is up to you and your goals. For example, you might create a monthly budget to monitor how you spend your paycheck every month.
• Add financial padding: Even if you feel like your list of financial obligations is already long, try to set aside a certain amount each month for a rainy day fund to pay for unforeseen expenses and emergencies, like car repair, lost textbooks, etc.
• Make adjustments as needed: While sticking to your budget is important, there’s nothing wrong with revisiting and adjusting your original targets. For example, if you find that you are actually spending $50 more per month on groceries than you intended (even after shopping for sale items), you may decide to save that money elsewhere in your budget next month—on entertainment, for example.

Pros and Cons of Budgeting

While budgeting can be a useful financial tool, it may not be for everybody. Some people may feel more confident by checking their bank account to see how much they have at any given time. Still, many argue that budgeting helps people stay on track and avoid overspending on wants such as restaurant food, clothes, and entertainment, so they always have enough money for needs, such as rent/mortgage, utilities, and food. The following lists summarize the advantages and disadvantages of budgeting.

Budgeting Pros

• Provides a realistic view of personal finances: A personal budget provides an honest snapshot of how much money you make and how much you can spend. It can help you avoid deceptive financial thinking, such as believing that you have a bunch of money right after pay day when you really need to save that money for an upcoming bill.
• Helps you avoid excess spending: Because a budget gives you insight into the total picture of your income and expenses, you can make realistic decisions about spending. As above, a budget can help you avoid having a faulty sense of your financial resources and remind you that even if you just got paid, most, if not all, of your check may need to go toward fixed expenses.
• Assists in goal setting: Since you get to decide how to allocate your money, a budget can help you set goals. For example, if you create a yearly budget, you could plan and account for an upcoming family trip and start saving money for it in advance without worrying about having the money at the last minute.

Budgeting Cons

• Budgets take energy: Planning a budget takes dedication. Since most students lead busy lives and are balancing different demands like work, school, and time with family and friends, it can be easy to slip up. For example, if you have a stressful week at work or school, you might overspend while going out with friends and forget how much you budgeted for leisure activities.
• Results take time: Since most budgets cover a time period of a month, year, or even longer, people may become frustrated waiting to see if their financial situation is better than it was before. Frustration can lead people to abandon their budget and go back to overspending or neglecting to save.
• Budgets may be strict: Remember that one of the important strategies for creating a successful budget is setting aside money for treats and extras such as entertainment. However, in an effort to become more financially disciplined, some people make budgets that are too restrictive and unrealistic. Severe budgets can backfire and lead to overspending in one area or abandoning the budget altogether.