Whether you’ve just started your budget or are a veteran in the budgeting world, make sure you have included these 5 categories in your budget!
Goals:
Probably my number one tip on budgeting is to focus on your goals.
When you have a goal that your budget is focused on, you have motivation to stay within your budget and earn that goal!
I get so excited when I start thinking about the goals I have in my budget.
Make sure to think about your goals each time you work on that budget to reinforce your excitement and hope. You might even enjoy imagining your feelings when you reach that goal or collecting pictures to represent that goal and keeping them in a place you see often.
If your goal is to get out of debt, take a minute to imagine yourself making that last payment! Wahoo! Won’t it feel amazing to get that off your back?!
If your goal is to buy a house, you might start looking at paint colors you love. Oooh! Won’t it look nice?
If you’re planning a vacation, google pictures of the places you’ll see. Ah, it will be so relaxing!
Let that excitement drive you and encourage your smart spending choices!
Charity:
There are things in this world more precious than money, and I find that when we donate our money to good causes and other people, we understand that principle a little better.
Money is a tool we can use to gain education, support family, and help others. If we are making money simply to have more things, we are missing the point of living.
Find some charities that are important to you.
Donate to them.
Feel great about it.
Understand that life is bigger than you and more important than your possessions. I know that you’ll be blessed even more in life when you choose to give to others.
Him/Her:
If you are a married couple, it is important to include budget categories for both him and her.
These categories can be super small; maybe just $5 a month.
However, this allows for each partner to have a little bit of money that is just theirs.
This allows you to buy something small without taking away from the family goals. Sometimes you just reeeeally want that snowcone or makeup product.
The him/her categories also help minimize the tension between the saver and spender in the family.
Maybe one spouse is a saver and chooses to save up that $5 dollars each month to buy something big. Maybe the spender loves to buy new things each month and needs to get that little fix in.
The rest of the budget should be ‘ours’, but the him/her categories are simply ‘yours’ and ‘mine’.
Gifts:
Why earn money when you can’t even shower your friends and family with love on their special days?!
Especially for those whose love language is gifts (@ me!), it’s important to have a fund dedicated to spoiling people.
With this fund in place, you’ll be able to bring flowers to your mom on mother’s day, get each other birthday balloons, and purchase something on your bestie’s wedding registry.
Gift giving is fun, don’t miss out!
Other:
You should have an ‘other’ fund for random stuff that simply doesn’t fit into other categories.
Once, I wanted to buy paint to upcycle some nightstands but we didn’t have a ‘home improvement’ or ‘craft’ category.
Another time, I had to pay for a renewed passport. Another time, we got sombreros to welcome my brother home from Mexico… you get the idea.
All of these random purchases came from our other fund. We didn’t have to skimp on groceries or take from our personal funds. Instead, we got to utilize our ‘other’ fund.
Add these categories to your budget today to pave the way for better budgeting tomorrow!
What other budget categories do you have? Tell me in the comments below!
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