When we sat down to pay off our massive amount of debt, we knew we had to start a budget and get our finances under control. There was one aspect of starting our budget and paying off our debt that kept holding us back from getting started.
The most difficult part of budgeting is the emotional aspect of it. Fear plays a large role at the beginning of budgeting because you are coming face-to-face with your debts and potentially low savings, which could be very difficult to face that reality.
The other emotion that plays into budgeting difficulty is losing willpower along the way. When a lofty goal is set (like paying off a large amount of debt), it can be very difficult to keep up a very minimalistic lifestyle in order to achieve that goal.
Emotions play a significant role in budgeting and are the most difficult part of budgeting. Once you are able to get ahead of those difficulties, budgeting can feel much easier.
The great news is that there are ways around these huge budgeting difficulties! Most people run into these budgeting difficulties but persevere and achieve their financial goals.
Read on to find out how you can make budgeting as easy as possible.
Why is it hard to follow a budget?
There are quite a few people out there that try and fail at budgeting. When you are accustomed to spending whatever you want whenever you want, it can be hard to reign in your spending and follow a budget month after month.
As a whole, people find failure the reason it is hard to follow a budget. Some examples of what people find as failure in budgeting include overspending, low income, and forgetting to make adjustments to their budget. The effects of poor budgeting can cause many to give up on budgeting.
The most important bit to remember is to learn from what is deemed as a failure. If you overspend, pull from other budget categories to ensure your budget as a whole is not affected. If you feel you have a low income that cannot support your budget, find ways to cut your budget down to meet your income or pull in other income.
In order to make budgeting as easy as possible, it’s important to make the aspects you can control as seamless and easy as possible.
What aspects of budgeting can you change up to make it as easy as possible?
- Choose the budgeting method that is easiest for you to keep coming back to month after month
- Use the cash envelope system to ensure you stay on budget
- Treat yourself (but save up for it) to little wins – paid off $1,000 of debt? Treat yourself to a meal out!
- Make adjustments to your budget every month – this not only ensures you stay on budget, but it also keeps you in touch with your budget each month
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Why people fail in budgeting (and how to jump that hurdle)
It hurts when you feel like you’ve failed at budgeting. That happened to us countless times before we found a way that stuck.
The main reason people fail or quit budgeting is that they allow small failures along the way to derail and ultimately stop them from budgeting. These small failures could be overspending, not committing to keeping up with the budget, and leaving out some expenditures (and therefore going over for the month).
These minor setbacks cause many to feel that budgeting is too hard for them. Instead of making corrections along the way, they may decide to give up on budgeting.
It is extremely important to learn from these failures and to keep up with your budget. Many, if not all people experience these setbacks at one point or another, but the part that differentiates those that continue budgeting from those that don’t continue is learning from failure and persevering.
In order to jump those hurdles, let’s see how to overcome common budgeting challenges:
| Budgeting problem | Solution |
| Overspending | Temporarily, pull from other budget categories to ensure you do not go in the negative for the month |
| No commitment | Try a different budgeting method; the one you’re using may not be appropriate for you |
| No funds for fun | Either allocate a small amount towards entertainment or find fun things to do for free |
| Leaving out monthly expenses | Go through your bank account charges to see what might be left out |
These common budgeting problems aren’t all-encompassing, but they are problems that many people face while they’re going through the process of starting and keeping up with a budget.
I can’t stress this enough: don’t give up on budgeting when you’ve hit a minor setback! There are always ways to get through these setbacks and get back on track.
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