I talked with someone recently who mentioned they decided to sit down and have a look at their finances.
It seemed they were just not getting ahead, but didn’t know why. They asked themselves the question that we’ve all asked plenty of times:
“Where is all my money going?”
After sitting down and taking a look at their financial statements, they realized something. There, right before their eyes, black and white and plain as could be – they found the culprit.
They realized they were spending a ton of money on going out to eat!
It didn’t seem like it throughout the month. A dinner here – out with friends for a bite there, but it all added up.
We all do this with our money management don’t we? We do really well with our financial budgeting for a while and then all of a sudden we realize we aren’t doing quite as well as we should be.
Let’s take a look at why regular reviews are essential to reaching our goals:
We Often Go Astray
It’s in our nature to slack on anything that takes hard work and discipline.
Whether it’s diet and exercise, spending less than you make, saving more money or personal budgeting - it really doesn’t matter what it is – the truth is that it’s difficult to maintain consistent discipline.
We go astray. We make dumb mistakes. We splurge here, spend a little more than we should there. It’s natural.
Every so often, we need to do a check-up.
We need to recalibrate back to what we should be doing.
Take your personal budget and sit down to see how far off you are when it comes to your money management.
Don’t Miss Out!! Sign up for FREE Delivery of Redeeming Riches – Straight to Your Inbox!
We Think We Know, But We Don’t Know
This is easy to do as well. Life is busy. So we just continue doing what we are doing and in our minds we think we’ve got a good handle on where our money is going and what we need to watch out for with our personal budgeting.
But do we really know? If we were honest we’d admit that there are times when we think we know what’s going on with our finances, but we really don’t know.
That’s why some of us are so surprised when we sit down and perform a money management check-up. We see the numbers staring us in the face. There is no denying the truth of those numbers.
After a while of being on cruise control, we think we know how much we are spending and how we are doing, but we really don’t know.
The One Constant
Lastly, the one thing we can always count on in our money management and personal budgeting is change.
This is the one constant right? Things are constantly changing.
Maybe you are making less money – or hopefully more. Maybe you had a change to your situation, like having a baby or getting a promotion.
And don’t forget, expenses are always changing – usually they are going up – and that always affects the budget.
That means regular check-ups are not only a good idea, they are essential to getting ahead and staying ahead financially.
Don’t set it and forget it. Don’t put your personal budgeting on cruise control.
Instead, be proactive. Be on top of the game. Be ready for changes and be ready to adapt.
What Are Your Thoughts?
It’s easy to go astray. It’s also much easier to assume we know where our money is going than taking the time and energy to sit down and take a realistic look at our personal budgeting.
It’s also easy not to change the budget even though things around us are changing constantly.
So, perform regular reviews of your personal budget and keep your money management in good shape!
How often do you do personal budgeting reviews or check-ups?
5 Bible Verses About Finances That Will Change Your Life
5 Ways to Get Fit on a Budget
IRA Withdrawal Rules – When Can You Withdraw Your IRA?
Well Paying Careers: 30 Jobs That Pay $30 Per Hour
10 Money-Saving Tips to Help You Stash $10,000!
Should You Give Money to a Homeless Person?
7 Most Important Habits That Rich People Use to Build Wealth
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
If I’m doing well, I will check about 3 times a week. However, once I begin to slack, I can go a few weeks without even looking at my bank account online (let’s not even bring up Excel and Quicken)!
Khaleef – 3x a week? Wow! That’s impressive. You’re right tho, once you get off track it’s hard to reign it in.
I learned from my own experience that understanding the right philosophy is one thing while embarking on and sticking with the good budgeting practice for the long run, is another. For me this is where good tools came to play, helping me not only understand why I should budget diligently but actually do it. The little tool gem that did the trick for me is a little free personal budgeting website that you will not see listed among the leading financial websites it’s simple to use, very functional, totally anonymous (no personal identity or access to bank accounts required) and it is apparently gaining popularity among students all over the world.
It’s called Out Of The Dark (OOTD) if you want to check it out (myootd.org).
Understanding your income and expenses and striking a correct balance between the two is very important. There are some expenses that cannot be avoided at all. This is where budgeting comes in to play.
What has been for so many years a constantly nagging question for me, slowly developed to an obsession regarding this one simple question:
Why can I not tell my money where to go rather than constantly wonder where it went?
And it took me too may years to find the true answer, true and simple:
Because budgeting was not part of my financial living.
As soon as I understood and embraced this, my financial life changed dramatically. These days with computers and the internet budgeting has become easier then ever. One of the best free budgeting website that I found is “Out Of The Dark” OOTD Budgeting not only because it makes budgeting so effortlessly easy but also because it explains so well why do it.
That’s great to hear! Thanks!
Understanding what you can cut back on and what you can’t is a big key.
{ 3 trackbacks }