Spring Cleaning Your Budget

We all know that Spring is a popular time to clean our homes out after a long winter, but have you considered spring cleaning your budget? Now is a great time to stop and assess what is and isn’t working for you. Here are a few points for you to consider:

Sticking to Your Budget

Did you start a new budget in January, but haven’t really been able to keep it? Is it a matter of not keeping track? Or have unexpected items come up that threw you off? Whatever it is, take some time to carefully review what went wrong. Take the time to look at that and make necessary changes in order to get back on track.

Forgetting to Budget

This is a common mistake that a lot of people make! Either once a month or every two weeks, schedule a time on your calendar either alone or with your significant other to physically write out your budget. Place it in a place that you access regularly.

Not Saving Enough

It can be extremely difficult at times, but are you doing everything you can to save enough? Often emergencies that completely throw off your budget are the result of failure to plan/save enough. Financial experts such as Dave Ramsey recommend having an emergency fund of at least $1000 in the bank.

Building an Emergency Fund

$1000 may sound like a lot of money and even completely out of the question for many. However, you’d be surprised how quickly you can make a little here and there. For example, take on one babysitting job every weekend for a month, sell some items you don’t use anymore on Ebay or at a garage sale, offer to do some chores in exchange for cash for a neighbor or family member, try couponing for a month and see what you can save on groceries, don’t eat out for an entire month–the options are endless.