There’s many ways to approach budgeting, and finding a way that works for us that is also simple is our aim! We’re revisiting a previous favorite episode to explore some minimal budgeting approaches – listen in!
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Notable Notes:
- What the Internet has to say:
- This article from Savvy Savers Academy lays the foundation for ‘why’ having a budget is a good thing. Most of us are on board with budgets being helpful – but this is a helpful argument in case you need a reminder 😉
- What Jen and Jill have to say:
- We agree with the point that budgets are glorified ‘plans’ for our money. Follow through can be difficult, but we have found that when we’re not planning we actually have anxiety about spending on anything, even things we need!
- Budgeting gives you a peace of mind on current spending and future living
- A good way to start is to track your spending
- try mint
- A budget gives control and freedom to spend
- More from the Internet:
- This article from Student Loan Hero outlines 5 different budgeting methods and how to incorporate them into your financial planning.
- More from Jen and Jill
- Jen uses a zero based or pay-yourself-first method so they can put the highest percentage possible to debt and savings
- Jen likes the idea of the envelope system and it works great for people like Allison of Inspired Budget who we had on the podcast (Episode 18), but it’s not for her
- Here are the different budgeting methods:
- Zero-based
- Pay-self first
- Envelope system
- 50/30/20
- No budget
BILL OF THE WEEK – Thank you Jocelyn for your bill! We appreciate our long time listeners – and we enjoyed the movie reference!
If you want to submit your bill of the week visit frugalfriendspodcast.com/bill to leave us a bill
Ways to Stick to Your Budget – Tips from the Frugal Friends Community!
- Sage gets paid the first of the month and will pay all her bills and debt right away then spend whatever’s left. And the key to her success in that is leaving her credit cards at home! Amia plans out the whole month in advance but gets paid bi-weekly so she sets her bills to come out on each of her paydays. And she also keeps the last credit card she hasn’t cut up at home.
- Christine uses two checking accounts so all of her monthly bills come out of one and she uses the other for spending. This is good if you don’t have the option of paying everything on 1 or 2 particular days.
- Juvy uses the Mint app to track her budget because she gets notifications when she’s nearing her limit. Apps are a great way to bring your budget with you. I also like HoneyFi it’s a similar budgeting app for couples. Whitney uses EveryDollar and Ashley uses YNAB, all can be configured with the zero-based budget.
- Sue reminds us to prioritize sinking funds in our budgets so we’re not surprised by those often forgettable or unpredictable annual or biannual expenses.
Wrap-Up:
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Thanks for listening! See you next week!