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While personal budgets promise a future of financial security and reduced stress levels, sticking to one is easier said than done. In fact, 70 percent of people with budgets struggle to stick to them, according to NYpost.com. This is because the majority find themselves compromising their budgets to buy things that they love.
Sticking to a budget should not feel like an uphill task that deprives you of happiness, but if the rewards are worth walking the extra mile for, why not consider it? To commit to sacrificing common luxuries for the sake of your budget, you ought to feel motivated enough. With the right level of continuous motivation, a large goal can be micromanaged and easily achieved.
Here are four tips for motivation:
Have an Accountability Partner
Living a budget-free life can often result in you depleting your income early and needing to borrow funds from those closest to you. To be safe, don’t borrow money from friends when you can get a job, according to Need Cash Now. Instead, use those closest to you as accountability partners with whom you can share your budgeting goals.
Having a trustworthy partner is good for encouragement and support. For instance, you can share weekly financial goals with them and check up on each other by the end of the week. Knowing that you are saving with someone else will help keep you on your toes.
Track Your Success
At first thought, a goal to save up to $5000 through a budget might seem daunting, and borderline impossible. However, when divided into small achievable goals, then this becomes easy to achieve. Subdivide your saving goals into small milestones which you can add to your budget as time goes by.
Once you achieve a certain milestone, celebrate because you deserve it. Don’t overdo it though. The motivation that achieving a single goal offers will spark an even bigger urge to achieve the rest of the goals. In case you fall short of your goals, then look for a way to correct any errors in your budget.
Create a Vision Board
Goals seem even more achievable when they can easily be imagined. Create a dream board either digitally or even on a piece of cardboard and place it somewhere you can see it often, according to Conscious Life News. For instance, place the board close to your fridge or at your bedside. When in doubt or tempted to break the budget rules, visit the board to remind yourself the main aim of saving up in the first place.
You can post items such as a house, a graduation gown or even a car on the dream board depending on what you aim to achieve from your budget. To enhance the saving plan even further, you can add a scale for showcasing how close you are to achieving your dreams.
Be Realistic With Your Budget
The fastest way to rebel against your set budget is to set one that compromises your comfort. Of course, the whole budgeting process is built around sacrificing some luxuries to achieve an even bigger goal, but this doesn’t mean that you have to live unhappily. Be realistic about the goals that you set to avoid de-motivating yourself.
For instance, eliminating groceries or entertainment from your monthly expenses to cut costs will only cause more harm than good. Learn to draw the line between expenses that can be ignored and necessities that you can’t live without. If you can do without something for a month or two, then you should consider eliminating it from your budget.
Conclusion
Following a budget to the letter is all about sacrifice and self-control. In return, you can get closer to turning your dreams into a reality, not to mention achieving financial security. Try visualizing your goals when budgeting to keep yourself motivated throughout the budget period.