When life gets in the way

Ever get the feeling hearing good advice that it’s good advice but it wouldn’t work in real life? Like something is a good idea in theory but it’d be hard to put into practice in real life? I definitely get that way sometimes, even with my own personal finance advice. Having all these lofty savings goals and budgeting is a good idea but sometimes life just gets in the way!

I feel like life always finds a way to kick you when you’re down. This month in particular has been a little rough. Being here in Atlanta, as I’m sure you all have seen, we got a little snow here that sort of brought the city to a halt. Of course we had to go out and buy extra groceries and fill our tanks up with gas. My Jeep of course needs an oil change and goodness knows it’s been super cold here so we’ve been running the heat more frequently. It always seems like things come up and demand both our attention and our money. Given this fact, how is one supposed to manage a budget, save some money and get on top of their finances?detour

1) Call a spade a spade.

Denying the fact that things will always pop up won’t make them go away. Go ahead and call it what it is, and learn to accept it. There’s always a little extra in my budget each month that gets used up for the odd little, sometimes big expenses that pop up that I can’t plan for. Learn to expect the unexpected.

2) Plan for the worst.

What’s your budget look like? Is it squeaky tight with no room for any variability? When you don’t leave any room for extras, those extras will pop up and force you to make room for them. Oh snap, check engine light on, better take the car in. Electricity goes out for an extended period of time and you have to buy all new food? Have a bunch of friends in town and you have to go out to eat three extra times? Learn to keep some of your budget under a ‘we’ll see’ category. Don’t use it all one month? Roll it over into the next month and build up a little cushion.

3) Keep a ‘semi-emergency’ fund.

I’m not talking about the real emergency fund here, the one that should be 3-6 months of expenses, kept away in a safe, separate place. I’m talking about building up a little cushion, using leftover money from a slower month and spending it in a pricier month. Perhaps you’ll even be lucky enough to build it up to a fairly sizable level and be able to eliminate that part of your budget you set up in #2.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Probably one of the most important pieces of advice that I can give is to keep a positive attitude. You are always going to have setbacks and months where you go over budget. When I got out of college I was essentially broke. I worked a $10/hour job for a couple of oven the before I started my ‘real job’. It took me a good 6 months before I started to feel that my finances were in a better place. I didn’t have an emergency fund and only saved 2% for my retirement (gasp!). It was definitely hard to stay positive during those times but I kept my head up. I was able to save a couple hundred of dollars each month. Slowly and little by little my finances were looking better, despite the setbacks.

Keeping a positive attitude and keeping your eye on the prize (financial freedom!) will help you breeze over the setbacks and financial annoyances that pop up. Learn to expect the worst, plan for it, and then be pleasantly surprised when you make it through the darker times!

 

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