Do you have a leak in your budget? You have sat down and assigned amounts to each category. You are doing great and should have a couple of hundred dollars left over every month. But when you come to the end of the month, the money that should have gone into savings is gone and you may owe money on your credit card. If this is happening, your budget has sprung a leak! So what can you do to find the leak and fix it?
First you need to find the leak. It is important to track your spending through the month. What categories did you go over on? Was there an unexpected car repair or medical emergency? Did you overspend in several categories? Or was there a category that you just didn’t plan for? Are there expenses that you do not know where to put in your budget?
Once you have asked yourself these questions you ought to be able to see what the problem was. You may need to adjust some of your categories. It is one thing to say that you will only spend $300.00, and another to actually stay below that limit. Is your spending connected to your emotions? You may need to address this issue. If you are overspending in fun categories you may want to set up the envelope system to help you limit your spending.
If you have cut back as far as you can, and you still are overspending you will need to look at other options. Is your car payment too much for your income? Can you really afford your mortgage? You may need to take a second job to pay for the lifestyle that you are living at. You may consider selling your cars and buying something you really can afford. You may consider downsizing your home or cutting back on extracurricular activities. It is all right to have one or two categories where you spend more than a lot of people as long as you are willing to cut back in others to make up the difference.
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