Okay so here’s the thing. Despite the fact that these past few weeks have been busy with finishing grad school and what not, I have to admit that I was just embarrassed to write anything on this blog.
To be real, budgeting has been extremely difficult and I didn’t want to admit to everyone how terribly awful I am at doing this. So naturally, I would just pretend this blog doesn’t exist and try to move on.
However, in a few weeks I am getting married and moving to New York City with my soon-to-be. With the wedding around the corner and trying to plan finances for the future, I am realizing that my budget is so incredibly important and I need to be disciplined in not only that, but many other areas of my life. Looking back at all the projects or even assignments from my past, I realize that I’m great at vision but stink at disciplining myself to keeping up with it. Not just budgeting, but even blogging too. My life needs more discipline, and I have a feeling I’m not the only one.
If you’re anything like me then you probably need some discipline in a few areas of life as well. Here’s a few reasons to why discipling is so, so important.
Without discipline, you can kiss your $$$ goodbye
First things first, if I’m not disciplining myself towards my budget, then I’m allowing myself to grab my money by the fistful and throw it down the toilet. Looking at my bank account this past weekend was kind of painful, realizing how much I spend without even thinking about it. If I don’t keep up with every purchase on my budget, then dozens of purchases later I look at my bank account shocked at how my money magically disappeared.
If you’re not logging, you’re hogging
Is it possible to be hogging your own money since, well, it’s yours? Well yes! If I’m not logging every single purchase, then I end up hogging the money that was meant for other purchases. Put it this way, if I go and spend $10 on a sandwich and drink for lunch during work and not logging it, then I can kiss that Netflix subscription money goodbye. It’s hard to discern what can be spent or not spent if it’s not being logged along the way.
Be careful swiping
Living in a city, I’m a fan of not having to carry around my cash everywhere. Although I have numerous friends who use the paper system when it comes to budgeting, I get a bit nervous carrying around all of that money with me. However, it’s easy for me to swipe, swipe, swipe, and forget that I’m still handing over all of that cash. It seems daunting, but if you use the Best Budget app like me, then I would recommend logging after EVERY swipe.
Ask for a receipt
Receipts really can be annoying swimming around in the wallet, but they are perfect for discipling a budget. Let’s get real, sometimes I’m in a rush when I purchase something and forget to log. Instead, I always take a receipt when asked and place it in my wallet. At the end of the day I go through each receipt and enter them into my budget. If you purchase something online, you could always screenshot the purchase, but only if you’re diligent about emptying your desktop daily.
Be confident in what you own/love
When it comes to discipline, I think this simple fact is what’s so important. It’s easy for us in new seasons or trends to want to go spend money on food, clothes, and other fun things that we feel we “need” in order to have a food time. To be honest, I fall for this all the time. I’m especially a sucker for trying new restaurants or coffee shops in the city, or thinking of reasons to why I need to buy that tank top. It’s really hard to be disciplined, especially when it comes to city living, but it’s so important.
In order to apply more discipline in my life, here’s a few things I’m changing in my daily routine:
Blogging waaaay more
A subscription on Squarespace costs around $12 a month. For a tight budget, it can seem steep. However, I want to fill my days this coming month by working on my blog. By spending time blogging I’m saving money, which means that that $12 a month only costs 40 cents a day to blog. Worth it.
Reading in free parks
I have SO many books on my bookshelf that I still haven’t read. So instead of spending more money trying new cafes or restaurants (while in return just adding more pounds that I ALSO don’t want), I’m going to spend some afternoons on the beach or in a park reading.
Cooking at home
My fiancé and I are huge fans of Paprika. It allows us to add recipes and meal plan for the week. So instead of the typical what-do-you-want-for-dinner routine and settling on tacos (again), we have meals planned ahead of time which means NO spending throughout the week. Praise.
My hopes in adding a disciplined routine in my day, then my budget will also be disciplined. Hopefully. Crossing my fingers.
Anyone else struggling with discipline in their budget? I want to hear your story! Feel free to comment or shoot me an email at kiersten.sinko@gmail.com. Or social media, obviously (Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Pinterest, and much, much more).
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