5 Reasons You Don’t Stick to a Budget

When I think about how to stick to a budget I think about the time when my husband came to me with the idea that we should do the Keto diet and I was very hesitant. There were so many reasons why I knew I couldn’t stick to this diet. So, I really fought him on it.

• First, it meant we’d have to throw away a lot of food. Like a lot. Which I hate doing. I don’t like wasting things.
• Second, it meant I would have to get rid of my cookies. I loved my cookies and didn’t want to get rid of them. So, I figured I could do a “partial Keto” diet and still be okay. I could eat better but just finish off my cookies. Once they were gone I’d be fully on the Keto Diet.
• Third, we had already tried doing the Keto diet and were successful for awhile. But, just like all other diets we tried, we eventually quit and failed and so we went back to our old habits.

This is the same way with budgeting. Most people that try to budget find obstacles that cause them to quit budgeting. However, I have found some amazing solutions to help you overcome your fears if you want to stick to a budget.

Here are the top 5 reasons why you don’t stick to a budget but how you can overcome those obstacles:

1) It takes Too Much Time to Create and Stick to a Budget

Creating a budget does take time. And time is money, right? However, how much time do you stress over not having enough money at the end of the month? How much time do you spend feeling anxious about how you’re going to pay the next bill? How much time do you spend trying to find a way to make a dollar stretch? Creating a budget will take less time than all of that combined.

It does take time to create a good budget.  The part that takes the longest is starting. It’s not going to be perfect. But if you stick to a budget you will find that it becomes easier. Most things don’t change from month to month. Most bills stay the same so it’s just a matter of plugging in certain areas.

How to overcome this obstacle:

• Use a pre-made budget list.  Just spend a short amount of time to fill in the information and you will find yourself able to stick to a budget every month.

• Instead of doing it monthly do it weekly or bi-weekly.  Follow the schedule of your pay period and you will only need a short amount of time to plan for the next week or two instead of a full month.

2) I Can’t Stick to a Budget Because I Want it Right Now

The majority of Americans are impulsive buyers. We live in a world where if you want something now you buy it now. This is why 80% of Americans are in debt. We are buying now what we can’t afford now.

I understand this feeling and came across this realization when I was thinking about how Alex and I could afford to pay for adoption. After researching the cost for adoption I wondered how we were going to pay for such an expense. We could wait and save for it (that would take years!) or we could get a loan. My heart broke because I have two very distinct wants/beliefs that came into conflict with each other. I want a child as soon as possible so I can enjoy a child while I am younger.  But I want to get out of and stay out of debt.

People feel this way about getting a house or car or taking that luxurious vacation. I have felt the urge on each of these circumstances and chose to get into debt for each of these as well. That is why I know some of these wants were not worth it.

How to overcome this obstacle:

• Start saving now. Make sure when you create a budget you are putting money into a savings account for a specific goal.
• To take it a step further open up a special savings account JUST for your goal.
• Or use the envelope system and pull out cash every paycheck and hide it away until you have enough to pay for what you want.

Knowing you are working towards buying what you want AND knowing you aren’t going into debt for that item can help you stick to a budget.

• Budget in some personal money. Alex and I each get $20 a week that we can spend on whatever we want and not feel guilty about it. We did this for Alex because he likes to buy little things and didn’t want to feel restrained by a budget. For me, I’m just saving 20 bucks a week until I have enough to buy Alex something he really wants but didn’t save for. 😉

3) There is No Way to Stick to a Budget Because You Can Never Make a Perfect Budget

This is true. There is no perfect budget. Life happens.  The difference between being unprepared vs prepared is how you can stick to a budget even if your budget is not perfect.

My first time creating a budget I didn’t understand HOW to create a budget. I was constantly overspending what I budgeted because to me a budget meant spending less. That’s not exactly how budgeting works. You don’t just put numbers down on a spreadsheet or piece of paper and you can magically stick to a budget. Alex and I had to do a lot of research to figure out where our money was going and then we generated a budget.

Related article: 7 Steps to Creating a Budget

How to overcome this obstacle:

Create a generic budget for your first month (or two) and track your spending very carefully. After I created my budget I set a reminder every Thursday to close out the week and check where all our money went for that week. I reviewed with Alex where we were strong and where we overspent. Our first week on groceries we overspent by $84. It ended up being okay because our last week of the month we ended up not even needing any groceries. We had so much leftover food from the first three weeks that we ended up underspending in our grocery category by $61.

No week was perfect on how much we spent, but we gained a better understanding of how we need to change our shopping habits. We used to buy food items in bulk a lot and throw away food because we just bought too much. Now we are watching how much we purchase and being more realistic on how much we actually need for a week in groceries.

Understand that you are going to make mistakes for the first few months as you get used to writing down everything you are paying for. Our first month we forgot that Alex’s car needed tabs. That was a HUGE expense that could have caused us to give up, but we decided to stick to our budget and just understand that we overspent that month which meant less was going to the debt we wanted to pay off that month.

There are several ways to be prepared for life events:

1. Emergency fund – Depending on your situation you should either have $1000 in an emergency fund or 3-6 months worth of expenses in your emergency fund.
2. Set aside a certain amount each month for MISC spending. This gives you some wiggle room for the unexpected. If you don’t use it one month, then it can roll over into the next month. (Or, if you’re still in debt, you can put it towards one of your debts to help you pay off your debt faster!)
3. Use your personal money for the mistakes or unexpected desires. Alex wanted pizza one week but we had already spent our restaurant funds earlier in the week so I used some of my personal funds to pay for his pizza. It was a nice treat for both of us.

4) Rationalizing on Why to NOT Stick to a Budget

Rationalization #1

As I was researching budgets I came across some advice that made me shake my head: Just don’t spend more than you have available each month. Essentially there is a limit you are willing to spend and so when you find something you want that is within that limit you purchase it.  But what happens when that urge to purchase hits more than once a month? It’s okay to spend $100 on what might be a frivolous thing, but how many times can you really afford to spend $100 on frivolous things?

Perhaps this works for those who are not in debt or don’t care to understand where their money is going, but for the rest of us that want to know it doesn’t work. The reason it is important to create and stick to a budget is so you can account for where your money is going.

Rationalization #2

Another rationalization is that you can always pay it back.  People feel that debt “expands their opportunities” to live better so they purchase more expensive toys on credit.  However, if you are buying on credit the item is not really yours until you pay off that debt.

Rationalization #3

Some people even have others enabling them to live in debt.  They know if they get in financial trouble someone will help bail them out.  So they get what they want now and will figure out the paying part later.

How to overcome this obstacle:

Make sure you are assigning every dollar you make towards something.  You get to choose what that something is.

Understand that the mindset of spend what you want so long as you don’t go over how much you make in a month means that you are working for money instead of making money work for you. You are letting a limit set what and where you spend your money instead of assigning every dollar you make to something you want. These philosophies are so close yet oh so different. In both cases the money is going to be spent, but in the former you often lose track of your spending.  With the latter you know exactly where your money went and you can feel good knowing you put it where you wanted it to go.

5) Two People Working Together to Create and Stick to a Budget

Probably the most difficult of all the obstacles is when two people are working on a budget. And then being able to stick to that budget. Especially if you have different spending habits. Alex is a spender, I am not. However, we knew we had to stick to a budget so we could accomplish our dreams of being out of debt and building wealth. With two people there are twice the decisions.  Two people should agree on where to put the money so it becomes more realistic to stick to your budget.  Eventually as you continue to plan together you will grow closer as a team.

How to overcome this obstacle:

Recognize Needs

Discussing money is uncomfortable.  Especially when you are in debt and when you have different ideas about how to spend your money. Whether you both work and are contributing to the incoming funds or only one of you works and the other stays home with the kids it is important that you both recognize each others’ needs and respect those needs.

Create subcategories within your budget

As I mentioned, Alex is a spender but he feels guilty about spending when we are on a budget. I am not a spender so it is easier for me to stick to a budget, but hard on me emotionally when he doesn’t stick to our budget. I know that Alex likes to

• Buy video games
• Eat out with his co-workers for lunch
• Or buy his coffee

So we added a “technology” and “personal fun money” subcategory so he could have something that was his to spend.  He knew he didn’t have to feel guilty for it because we planned on it. It also really helped me because I didn’t get upset that he was asking to spend money on something that I didn’t feel was necessary. To him, it was necessary.  To me it was important he was happy and that we had a plan set in place. As long as he sticks to the plan and sticks to our budget we are both happy.

Collaborate on Creating a Budget

Each person involved in creating a budget needs to have a voice and opinion. Neither one of you gets the vetoing power of what stays and goes. Instead, you need to compromise until you agree on something. If your partner does not feel you can afford $100 a month in personal money, then find a compromise on what you can afford. But if your partner needs some personal money just to feel a little free, figure out a way give it to them.

What about you? Do you find sticking to a budget is easy or hard? Leave a comment below!