Four reasons your budget may not be working

Have you finally put a budget together but found yourself unable to stick to it? You’re not alone! If you can’t stick to your budget, you may feel frustrated and wonder why you put the time and effort into creating a budget.

We’ll explain four of the reasons your budget may not be working and how you can adjust your budget to make it work better for you:

Your budget is unrealistic.
You’re not truly committed to living on a budget.
You haven’t left any money in your budget for fun.
You don’t have anything put aside for an emergency.

Your Budget Is Unrealistic

One of the most common reasons a budget fails is that it’s unrealistic. You may not have allotted enough in areas such as groceries (you can only cut back so much!), or you may have allotted too much for debt repayment. Yes, you really can allot too much for debt repayment if you’re trying to pay off debt too aggressively.

The key to success with a budget is moderation. That means you try to save more than you have been and spend less than you have been without sacrificing everything in life that gives you comfort or pleasure. It’s more important to have a budget you can stick to than pay off debt aggressively for a few months and then give up.

You Aren’t Really Committed To Living On A Budget

Another reason your budget may not work for you is that you’re just not committed to living on a budget. Or perhaps you are, but your partner isn’t. If this sounds like you (or your partner), then the best thing you can do is change how you feel about a budget.

Many people think a budget means restricting yourself and having to count every penny (or nickel, as we no longer have penny coins in Canada!). However, a budget is actually freedom. Once you know what you have to allot to fixed expenses (such as your mortgage or rent), you have the freedom to allot the rest of your money any way you want!

You Haven’t Left Any Money In Your Budget For Fun

Yes, you can still have fun even if you’re living on a budget! There are certainly lots of ways you can have fun with little or no cost, such as:

Going for a walk or attending a free festival.
Downloading books from the library – you don’t even have to leave your house!
Borrowing DVDs from friends or making better use of the streaming subscriptions you already have.

By doing things like this, you’re freeing up money to spend in other ways. So instead of buying four books a month, you buy one. Or you buy a fancy coffee during your walks once a month, instead of once a week.

You Don’t Have Anything Put Aside For An Emergency

Nothing throws off a budget like an emergency, whether it’s a roof leak or a job loss. That’s why it’s so important to have an emergency fund. So how can you get back on track after an emergency?

The best thing you can do is look at your budget and see where you may need to make changes. Whether that’s allocating more to your emergency fund or taking on a second job, you’ll have to redo your budget to reflect your new reality.