Whether it’s spending less, or learning how to save better, many new year's resolutions include something related to finances. WMB is here to offer you advice on how to become a better budgeter in 2019 without totally changing your lifestyle.

As long as money has been around, people have been trying to master the art of budgeting. Some of us are better at it than others. Whether you’re striving to save for a family vacation or trying to retire by 60, budgeting is important for achieving your short-term and long-term financial goals. Creating a budget that you can live by will help you spend less and save more. Which is what we all want to do, right?

You must know and understand your own personal spending habits before you can master budgeting. If you are spending $100 a month at Target on random items, you may want to cut your spending back a bit. Once you truly know and acknowledge our spending patterns this is when you can start to save and adjust based upon what we now know about ourselves.
A great way to go about this is to add up all your essential expenses including bills, gas, groceries and rent then subtract that from your income. Next, look at the non-essential expenses like your monthly trip to Target or the many nights you chose to eat out rather than making dinner at home. Look at what is left of your income after these expenses to see if there is any place you can cut back on spending.

Be realistic about how much you set aside each month to put in your savings and be honest with yourself when it comes to cutting back your spending. Don’t set yourself up to fail.
We don’t want you to make unrealistic cuts to your budget because then you’re less likely to stick to them, and then…what is the point? Instead, try adjusting your monthly Target trip to only spending $50 dollars instead of $100. To start saving, one of the best, easiest and quickest ways to save for the long term would be to set aside a specific amount of money each month.

When you receive your paycheck immediately set aside a reasonable percentage to put into your savings, maybe 10% maybe more. Whatever is left you can use to purchase for your essential and non-essential expenses. It is also important to acknowledge the fact that there will be times when emergencies happen and we need some extra funding. If your car needs fixing, or your house flooded. Sometimes things happen that you just can’t plan for, so when you can’t plan for the incident itself, at least you can be prepared just in case something does happen.

At, WMB we want all of our customers to be financially happy and healthy. Budgeting isn’t always easy, but it is important. You can put practices in place that make budgeting much easier and more practical. You don’t have to completely change your lifestyle in order to start saving and budgeting your money properly. Just make small adjustments whenever you can. For more tips and helpful hints, check our blog monthly for new blog posts.


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