How To Make A Frugal Budget

Submitting to a budget can prove to be life changing. It can literally alter how you live every day because of the expenses that you have to let go or change. The usual scenario for a budget is to make sure you spend less and some people are hesitant to go about this change because of it. However, there are instances wherein it is a necessary change to go through. It can be a debt that you have to pay off or an expensive expense that you need to save up for, a budget can help you control your limited resources to help you achieve your financial goals.

You begin by listing every detail of your expenses. Separate your wants from your needs. Your needs will be your home payments, food, grocery, utilities, schooling expenses, transportation allowance, health and other important expenses that you need to survive. All convenience will not be placed on this needs list - if not very minimal. Convenience belong to your wants list. These include the expenses that you do not need to survive. It means cutting off that landline if you have a mobile phone - or vice versa. It means not eating out if you can cook at home. It could be as drastic as riding your bike to work instead of using your car. It means foregoing all those movie, concert and event tickets.

The idea is to eliminate all your wants and concentrate your expenses on your needs. Be honest about what will remain in your budget and what will have to stop. Whatever is left will be used to pay off your debts or added to your savings account.

Of course, you need to be careful about this. You need to take caution before you commit to this. A budget is one thing - a frugal budget is another. This implies that you will only spend for the needs and very limited wants will be given funds. You can say that it will be a very drastic change from the lifestyle that you are used to. If this is essential for you to reach your goals, then you should know that this usually works for short term goals only. While it is not impossible to implement for a long time, you need to possess an unusually strong willpower and determination to see it through. Unfortunately, not everyone can do that. If you think that you do not have it, you may want to keep the changes slow and steady. But if you think you can do it, go for a frugal budget but monitor how you are keeping up with it. If you know that you have made a huge improvement on your debt balance, then you might want to loosen the restraint a little to give yourself a bit of breathing space.

The important thing about your budget is you should create one that you can follow. Even if it is the most frugal of plans, not being able to follow it would mean nothing to your financial goals. It is your guide towards your intended end result. A frugal budget may be on the extreme side but should still be realistic.