How To Blow Your Budget - 5 Simple Ways

Awhile back Paid Twice shared how she budgets; some great advice for anyone learning how to budget or wanting to change their budgeting strategy.

I thought I’d add onto what she has shared with my thoughts on how to blow a budget (or 5 things you shouldn’t do).
Estimate - You *think* you have $100 left for groceries so you go and spend $98. Only to find out later you really only had $50. Oops.

• Don’t Write It Down - Take money out of the ATM and don’t record it for a week. Lose receipts and forget about that automatic payment you scheduled for your cell phone bill.

• Forget to Cancel - Don’t use your gym membership anymore? Well, every month you forget to cancel your membership is another $30, $40, $50 or whatever you pay lost that could go towards other more important budget items (like paying off debt, savings, retirement, emergency fund).

• Get Lazy - Get Chinese take-out for dinner after a long day and put off paying bills only to incur late fees. It can be hard to be frugal or 100% gazelle intense all the time when it comes to being on track with your budget. But when you start getting lazy, your unplanned spending will go up and that is when you will go over budget.

• Don’t Budget - And the best way to blow your budget is NOT to budget. We did this and this is one of the contributing factors to our credit card debt. For example, I had it in my head that we could spend $300 a month on groceries. I never took the time though to see what we were ACTUALLY spending and make a written budget. If I had I would have seen that we were actually spending more like $600+ a month on food (this is before I started shopping sales and using coupons).

How have you blown your budget? 

For more reading on budgets (with tips that actually work) check out the following:

What is a Budget?

How To Make A Budget that Works

Key Strategies to a Successful Budget

Photo by Woodsy