What do you do when you fall off budget? Get back on track. Sometimes life happens and you are going along month to month calculating and budgeting every penny. Then you take a financial hit, and you suddenly notice your budget has gone out the window. But you can start again.
I’ll admit that I have fallen off my budget multiple times for various reasons. I was stressed and started spending more than I should have. Or I lost sight of why I was budgeting in the first place. At this point you may be tempted, as I have been to throw in the towel and give up on budgeting. However, you can start again. Finding your rhythm with budgeting is a learning process. For me it is about finding out what works perfectly for me. What do I need to do in the process to help me stick to my budget? In this process of discovering and fine tuning it is important not to lose hope and get back on track when you fall off.
Getting Back on Track
If you find yourself in this situation you just have to start wherever you are. Is half the month gone and you have no idea where your money went? You can start with your next paycheck. Take inventory of everything you have spent money on so far for the month. It may not be pretty to see how much money you have spent but write it down anyway. Then write down what your expected income will be for your next paycheck and allocate the funds for the expenses that you need to pay. It could take a little while to get back on track, but I am confident that with patience and grace with yourself you can get back on budget.
If a whole month has gone by and you have no idea what you have done with your money, you can still get back on budget. Follow the same steps as mentioned previously. Take inventory of everything you have spent money on that month. Make that list as extensive as your memory allows. Write down your expected income and expenses for the upcoming month and create your budget. Don’t forget to put some money into your savings and toward debt repayment if you are still in that stage.
How Do You Get Back on Track?
It may seem that following a budget is hard and you must be strict and disciplined all the time. But, life happens and you may fall off your budget from time to time. In this season access what happened to cause you to lose focus. What were you feeling at that time? And give yourself grace to know that you are still working through the process. Then take the steps to get yourself back on track so that you can achieve those goals you set for yourself when you decided to start budgeting.
This is how I get back on track after falling off budget. Let me know how these work for you. Or leave a comment and let me know what you have done to get yourself back on track if you fall off your budget.
Read my post on Money Relationships to access your relationship with money.