{"id":2157,"date":"2016-09-23T15:05:32","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2157"},"modified":"2020-07-29T23:17:57","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T23:17:57","slug":"text-budgeting-strategies","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/chapter\/text-budgeting-strategies\/","title":{"raw":"Budgeting Strategies","rendered":"Budgeting Strategies"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Describe budgeting strategies and the pros and cons of budgeting<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWithout a personal budget, most\u00a0people have a hard time\u00a0gauging how much money they spend and where their money goes. If you have ever gone to an ATM to withdraw money\u00a0and been surprised to discover how little you had\u00a0left in your account, this section is for you. It's also for anyone who wants to learn how to manage their money better and smarter\u2014which is an invaluable skill to have\u00a0during the penny-pinching years of college but also later on in life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_249\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1110\/2016\/02\/02024957\/10814794534_3635371523_z.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-249\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1110\/2016\/02\/02024957\/10814794534_3635371523_z.jpg\" alt=\"people at a concession stand\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a> Even though you might find the need to cut the number of times you go to the movies each month, effective budgets still factor in leisure activities.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nEven if you're very conscientious about paying your bills on time and generally have frugal spending habits, creating and following\u00a0a budget can put so much further ahead. In essence, a budget is a plan for how you want to spend money. It details how much money comes in each month and how much you've allocated for spending\u00a0on each thing. The virtue of a budget is that it puts you in control of financial decisions\u2014so you can avoid surprises at the ATM or at the end of the month. Let\u2019s look at some strategies for creating a budget:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Be realistic<\/strong>: People are often intimidated by budgets because they\u2019re afraid the plans will be too strict or force them to cut back\u00a0too much. Though\u00a0a budget may\u00a0reveal that you indeed spend a lot of money\u00a0on clothes, that's okay\u2014it may just also need to show that you spend very little on restaurants and eating out to make up for it. Again, it's about making choices and being realistic.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Choose a time line<\/strong>: Creating a budget for a fixed period of time will help you monitor whether you\u2019re meeting your financial goals. The time line you choose is up to you and your goals. For example, you\u00a0might create a monthly budget to monitor how you spend your paycheck every month.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Add financial\u00a0padding<\/strong>: Even if you feel like your\u00a0list of financial obligations\u00a0is already long, try to set aside a certain amount each month for a \"rainy day\" fund\u2014to pay for unforeseen\u00a0expenses and emergencies, like car repair, lost textbooks, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Make adjustments as needed<\/strong>: While sticking to your budget is important, there\u2019s nothing wrong with revisiting and adjusting your original targets. For example, if you find that you are actually spending $50 more per month on groceries than you intended\u00a0(even after shopping for sale items), you may decide to save that money elsewhere in your budget next month\u2014on entertainment, for example.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Pros and Cons of Budgeting<\/h2>\r\nWhile budgeting can be a useful financial tool, it may\u00a0not be for everybody. Some people may\u00a0feel more confident by\u00a0balancing their checkbook to see how much they have at any given time. Still, many argue that budgeting helps people stay on track and avoid overspending on \"wants\" such as restaurant food, clothes, and entertainment, so they always have enough money for \"needs,\" such as\u00a0rent\/mortgage, utilities, and food. The following lists summarize the\u00a0advantages\u00a0and disadvantages of budgeting:\r\n<h3>Pros<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Provides a realistic view of personal finances<\/strong>: A personal budget provides an honest\u00a0snapshot of how much money you make and how much you can spend.\u00a0It can help you avoid deceptive financial thinking, such as believing\u00a0that you're \"flush\" right after pay day, when you really need to save that money for an upcoming bill.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Helps you avoid excess spending<\/strong>: Because a budget gives\u00a0you insight into the total picture of your income and expenses, you can make realistic decisions about spending. As above, a budget can help you avoid a having\u00a0faulty\u00a0sense of your financial resources and\u00a0remind you that even if you just got paid, most, if not all, of your check may\u00a0need to go toward fixed expenses.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Assists in goal setting<\/strong>: Since you get to decide how to allocate\u00a0your money, a budget can help you set goals. For example, if you create a yearly budget, you could plan and acccount\u00a0for an upcoming\u00a0family trip and start saving money for it in advance without worrying about having the money at\u00a0the last minute.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Cons<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Budgets take energy<\/strong>: Planning a budget takes dedication. Since most students\u00a0lead busy lives and are balancing different demands\u00a0like work, school, and time with family and friends, it can\u00a0be easy to slip up. For example, if you have a stressful week at work or school, you might overspend while going out with friends and forget how much you budgeted for leisure activities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Results take time<\/strong>: Since most budgets cover\u00a0a time period of a month, year, or even longer, people may\u00a0become frustrated waiting to see if their financial situation is better than it was before. Frustration can lead people to abandon their budget and go back to overspending or neglecting to save.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Budgets may\u00a0be strict<\/strong>: Remember that one of the important strategies for creating a successful budget is earmarking money for \"treats\" and extras such as entertainment.\u00a0However, in an effort to become more financially disciplined, some people make\u00a0budgets that are too restrictive and unrealistic. This can\u00a0backfire and lead to\u00a0overspending in one area or abandoning the budget altogether.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2><div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1AO5zZXYIYOsPe9Fg5UwsSf6k3VfIEFoVCH1VYIpXqdM\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Describe budgeting strategies and the pros and cons of budgeting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Without a personal budget, most\u00a0people have a hard time\u00a0gauging how much money they spend and where their money goes. If you have ever gone to an ATM to withdraw money\u00a0and been surprised to discover how little you had\u00a0left in your account, this section is for you. It&#8217;s also for anyone who wants to learn how to manage their money better and smarter\u2014which is an invaluable skill to have\u00a0during the penny-pinching years of college but also later on in life.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_249\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1110\/2016\/02\/02024957\/10814794534_3635371523_z.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-249\" class=\"wp-image-249\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1110\/2016\/02\/02024957\/10814794534_3635371523_z.jpg\" alt=\"people at a concession stand\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-249\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even though you might find the need to cut the number of times you go to the movies each month, effective budgets still factor in leisure activities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Even if you&#8217;re very conscientious about paying your bills on time and generally have frugal spending habits, creating and following\u00a0a budget can put so much further ahead. In essence, a budget is a plan for how you want to spend money. It details how much money comes in each month and how much you&#8217;ve allocated for spending\u00a0on each thing. The virtue of a budget is that it puts you in control of financial decisions\u2014so you can avoid surprises at the ATM or at the end of the month. Let\u2019s look at some strategies for creating a budget:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be realistic<\/strong>: People are often intimidated by budgets because they\u2019re afraid the plans will be too strict or force them to cut back\u00a0too much. Though\u00a0a budget may\u00a0reveal that you indeed spend a lot of money\u00a0on clothes, that&#8217;s okay\u2014it may just also need to show that you spend very little on restaurants and eating out to make up for it. Again, it&#8217;s about making choices and being realistic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Choose a time line<\/strong>: Creating a budget for a fixed period of time will help you monitor whether you\u2019re meeting your financial goals. The time line you choose is up to you and your goals. For example, you\u00a0might create a monthly budget to monitor how you spend your paycheck every month.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Add financial\u00a0padding<\/strong>: Even if you feel like your\u00a0list of financial obligations\u00a0is already long, try to set aside a certain amount each month for a &#8220;rainy day&#8221; fund\u2014to pay for unforeseen\u00a0expenses and emergencies, like car repair, lost textbooks, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make adjustments as needed<\/strong>: While sticking to your budget is important, there\u2019s nothing wrong with revisiting and adjusting your original targets. For example, if you find that you are actually spending $50 more per month on groceries than you intended\u00a0(even after shopping for sale items), you may decide to save that money elsewhere in your budget next month\u2014on entertainment, for example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Pros and Cons of Budgeting<\/h2>\n<p>While budgeting can be a useful financial tool, it may\u00a0not be for everybody. Some people may\u00a0feel more confident by\u00a0balancing their checkbook to see how much they have at any given time. Still, many argue that budgeting helps people stay on track and avoid overspending on &#8220;wants&#8221; such as restaurant food, clothes, and entertainment, so they always have enough money for &#8220;needs,&#8221; such as\u00a0rent\/mortgage, utilities, and food. The following lists summarize the\u00a0advantages\u00a0and disadvantages of budgeting:<\/p>\n<h3>Pros<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Provides a realistic view of personal finances<\/strong>: A personal budget provides an honest\u00a0snapshot of how much money you make and how much you can spend.\u00a0It can help you avoid deceptive financial thinking, such as believing\u00a0that you&#8217;re &#8220;flush&#8221; right after pay day, when you really need to save that money for an upcoming bill.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Helps you avoid excess spending<\/strong>: Because a budget gives\u00a0you insight into the total picture of your income and expenses, you can make realistic decisions about spending. As above, a budget can help you avoid a having\u00a0faulty\u00a0sense of your financial resources and\u00a0remind you that even if you just got paid, most, if not all, of your check may\u00a0need to go toward fixed expenses.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Assists in goal setting<\/strong>: Since you get to decide how to allocate\u00a0your money, a budget can help you set goals. For example, if you create a yearly budget, you could plan and acccount\u00a0for an upcoming\u00a0family trip and start saving money for it in advance without worrying about having the money at\u00a0the last minute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Cons<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Budgets take energy<\/strong>: Planning a budget takes dedication. Since most students\u00a0lead busy lives and are balancing different demands\u00a0like work, school, and time with family and friends, it can\u00a0be easy to slip up. For example, if you have a stressful week at work or school, you might overspend while going out with friends and forget how much you budgeted for leisure activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Results take time<\/strong>: Since most budgets cover\u00a0a time period of a month, year, or even longer, people may\u00a0become frustrated waiting to see if their financial situation is better than it was before. Frustration can lead people to abandon their budget and go back to overspending or neglecting to save.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Budgets may\u00a0be strict<\/strong>: Remember that one of the important strategies for creating a successful budget is earmarking money for &#8220;treats&#8221; and extras such as entertainment.\u00a0However, in an effort to become more financially disciplined, some people make\u00a0budgets that are too restrictive and unrealistic. This can\u00a0backfire and lead to\u00a0overspending in one area or abandoning the budget altogether.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1AO5zZXYIYOsPe9Fg5UwsSf6k3VfIEFoVCH1VYIpXqdM\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2157\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>College Success. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Jolene Carr. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Image of movie theater concessions. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Susan Sermoneta. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/htEDCJ\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/htEDCJ<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives <\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":14,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"College Success\",\"author\":\"Jolene Carr\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Image of movie theater concessions\",\"author\":\"Susan Sermoneta\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/htEDCJ\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"7aa4f180-c5aa-4131-9e3c-1268d5702489, 92be8421-ead3-4c01-994e-6054a2fe2ef2","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2157","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":135,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3617,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2157\/revisions\/3617"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/135"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2157\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}