Happy Tuesday! I’m excited to share this week’s budget tip with you all. It’s definitely a staple when it comes to approaching your money in a way that is going to work FOR you, and not against you.

Be intentional with your money. One of the worst things that we can do that sets us up for failure with budgeting is just hoping it will all work out. Trust me, it won’t. You might be able to casually pay your bills without truly being aware of your whole situation for a little while, but eventually it will catch up to you. When I was fresh out of college, this was the way I handled my money. I got paid every 2 weeks and just hoped everything lined up at the end of the pay period. But usually, I would run out of money before my next paycheck and have to live on PB&J sandwiches.

That’s not exactly how I wanted to live my life now being in my late twenties. So, I started budgeting. If you take the time to figure out how much you can afford to spend on each category of life, you will start to see how much better and confident you feel. The main thing is being realistic on amounts you should spend and sticking to those amounts. Every time you decide to spend “just a few extra dollars” here and there, it adds up to way more in the end and will surprise you in a bad way.

So, decide what your financial categories are for each paycheck and stay on track with those. Some examples of categories I have in my Budget Notebook are Groceries, Gas, Spending Cash, Cable, Electricity, Car Insurance, Health Insurance, Student Loans, Credit Card, and Retirement Savings. These are just some examples to get you started thinking about what you have on your plate and what categories you need to budget for.

Don’t let yourself be surprised. If you have a solid budget, then you will never have to worry about those bad surprises. You will automatically be thinking in the best mindset for your money and know when to say no to things. If you approach your money with intention, you win.