Budgeting

Hate Budgets but Still Find Yourself Short on Cash?

If you find yourself short on cash often, you may have a sense that the need just happens and it’s always unexpected. You needed a new refrigerator; the new bicycle was healthy and too tempting to pass up; the holidays are coming, and you wouldn‰Ûªt feel right about not buying presents.

There are times when getting a small loan for quick cash beyond your income could make financial sense. A sale on a needed or highly coveted item is a sale, after all. The holidays are the holidays, and come only once a year. But there are also ways to examine your monthly budget so that you can plan for the occurrence of expenditures rather than having the sense that they just pop up. When most people think of the word budget, it has negative connotations scrimping and saving to stay within your means. Always buying the cheapest thing. Rice and beans instead of meat. And that’s why they don’t budget.

It can be helpful, though, to replace the word budget with the word plan.Instead of thinking in terms of no coffee from your favourite cafe, it doesn’t fit into the budget – which can trigger deprivation and, eventually, rebellion against a budget – start thinking how often can I reasonably have coffee on the way to work?

One helpful way to work out a plan is to start keeping track of every expenditure you make. That allows you a time of monitoring – gathering data, in a sense – about what you spend that does not come with an automatic judgment about how much you spend. Everyone needs a picture of what they actually spend in a given week, month, or longer. Knowledge it power! Buy a small notebook with enough room to write daily expenditures. Track everything, even a power bar. Then, enter the figures into a table or spreadsheet for the week. Then sum the months. You will be able to formulate a plan that meets your needs, without feeling deprived.

Once you’ve collected this information, check out our recent post on the top Australian budgeting apps that can help you stay on track.

If you feel like a short-term loan may be the right decision today, get in touch with one of our friendly staff who can help.