Maintain a Budget
Track Consistently
The first attribute to help you maintain a budget is dedication. You must keep track of your income and expenses to maintain a budget. Regularly checking your income and expenses will help you see if your money flow is in consistent with your budget. These checks can be monthly, quarterly, or however often you want to check them.
Monthly or Quarterly Checklist:
Savings are equal to or greater than budgeted
Expense categories are equal to or lower than budgeted
Miscellaneous expenses are low to none
Re-evaluate
Every once in a while, re-evaluate your financial goals to make sure your budget is still in line with it. This evaluation can be yearly. When income level changes look at your budget and make adjustments that will reflect your financial goals.
Annual Checklist:
I’m still on track to achieve my financial goals
My financial goals are still applicable to me
Accountability
You must be accountable to yourself and have great dedication to maintain a budget. Along with remembering the motivating reason of why you should have a budget, it would be useful to talk to a friend or family member about your budget and have them check up on you to make sure you are following through with your financial goal.
Good qualities of a financial accountability partner:
Trustworthy
Thrifty
Inspiring
Compassionate
Understanding
Good at talking you out of bad decisions
Only judges based off your goals and objective
