Top 3 Biggest Budgeting Challenges and How to Overcome Them

The Top 3 Biggest Budgeting Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Budgeting can be tough to get into especially if you are new to the journey of financial health or financial independence. I didn’t start truly budgeting until 3 years ago. I tried multiple times and failed to get into budgeting probably because I kept falling for different myths about budgeting and thought I didn’t need a budget. It was very difficult for me to get into it because I kept running into different roadblocks.

To this day, I think if someone had taught me proper budgeting skills I would have stuck with it from the get-go. However, no one taught me how to budget!

In 2017, when I did get serious about improving my financial health, I still faced challenges.

But after overcoming these budgeting challenges, my husband and I

So if you’re ready to accomplish your goals, it starts with overcoming these challenges and start your budget!

Top 3 Biggest Budgeting Challenges:

Deciding how much I should budget for each expense
Remembering to update my budget
Staying motivated after I have broken the budget!

These were the top 3 biggest budgeting challenges that I faced, and after sharing this with many people, I realized that I was not alone. Many of us who begin budgeting for the first time face similar challenges.

I had set high goals when it came to my finances. One of my long-term financial goals is to achieve financial independence, and I knew that on the journey towards financial independence I had to get real about budgeting.

Instead of letting these roadblocks overcome my dreams of financial health, I decided to invest in my financial literacy. I continued to “budget” even though I could tell I just wasn’t doing it right…

Thankfully, after 3 years of investing time into my financial education, I felt more equipped to handle bigger financial goals and I was excited to see that my budget was actually allowing me to do more with my money even though during this time I left a high paying job for one that paid me about HALF of what I was previously making!

If you don’t deal with the same budgeting challenges I do, maybe you run into other personal budgeting challenges.

Personal Budgeting Challenges

Getting Everyone on Board

It can be difficult to get your spouse or children on board with your new budget because you may all think about spending money differently. Check out these tips on having a financially strong marriage.

Feeling Judged

We live in a consumeristic society that tells us that we constantly need new, bigger, and better. A lot of us fall for this conventional money assumption. However, when on the journey towards financial health, you may choose that those are not the things you need to be spending your money on. So when you tell your friends no to going out for drinks or dinner they may look at you funny. Value-based budgeting is a great way to feel confident when you tell those around you about your spending choice.

Knowing, But Not Wanting to Make the Changes

Maybe you realize that your spending habits could be better. But you are just not ready or willing to make the changes needed in order to improve your financial health. This goes along with having a motivation problem. Again, value-based budgeting is a great way to combat that feeling of dread when it comes to creating good financial habits.

Running Into Emergencies

We all have emergencies come up throughout our lives, and if you don’t plan for them it can be detrimental to your finances. That is why having an emergency fund is very important. Building a solid emergency fund can be a goal that you achieve through budgeting. Instead of breaking your budget every time a car, medical, or a personal emergency comes up, you can simply go to your emergency fund next time.

How to Overcome Your Biggest Budgeting Challenges

Trial and Error

When I was learning how to budget, I spent months of trial and error figuring out exactly how to create the perfect budget. It is labor-intensive and requires a lot of dedication, but a lot of people like learning this way because, just like Thomas Edison and the lightbulb, you will learn 2,000 ways to NOT set up your budget.

Reviewing Your Budget Monthly

Taking the time to review and assess how you did with your budget every month is a crucial step in your budgeting process. Understand where you spent money and why and make adjustments moving forward.

Get our free Budget Review Workbook here.

Learn From Others

The internet has a ton of great information out there that can help you when it comes to your finances. But when you read these different articles or watch videos on finances, the people creating the content don’t know your personal circumstances and what will work best for you and your situation.

This solution can work well coupled with the trial and error method. What worked for one person may work for you, but it also might not work well for you.

Work on Your Money Mindset

A lot of times when it comes to making changes in our personal lives, it requires a mindset shift. There are plenty of resources you can go through in order to gain a financial freedom mindset. I encourage you to do some exploring and journaling and answer some of these questions for yourself…

What do you want to accomplish in the near and far future?
What would your life look like if you didn’t have financial stress anymore?
What are you willing to give up in order to relive your financial stress?

If you need help working on your money mindset hiring a money coach can be extremely beneficial. Money coaches know how to dig deep into your mindset in order to help you make the shift and accomplish your financial dreams!

Surrounding Yourself With Like-Minded Individuals

Joining and participating in a community of like-minded individuals who are all working on a common goal will help keep you on track and ultimately overcome your biggest budgeting challenges.

Check out our community for faith-filled young professionals working on achieving financial freedom God’s way.

Financial Courses and Coaching

Taking courses on budgeting can be an excellent way to learn how to budget. Courses and coaching allow you to learn from other peoples’ mistakes and apply those lessons to your own financial health journey.

Coupling a course with group or personal money coaching is a great way to get personalized advice when it comes to your own money situation. Working with a money coach is a fantastic way to learn to set up a budget, especially if you are new to the financial health journey.

Next Steps

The good news is that if you are reading this article then you probably face some of the biggest budgeting challenges like I did. The first step in changing the trajectory of your financial future is realizing that changes need to be made. The next step is to create a plan to make those changes.

Now it is your turn.
What are your biggest budgeting challenges?
How are you working to overcome them?