How to Actually Stick to a Budget, Part 2

Okay—you're committed to tracking your budget, and you have a handful of brilliant strategies to help you do so. But how do you actually stay within those budget categories you're now so diligently tracking?! How do you spend the amount of money you've budgeted, and no more?

While sticking to your budget might feel like a harder challenge than tracking your budget, we're here to help. With a few simple, practical strategies in your back pocket, you'll be well on your way to hitting your goals month in and month out. Let's get started!

Following a budget is not about willpower, it's about structure and environment.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear notes that disciplined people are not usually superheroes who are categorically different from the rest of us—they're just better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. "Instead of being disciplined," he writes, "create a more disciplined environment. It's easier to practice self-restraint when you don't have to use it very often."

A disciplined environment over self-discipline—this is going to be our motto for today's post! While of course it's helpful to make the right choice in any one moment, the systems you set up to make the right choice over and over again matter much more. 

Good news: as someone seeking to establish new habits around spending (and not spending) money—and maybe break a few bad ones along the way—you have a whole host of strategies at your disposal to create better systems and environments. Let's talk about a few strategies that will be particularly handy!

Make your negative behaviors difficult and your preferred behaviors easy.

The more energy that's required to complete an action, the less likely it is to occur. When it comes to money, you can use this truism to your advantage in both directions! 

First, if there's a negative money behavior you're trying to break, brainstorm how to make it as difficult as possible to complete. For example:

• If impulse online shopping is a challenge, delete your browser's saved credit card information and autofill function. That way, you'll be forced to at least get off the couch and grab your wallet to make a purchase, which creates friction between the wanting and the buying. 
• If grocery shopping at Target leads to browsing the home section and adding a few Threshold items to cart each time, shop at another grocery store instead.
• If your Amazon bill is way too high, cancel your Prime membership and/or commit to shopping only in physical stores (talk about friction!). This is a helpful guide to quitting Amazon if you're feeling hesitant.

Similarly, if there's a behavior that helps you stick to your budget you're trying to reinforce, make it as easy as possible to complete. For example:

• If you're making coffee at home, keep your supplies easily accessible, not tucked away in a cabinet. And maybe splurge on a fun seasonal creamer!
• If you cut your gym membership but still want to work out, choose a designated workout spot at home and keep your weights and mat nearby.
• If you're increasing the number of dinners you cook at home and it feels hard, keep your meal ideas as simple as possible, or meal prep for the week on Sunday.
  

The absolute key to this step: you have to name what makes something "easier to complete."

Let's look at that last example for a minute. Maybe cooking dinner at home feels hard— but why? Is it that it's boring? Takes too much time? Too involved after a long day at work? Doesn't taste good? Each of these reasons requires a different solution to make this money-saving task feel "easier." Once you've named what matters, it's so much easier to find a solution! (And BTW, if you have a goal to cook more at home, the Meal Planning Journal will be your BFF!)

Spending less money can feel like an overwhelming, unsolvable problem. Let's make it smaller, breaking it down into many tinier problems that are so much easier to solve. 

Make your negative triggers invisible and your preferred triggers obvious.

It's not just how hard or easy a behavior is that influences whether you do it—it's how visible it is, too! 

Because humans are such visual creatures, visual cues have the most impact on our behavior: a small change in what we see can lead to a big change in what we do. Making subtle tweaks to our environments (both physical and digital), moving items into and out of our line of sight, can make a big difference in how well we stick to our budgets. For example:

• If scrolling on your phone at night fuels discontent or leads to impulse purchases, charge it in another room. Then, place supplies for alternative activities (a book, a watercolor set, the TV remote!) within easy reach.
• If DoorDash or Chick-fil-a delivery is a siren song, delete the apps from your phone. Post your meal plan for the week front-and-center.
• If watching beauty hauls or reading detailed morning skin routines causes you to want to overhaul your makeup bag, unfollow those Creators. 

Whatever it is for you, set a timer and spend a few minutes brainstorming how you can make the best choice the most obvious and worse choices disappear.

Cultivate likeminded community.

As with so many types of goals, the people you spend time with impacts the progress you'll make in your financial goals, so surround yourself with like-minded people. "One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior," writes James Clear. "New habits seem achievable when you see others doing them every day." So, find ways to spend time with people who are going in the direction you want to go.

Start by naming a few friends who also have ambitious savings goals or similar lifestyle preferences. Then, deliberately look for opportunities to make plans with them. When my husband and I were paying off our student loans and saving for a down payment, we loved to hang out with our friends who were working to pay off their mortgage. They had a giant countdown in their kitchen for the last few thousand; it was exciting to see progress marked off each time we visited their home. It renewed our commitment to our own goals!

No friends coming to mind? Be that friend for others! You might be surprised how warmly others respond when you bring up a financial win you're celebrating, mention a financial advice book you're reading, or suggest a lower-budget activity for your next group hangout. Many people don't feel comfortable initiating conversations about money but are happy for someone else to go first.

"Running against the grain of your culture requires extra effort," James Clear notes. "When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive." Stick close to your tribe!

Make helpful one-time choices.

This last strategy pulls together bits of the first three, but it deserves its own spotlight. Instead of exerting energy (even less energy!) to make a choice over and over again, what one-time decision can you make that will pay dividends for years to come? Put another way, what one-time choice will save you money, or make it easier not to spend money, over the long-term? 

A few ideas to get you started:

• Cancel a subscription.
• Decide you'll only go for walks (versus eating out) when you want to get together with friends. 
• Delete your Amazon Prime subscription.
• Only shop one day a week.
• Only borrow from the library instead of buying new books.
• Never make a purchase the same day you think of it.
• Only grocery shop at one store.
• Only buy used books as gifts for nieces and nephews, grandchildren, or friends' birthdays.
• Always road trip instead of flying for vacation.
• Commit to sending your children to public school rather than private.
• Sell your car and buy a less-expensive one.

Does making a one-time choice mean you will never fly, go out to eat with friends, buy a new book, or shop at Whole Foods again? It might, but it doesn't have to. Even making a restrictive choice for just a short time (a month, a year) can help you jumpstart a financial goal and make incredible progress in a short amount of time. You know best what your situation requires.

Friends, we'd love to hear: what are some of your favorite tips and tricks for making sure you're spending within your budget categories? Let us know in the comments!

Ready to set and achieve financial goals? Don't miss the Cultivate What Matters Finance Workbook—available now!