Figuring out a budget plan that works for you can be difficult – and sticking to it is even harder. Once you get into the practice of spending conscientiously, you’ll be able to accomplish your practical financial goals and maybe even reach for a well-earned luxury item you’ve been coveting. Use these tips to budget smarter so that you can finally buy that 1000-piece Grand Canyon jigsaw puzzle. We know that’s what you want.
Set aside for essentials first.
When you’re devising a monthly budget, you should always set aside the amount of spending you’ll require for necessities first. Once you’ve covered your rent, groceries, transportation, and utility bills, your first impulse might be to hop on the bus and ride it right to the puzzle store where that crisp, brand new, shrink wrapped 1000-piece Grand Canyon jigsaw puzzle gleams from the shelf, but hold your horses. A 1000-piece ‘saw is going to cost a pretty penny, and you’re better off waiting until you have enough disposable income to acquire it without cause for anxiety. Don’t worry, she’s worth the wait.
Set meaningful goals.
Just because you can’t buy that massive puzzle of America’s most prized national park just yet, doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate you can’t do a bit of goal-setting. Little incentives such as changing your phone screen background to a picture of the puzzle (still in the box to represent the hitherto incomplete nature of your purchase), can help you to remember who you’re doing this all for. Soon your kitchen table will be a sea of blue and auburn puzzle pieces! You can almost feel their cardboard edges.
Find more spending-free leisure activities.
It’s important to still make room for time to just have fun, but that fun doesn’t have to cost you money! For the time being you can fill your days with inexpensive leisure activities like thinking about games, drawing a self-portrait, or riding the bus some more. Before you know it, you’ll get your trembling hands on that huge, gorgeous puzzle, and from that point on, all your leisure activities will be free because you’ll just be solving and resolving to the point of exhaustion!
Remember: When it comes to budgeting, a little bit of effort can have a huge, puzzle-related payoff in the end. Soon you’ll be puzzling your heart out, puzzler!
