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New Year. New Goals. Same Me.
I am already seeing this trend of January 1st, I am going to start doing all of the right things. It is so prominent in the finance and fitness community and I have seen in all over the place. We set these huge, audacious goals, but we don’t follow up with any plans or systems for how we are actually going to achieve them. If we do have a plan, it is a plan that requires so much willpower and discipline to stick to because it is going against everything you are right now.
It is the “I will be perfect tomorrow” or all or nothing mentality that has a lot of us setting the exact same goals every single year during the new year.
But you are setting yourself up for frustration, failure, and a cycle of not hitting your goals.
It doesn’t have to be this way though. Change is possible over time, it just requires a few different skills and systems that allow us to actually hit our goals.
Here are things you can do today for big goals in 2024:
SET REALISTIC, SPECIFIC GOALS:
Setting goals that excite you, that are specific, and actually realistic to your life is going to help you achieve them. Instead of “I wanna be better with money this year.” Try a goal like, “I will put $200 extra a month to debt.” There are a ton of different goals you can set, but try focusing on one goal at a time for the most success.
Write down your money goals and print out a tracker for each one!
TRACK YOUR SPENDING HABITS:
I have been tracking my spending habits for the last TWO years, and while there have been many different seasons, I can easily see what I am actually spending money on. I love using my No Spend Month resources to track my spending habits. This helps me see where my actual spending is taking place rather than thinking that I’m not spending on something that often.
This helped me realized that I was actually buying a clothing item or two every single month. I would have guessed that I rarely spent money on clothing before tracking, but I found out that between my son and I, we were getting at least one new item every month whether it be for a holiday, changing of weather, or a new size change.
START BUDGETING BASED ON WHAT YOUR ARE SPENDING:
If you are spending $1000 on food a month, you aren’t going to suddenly start spending $200. You are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, set a budget and goal of maybe $900 for the first month. If you are setting a budget that is too low, you are going to be stuck in a cycle where you set a low budget, wildly overspend, and then get frustrated.
In The Savvy Budget Workbook, the first numbers exercise is to list out and total up your last 30 days of spending and set a budget based on that. From your actual numbers, you can look up different tips on how to save money on certain categories like food.
PLAN AHEAD:
This one is definitely the key to sticking to your budget. Every Sunday, I sit down and plan out my week. From my calendar, I am able to guess where I might have some unexpected spending if I am not careful.
If I know I have a late meeting, it is a crockpot meal day. If I have to run a bunch of errands, it’s a leftover day. I make my plan for the week based on my actual habits. I am not planning a 3 course, 15 ingredient meal for a day where life is busy and I have a long to do list.
PLAN EVEN MORE:
Make a plan for when the plan doesn’t work. Make a plan for a day where you have zero energy, when you didn’t sleep good. Something emotional happened. Have a plan for a rough day is ESSENTIAL. Keep a list of free/cheap things you can do for self care on a day that just didn’t go your way. Have a few frozen meals on hand that really would be easier than leaving the house to get takeout.
Making these lists on a good day and having them ready for a rough day can reduce some of the stress around making decisions on a rough day.
DON’T LET ONE DAY DESTROY YOUR MONTH:
When something unexpected happens in the budget, have your pity party. Feel your feelings, and then boss up and deal with it the next day. The longer you let yourself soak up the pity party.
When you have an unexpected expense or just a rough season, it can be easy to let yourself spiral. We are statistically more likely to spend when our emotions are high. Having a plan and check list for unexpected expenses is so helpful. This is what I do for unexpected expenses.
GIVE YOURSELF GRACE:
(And wiggle room in your budget). You aren’t going to be perfect. Your week might be chaotic. Something unexpected will come up. Recognize that it is not the end of your budget goals and give yourself the space to be okay with that.
If in order to hit a goal, it requires you to have perfect discipline every day for the rest of your life, you should probably reevaluate the goal, not your discipline.
If you read this whole post and are thinking “I don’t even have a budget to know what goals I can set.” Download my free mini budget workbook and start laying out your money on paper today!
