Needless to say, there are many mistakes people are making regarding their budget. Some of these mistakes are absolutely obvious and there is no doubt such a behaviour can be rather harmful for one’s budget. Yet, there are also things seemingly harmful for finances which can actually prove to be sensible in some situations.
This article will point out such financial decisions to you so that you will be able to estimate better whether it is a good idea to make them in your particular situation.
Not providing a family budget for everyone
As you can imagine, one of the basic expectations for a family is to have one budget for everyone. There is nothing strange about that since members of a family are sharing various expenses and sometimes it might be rather challenging to divide them from each other. Certainly, for many people it is just convenient to share the budget and it also seems to be fair.
Still, in some situations it might also be a good idea to have separate budgets. For example, if partners have children with their ex spouses, it might be a way easier for them to plan their finances if they do not share a budget. You can also imagine for such partners, it might also be crucial to be able to earmark as much money for their children as they want and it can be made in a more flexible way in case they do not share their budgets with each other.
Another common situation when people might find it better not to share a budget is when one of the partners is not capable of managing a budget. On the other hand, one of the partners can also be too much into savings which might make the life of another partner rather miserable. In such a case, another partner will feel a way more financial freedom of he or she has an opportunity to manage one’s own money according to his or her preferences and needs.
No matter what the situation is, having a separate budget can sometimes be a way to avoid various problems and unnecessary conflicts in your family.
Not being able to plan your expenses
Planning your budget is a great skill and it is highly recommended to develop it regardless of your income or expenses. Still, for some people having a strict plan for managing money is not working out as it more resembles of a diet. The stricter these people are about the money they are spending, the more challenging it is for them to take their expenses under control. At the same time, people might develop a feeling of guilt after any purchase they are making which is not necessarily healthy.
If you are one of such individuals, it might be easier for you to just keep a track of your expenses using one of convenient apps designed for smartphones or in a manual way according to your preferences. Even though you will not make any plan for your expenses, you will still be able to keep an eye on them and, in the case of any needs, you will be able to minimise the expenses.
It will just be helpful for you to first take the amount of money for your routine expenses such as for instance, for your household payments as well as a certain amount of money for savings. Then, you will be able to use the rest of the money according to your needs and be more flexible about your expenses.
Paying small loans first
Certainly, the best situation for everyone is not to have any loans at all at the first place and especially the small ones which are usually taken by people without any serious reason. Still, if you have borrowed money from a bank or other financial organisations, you might be wondering about the best ways to pay your loans.
Many people start with paying small loans regardless of the level of the interest which seems illogical. Indeed, it seems a person will be able to save more money in case he or she first pays for the loans with the highest interest rates as they are making people lose more money. Still, in practice, it turns out to be that people are more motivated to pay their loans when they see how their smaller loans disappear. Certainly, watching the progress makes people more efficient with paying the loans.