How to Create and Stick With Your Daily Budget

So, you’re trying to start saving and maybe you have a financial goal you want to achieve. Whether it’s paying off debt, saving for a holiday or just reducing your expenses, sticking to a budget is a great way to get in control of your finances. Here are a few simple things you need to do to get on top of your finances.

1. Track your spending

Before you set a budget, you need to know how much you’re spending on a daily basis. The best way to do this is to write down all your expenses – which means keeping your receipts!

Download a money-management app to make this easier and record all your expenses on-the-go. This might seem like an unnecessary task, but you’ll be surprised how those little expenses can add up to a huge amount!

2. Identify your necessary expenses

Once you’re familiar with your spending habits, you can start identifying the things you need to spend on and set aside unnecessary expenses.

For example, you might need to spend RM10 per day on food and RM3 per day on your toll costs. This should be separated from the things you don’t really need to spend on, like that online sale that was announced this morning.

3. Set a maximum amount you can spend per day

Now that you’ve sorted your expenses, you can start thinking about how much you want to spend per day. If you’re spending RM10 on food and RM3 on toll costs, you’d need a minimum of RM13 in your wallet on a daily basis.

You can decide on sticking strictly to your necessary expenses or allowing yourself some extra to spend – it’s up to you. Take your other expenses- like your daily coffee fix, into account when setting your maximum spending amount.

But if you’re budgeting for a bigger financial goal, like paying off debts, you should try to cut down on your expenses where you can.

4. Decide on what you want to do with the money you don’t use

There are always days where you end up spending less than your budgeted amount – but that doesn’t mean that you should spend the extra cash you have on something you don’t need or want!

Instead, think about what you want to do if you have leftover cash at the end of your week. Do you want to put this into your savings, or allow yourself a treat after your hard work? Having a goal in mind is a great way to stay motivated, disciplined and on track.

What you save for is up to your personal preference, but you should always keep your savings goals in mind and remember why you started saving in the first place.

If you’ve yet to decide what to do with your savings, put a portion of your cash in gold. Saving in gold is a great way to grow your savings and invest in your future self.

With HelloGold, you can buy gold from as low as RM1, making it easy and affordable for everyone. If this is for you, download the app and check it out.