The Biggest Problem With Your Personal Finance Budget And How To Fix It

So you’ve gotten tired of living paycheck to paycheck and decided to set up a personal finance budget. Only it doesn’t seem to be working; your savings are still empty, the bills seem to be draining your finances, and you can’t stop going over budget!

First things first—don’t give up! Setting up the first one is the hardest part of a personal finance budget. Once you’ve started, it can only get easier.

At Nevada Title Loans, Inc., we're here to share our budget repair strategies to help you tackle your budgeting challenges. Keep reading to discover our financial planning and advice, and if your budget cannot handle a sudden emergency, learn how a Nevada title loan can help with your urgent needs.

How To Fix Your Personal Finance Budget

1. Identify Your Budget Challenges

When it comes to your failing budget, there are a few things you can do to identify why it keeps failing. Those three things are:

1. Take a good look at your bank statements to find the most significant expenses;
2. Identify what can be cut or reduced;
3. Prioritize saving by paying yourself first.

Before fixing your budget, it's essential to understand why you're facing budgeting challenges. To do this, you must be honest about your spending and expenses. Asking yourself, "Is this something I need to spend money on?" can unlock the areas where you're misallocating your money. 

In addition to asking yourself tough questions about your spending, you should identify 'non-essential' spending. These could be subscriptions to streaming services, lapsed gym contracts, or any other service that's no longer needed. By addressing these 'non-essential' expenses, you can better grasp the concrete reasons your budget may fail. 

From there, you can employ specific budgeting strategies and tools to help you identify these weak areas and align your money with your long-term financial goals. 

2. Use The 50/30/20 Method

Multiple strategies exist for setting up a personal finance budget, and the 50/30/20 method is one of the most effective. Here's how it works. 

• 50% of your money goes to the necessities
• 30% to wants
• 20% to savings.

Some financial professionals advocate for extremes, such as saving over 60% of income by cutting all unnecessary expenses. Others still utilize sinking funds for big purchases while being frivolous with smaller ones.

None of these approaches to the personal finance budget is 100% suitable for you. The optimal compromise between what you can stick with and what will help you curb your bad money habits would be best.

Ultimately, it would be best to do what's most likely to help you stay consistent with your budget. Thankfully, several apps exist to help you get started and build momentum with your budgeting goals. 

3. Utilize Online Budgeting Software And Apps

If you need help identifying the weak areas in your budget and need an easy way to track your finances, budgeting apps can help today. Here are a few of the options you can consider to help with your personal finance budget:

• YNAB (You Need A Budget)
• Goodbudget
• PocketGuard
• Mint Mobile
• Credit Karma
• Honeydue (designed for couples)

Experiment and explore the apps listed above and choose the app that works best for you! Consider the user interface and ease of use to help you determine what budgeting app will help you in the long run.

4. Fix Your Budget Challenges

Whether you choose the 50/30/20 Method or dive into using a budgeting app, you will face budget challenges. Let's review a couple of budget repair strategies you can implement today. 

• If your most significant expenses are “unskippable bills,” find a way to mitigate them – at least partially. If it’s the rent – find a cheaper rental or a roommate.
• If it’s debt, contact your debtors and try to negotiate the payments due to hardship. If that’s impossible, look into debt consolidation options.
• If it’s medical expenses – contact the medical facility, ask for a detailed bill to find out exactly how much you’re paying for and for what, and try to negotiate the bill. An example would be if you’re having a problem with insurance – contact your insurance agency.

And remember: you can always ask for advice online—you’ll probably find people who’ve been through the same thing and succeeded!

5. Prioritize Saving

The only way you’ll be able to save money is to prioritize saving. Automate your savings so that a part of your paycheck automatically goes into a savings account and budget with what’s left.

While it may seem impossible when you’re still living paycheck to paycheck, you can start with a small amount – say just 2% of your paycheck – and gradually increase it while adjusting your personal finance budget. Remember, success comes from trying over and over again.

 

Get A Nevada Title Loan To Deal With Unexpected Expenses

One way to cover unexpected expenses that could bust your budget is to acquire a loan – specifically, a short-term fast loan, like a Nevada title loan.

Title loans are an optimal option in an emergency due to:

• Accessibility – almost anyone who’s over 18 and owns a car can be eligible;
• Easiness - you can start the application process comfortably online, and you’ll only need a few items;
• Swiftness – the entire application process typically lasts less than an hour, and if approved, you’ll get the cash the very same day.

But as enticing as getting a Nevada title loan can seem to fix your problems, adding to your financial obligations should never be your first action when money problems arise.

Instead, consider all aspects of the problem and determine if the issue in question is 1) time-sensitive and needs to be dealt with immediately, not to escalate; 2) dealing with it down the line could cost you more.

Suppose the answer is no – then you should at least attempt to get cash together without going into debt. But if the answer is yes to at least one of them, then getting a Nevada title loan is wholly justified to fix it.

Medical and dental bills, vet expenses, car breakdowns, necessary house repairs, and other problems that require a title loan are good examples.

Apply For A Nevada Title Loan Today

Getting a Nevada title loan is easier than you may think. Go to Nevada Title And Payday Loans, fill out the online form, and submit it. The loan representative from the nearest Nevada title loan location will contact you and schedule an appointment.

You’ll need to bring certain required items. Those items are:

• Driver’s license or state-issued ID proving you’re over 18;
• Your car for a quick inspection to determine how much you could qualify for;
• Your car title that’s in your name and completely lien-free;

The representative will assess everything and determine if you qualify for the loan. If approved, you’ll complete the simple paperwork and get the cash you qualified for on the same day. This process could last as little as 30 minutes.

There is no reason to stress when your personal finance budget isn’t working. Now is the time to sit down and figure out how to fix it. Whether you use a Nevada title loan or some other method, you can do the work to fix your budget.

Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.