Fellow parents, do you make a monthly budget for your household?

We do. Although we have a monthly budget, I do not claim that we are able to stick to it 100% of the time.

There are unforeseen expenses every now and then. But having a monthly budget helps us make wise money decisions. I also believe that over time, we are getting better and more disciplined in sticking to it.

If you are not yet doing this, let me share with you some of the benefits of having a monthly budget.

#1 I think the most important benefit or reason why you need to have a monthly budget is to make sure that you spend your money on the things that you need to spend on like what you need to buy and pay or whatever are your priorities.

#2 When you have a monthly budget, you become mindful of your spending. You begin to ask yourself if what you are planning to spend on is in your budget or not. Do you need it or do you simply want it? Is it something you really need to have or is it just something that’s nice to have? This practice that my husband and I teach to our children even while they are young. We want them to learn that discipline and good habit of first pausing and asking themselves if they should really buy something.

#3 A monthly budget helps us eliminate or minimize bad spending habits like impulse buying, unplanned spending, or getting into credit card debt.

#4 Having a monthly budget helps us know our limits or boundaries when it comes to spending. Thus, we are able to live within our means. When we do not have a budget, we could easily make the mistake of buying so many things when the truth is we have gone beyond our limits and we are already incurring bad debts.

#5 Another important benefit of having a monthly budget is that you don’t incur bad debts or unnecessary debts. It’s stressful and difficult to be buried in debt. If you are currently in heavy debt and you need more ideas on how to better manage and pay off your debt soon, click here.

#6 A monthly budget helps us develop discipline in our finances.

#7 It can help us save for our family’s future. Once we have developed the discipline of saving and have integrated this into our monthly budget, we could build an emergency fund for our family. This is important because we really do not know when emergencies will happen. Medical emergencies are stressful already by themselves. Coupled with the financial stress of not having an emergency fund, that is a major family problem. Just like one famous quote, it’s not how much we earn that is most important but how much we save.

#8 It can also help us grow our money through investments. It is not enough to save. With inflation in the picture, we also need to invest to make our money grow faster. To learn more about investing, I recommend that you join groups or look for finance mentors.

#9 It helps us achieve our financial goals. I think more parents have financial goals for their families. These could either be building a fund for family travels and vacations or buying a house or vehicle. It could also be saving up for a special event or milestone of one family member. Having a monthly budget helps us move closer to our financial goals and improve our chances of achieving them.

#10 When we stick to our monthly budget, we’ll have a more secure future. Isn’t that what we, parents, dream of for our families?

I hope these ten benefits or reasons why you need to have a monthly budget have convinced you to start one if you do not have one yet. In case you already make a monthly budget, I hope this post reminds you and motivates you to stick to it as often as you can.

Happy budgeting and happy spending!