A Personal Finance Calendar Will Change the Way You Think About Money

Just as calendars are useful in managing busy schedules like doctor’s appointments, business meetings, and any learning sessions you are undertaking, a budgeting calendar is a very useful tool.

It’s a calendar that keeps track of all payments made and dates. It comes in handy when you want to estimate cash inflow and outflow during a certain month.

This is what your calendar should include:

• Your income. if your paychecks are regular, or if you, at least, know when the next one will come in, add those paydays to your calendar.
• Your bills. It is important to note your monthly expenses like your utility bills and housing. Also, note the infrequent charges like yearly subscriptions charges.
• Your savings and contributions. Scheduling transfers to an account you created can help attain your savings goals like having a wedding or help you build up an emergency fund.

You can also log any small or irregular transactions. However, it may be tough to anticipate how much you might spend on groceries.‍

Why Using a Personal Finance Calendar Matters

Jotting down your earnings, anticipated purchases, debts, and goals every month can help you to manage your money and reduce unexpected events. A personal finance calendar will give you a sense of what you will spend and when you’ll spend. It will remind you to make your payments as scheduled, which eventually prevents any penalty fees.

Projecting the month’s expenses allows you to plan, develop a saving habit and make any adjustment as is needed. For example, if you have a sizable app loan bill coming up, you may want to cut back on expenditure the week before making sure you have sufficient money to make at least the minimum payment.

Why do You Need a Personal Finance Calendar?

Having a personal finance calendar allows keeping track of your expenditure, saving, and ensuring we spend where we intend.

Moreover, if you are looking to evade living from paycheck to paycheck then a personal finance calendar is important.

Luckily, there isn’t just one way to do this. Getting a mode of personal finance that will work for you is essential, as it will help you to stick to your money objectives and attain your goals.

Going for a personal finance calendar will help you to:

· Review your income

· Better understand your living expenses

· Track spending and create a spending plan

· Highlight where cuts can be made

· Plan for the future

· Tackle any debt faster

Calendars are beneficial as they help to visually notice when transactions are due to prevent late payments and could be simpler than using a budgeting software.

How To Create Your Own Personal Finance Calendar

Creating this calendar is quite simple and you can create a simple one in just a few steps.

1. First, find a calendar. This could be a physical copy, an application on your phone, or an online calendar. Just ensure that it is laid out in the monthly format with dates and enough space.

2. Mark the days when you will get your paycheck (through your salary, interest payments, dividends or any other source of income and what amount you expect to get. If possible, colour code your figures to make your income stand out from your expenses.

3. Mark your fixed purchases or expenses on that calendar, along with their respective amounts. This should include things like your water bills, electricity bills, phone bills, housing payments, etc. It might come in handy to have these in a different colour to your income above.

4. Finally, mark dates when you intend to put some money into your savings or into paying off any debts. This should also be done along with the amounts. Ensure you choose a separate colour to make this stands out.

5. For varying expenses, ones that fluctuate or ones that do not have a fixed amount, always overestimate these amounts on your calendar. It is better, in my opinion, to have extra for spare than not enough.

6. Don’t hesitate to mark your calendar as needed. Different colors as codes and notes can be very helpful visually for you as you work on your calendar.

To some people, it can be challenging to allocate some time for consistent budgeting. But doing this does not have to be such a chore!

It can be fairly easy to maintain a calendar.

You could dedicate one morning or evening each month to do your budget. This could be the first or last day of a month.

Taking some time to do this will prove valuable in the long run, as you will be developing good money habits, have better financial stability, and get on track with your money goals.

WRAPPING UP

Now that you have an idea of what a personal finance calendar is, its benefits, and how to start one, do you need it? To be frank, it is up to you to decide considering what accountability you make need with your money. Nevertheless, this system of budgeting can be just what you need to attain your long-term goals.

A personal finance calendar could be a great start to organizing your money, managing your sources of income and keeping expenses in check.

Working on a calendar might not be as joyful as we may want it to be, but try it out and see how it will work for you!