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It’s time to set a smarter goal for your budget and your finances!

Can you believe it’s already the new year?!

Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday we were celebrating the start of last year?!

It’s time to start goal setting and making New Year’s resolutions, and that includes your finances.

However, the new year is not just about goal setting, but also sticking with them.

While personal goal setting is great, setting a goal for your finances is a great way to keep up with your budget goals.

These goal-setting tips and strategies will easily guide you in making smarter goals for your budget.

Plus, these tips to personal goal setting will quickly guide you to make your finances a priority in the new year.

And, keeping your budget goals will set you up for a year, and maybe a lifetime, of financial success!

If you want to know the secret to follow through on your goals, then you need to keep reading!

smarter goal

Take It One Day At A Time

There is a saying that the only way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time.

This might sound a little weird, and I don’t encourage anyone to eat an elephant, but the metaphorical phrase is right when it comes to following through on your goals.

When it comes to achieving your goals, you also have to take it one bite at a time. That means you have to break them down to their lowest (smallest) form. Yes, setting a smarter goal.

These goal-setting tips and strategies start by dividing your goals down to the day.

It’s easy to break down your goal into smaller pieces when it comes to numbers such as savings goals or debt payments so that you can see tangible progress.

That way you can focus not only on the overall goal in total, but, more importantly, what you can do each day to help move closer toward your goal.

For example, I broke down a goal of collecting PENNIES each day into a sheet to hang on your fridge which allows you to have almost $670 by the end of the year (yes, collecting PENNIES!).

BONUS FREE DOWNLOAD

Create A Plan For Your Money

These FREE Budgeting Spreadsheets will help you keep a pulse on your money (from the palm of your hand).

smarter goal

Schedule It In

When it comes to your goals, you can’t always achieve them in a day or even a week. If they can, then by all means, get started!

Just like you have to schedule a doctor’s appointments or meetings, you have to plan the time to work on your goals.

These are real commitments and just because they are personal doesn’t make them any less important.

The first real step is to take action on your smarter goal. If you don’t make time for taking that action, it than it doesn’t matter how motivated you are, you won’t get it accomplished.

Make an appointment with yourself, and then protect it with your life.

smarter goal

Figure Out Some Rewards

We are motivated by rewards. And I’ve found that goals that take a while to achieve, require regular rewards to keep the motivation going.

If you are trying to save money, then it might seem counterintuitive to spend some of that money on a reward. But there are plenty of fun celebratory things you can do to reward yourself without it costing extra money.

What if you spend less than $5 on a special treat for yourself (such as a pack of macaroons in the photo above). Or pack up a family lunch and take it to the beach? Maybe you organize a movie marathon day? Or a special hour of quiet time to take a bath? (okay, that might better relate to a weight loss goal reward… but you get the point)

As you are making a smarter goal, figure out a fun reward to go along with the benchmarks as you complete them. That will keep you highly motivated to continue moving forward with your goals.

smarter goal

Create Good Habits

If your smarter goal is to put more money into savings, then your going to need to start making good money saving habits.

I use the Tip Yourself App to transfer money into savings each week. It’s so simple: when I see a tip jar at Starbucks (or think to myself; yayyyy I walked 2 miles today, go me!) I open my Tip Yourself App and add a couple bucks to savings. I mean we tip other people, why not tip ourselves, right?!

You could also make it a habit to take your change out of your wallet each Saturday. (Set an alarm, or mark it on your calendar.)

And then put that change in a jar to bring to the bank once a month.

If you create small simple habits for yourself and weave them into your daily life, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to follow through on your goals (because you don’t have to force yourself to think about them!). 

It helps to make your personal goal setting actionable and doable. Then create and post reminders to help you continue making your budget goals.

Need a reminder to help you create and continue your good habits? Grab this FREE printable Habit Tracker!

smarter goal

Find An Accountability Partner

Once you have your goals set in stone, tell people about them!

Tell your friends, your cat, and even your neighbor. Tell as many people as you can what you are working on.

Hang something on your refrigerator to remind yourself that you have a smarter goal you are working towards and keep up the motivation!

Having an audience will not only keep you motivated to reach your goals but also help you through tough times.

Having a support group can help you work toward your goals when it’s hard, and celebrate your success when you reach milestones. 

Try to find someone with a similar goal and find ways to keep each other on track.

Here are some great things to do instead of spending money.

BONUS FREE DOWNLOAD

Create A Plan For Your Money

These FREE Budgeting Spreadsheets will help you keep a pulse on your money (from the palm of your hand).

smarter goal

Set Deadlines

This was a gamechanger that helped me significantly achieve more of my financial goals.

If you don’t have end dates in mind for your smarter goal, you’ll never get them done (at least I won’t).

When things get busy what is the first thing you do? You find the items that aren’t due yet and push them off for later. That’s just human nature.

But when you have a deadline, even if it’s a false one that can be changed, your brain kicks into overtime and your goals get accomplished. (Go ahead, test me!)

While your personal financial goals may not necessarily feel like they need to make the emergency list, they should still have deadlines attached to them.

You can make a deadline for the end of each month, quarterly, and end-of-the-year deadlines for reaching smaller goals so that you build momentum.

This will help give your goals momentum and will keep your goals at the forefront of your mind each month.

If you are paying off debt, you should have deadlines for any milestones. This will help keep you motivated to work at it and make sure you don’t just blow it off.

smarter goal

Avoid Distractions

If you are trying to save money, hanging out with people who have free time to go to the movies or shopping can make it really hard to keep saving money.

While I’m not saying you can’t hang out with them, you shouldn’t if it’s going to make you disregard your goals. Tell your friends about your goals so they can help support you and help you figure out free ways to still have fun while helping you meet your long-term goals.

If they are your real friends, they will understand what you’re going through and support you where they can.

Avoid any distractions that are going to make reaching your goals hard, and you’ll find it’s easier to follow through on them.

Setting a smarter goal can be easy.

And, setting up a plan to make it happen is even easier, but sticking with it is not so easy.

These goal-setting tips and strategies will easily guide you in making smarter goals for your budget.

Plus, these tips to personal goal setting can quickly guide you to make your finances a priority in the new year.

And, keeping your budget goals will set you up for a year, and maybe a lifetime, of financial success!

If you follow these steps, you’ll have no trouble following this year’s new year resolutions, and you may even surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.

 

Your Homework: Find a budget buddy if you don’t already have one and share your goals for the year with them! Comment below once you’ve done it to hold yourself accountable! 

How To Follow Through On Your Financial Goals
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