Thank you for checking out part 2 of our Mastery series. If you did not get the chance to check out the first post in the series, feel free to check it out here. This week we will be covering how to master your budget so that you can start saving some money as soon as possible. It is a challenge for the youth to construct a budget and keep track of every purchase. It requires a lot of self-discipline but there are some progressive steps you can take to ease the transition into your new money-saving habits.

Learn Book Knowledge

This is the first step to any project. You must first learn the “classroom” knowledge which is information that you can find from doing research. This is the step that defines terms and areas of the category you wish to study. In this case its wise to find the definition of a budget and the importance of a budget. Budget – An estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.

Get Real World Experience

After you have done some research on budgets, its time to get some experience. This is easily done by downloading a Microsoft Excel Budget Template. This is the worksheet that will allow you to track your daily expenses all the way to the end of the month. This will let you set an amount you would like to save by the end of the month. Download budget for free: Budget Spreadsheet

Acquire New Habits from Experience

After getting some real world experience, it is time to develop some good money habits. It has been found that it takes 21 days of repetition to create a habit. To be safe make sure you fill this budget out for a FULL MONTH. Try your best to resist the urge of stopping for a day or two because this is harmful to the habit you are trying to create. Fill out your daily income and expenses every night before you go to bed.

Make Habits Second Nature through Repetition

Once a habit is created, it must be reinforced to increase the strength of that habit. Continue to fill out your budget daily so that you can keep track of all your expenses and streams of income during the month. As this process gets reinforced more and more, it will start to become a part of your daily routine. Soon after you will be able to do the task with little to no effort. It will become a normal every day part of your life that you do not really even have to think about.

Share Your Knowledge

If you have a friend who is not good with their money then HELP them out. Show them where to get that budget from the link above. Help them get it on their computer and give them a quick walk through of how to use the spreadsheet. In doing this you are not only helping out your friend but you are increasing your own knowledge base and skills of saving money.