Budgeting is one of the most important things a person can do for their finances. Having a budget gives your money a serious job and helps it work for you instead of working against you.
If you’re reading this article, I assume that you know the importance of having a at least a monthly budget (if not a weekly budget) but sometimes our budgets manage to fail and we can’t figure out why.
A lot of the time, our budgets fail because we are missing some crucial budgeting categories that we just seem to forget and these are the things that will help us keep a better budget and do better with our money long term!
If you’ve never actually created a budget before, I suggest you check out The Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Budget or sign up for 5 Days to a Beautiful Budget to help you get started.
Table of Contents
Things You’re Forgetting to Budget For
1. Monthly Subscriptions
Sometimes when we’re thinking about all of our expenses we can find some of our monthly subscription services slipping right through the cracks. Things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Fab Fit Fun, and others can easily be forgotten but they can also seriously add up to a huge expense by the end of the year.
When you’re first creating a budget and working harder with your money, it’s important to make sure you think through every single monthly subscription that you have and figure out if you really need them, and then make time to really start budgeting for these things.
2. Once a Year Fees
Unfortunately, there are some things that are paid monthly that we can sometimes forget we are even paying for, so it’s important to remember all the once a year fees we need to cover in our budget as well.
This could be things like Amazon Prime, or a new sticker for our car, little things that if we completely forget to budget for can add up and destroy a perfect good budget.
3. Pet Supplies
Every single time I create a new budget, I genuinely forget to budget for dog food and other expenses for Marshmallow. He’s a precious little nugget but I seriously forget how expensive owning a pet can be sometimes.
It’s extremely important to have a line in your monthly budget that will cover things like pet food, new toys, etc so that these expenses don’t just sneak up on you.
4. Taxes
This one won’t affect a lot of people reading this, budget if you’re self-employed this is a really important thing to think about. Being self-employed can be really great and help you have more free time and have more control over your schedule, however, it also means that there are no taxes taken automatically out of your paychecks.
This means that when we create a monthly budget, we need to put some money aside for taxes so that we don’t end up having to find thousands of dollars when tax time comes around. I’ve always found that over-funding this account a little bit is better than not having enough, I’d rather have 30% of my income in a tax account than 15% just so I can have no surprises come tax time.
5. Hobbies
Having a hobby is one of the greatest things you can do for your mental health and to avoid feeling burnt out from your job. However, a lot of budgets can get seriously expensive and can ruin your budget if you fail to plan properly for them.
Even if your hobby only costs you $5-10 per month, it’s important that you add this line in your budget so you can stay out of debt and make a plan for every dollar.
- Recommended Reading: 14 Hobbies That Can MAKE YOU MONEY!
6. Beauty Products
Do you ever notice that every single thing in your medicine cabinet seems to be empty at the exact same time? It seems like there’s some special kind of beauty product gnome that will go around and empty all the bottles at once so that you have to go and spend $100 on hair products and new shaving cream.
A lot of people will group their beauty spending into their regular grocery spending, but some of these items can be rather costly and end up messing up your grocery budget for the month, so I’ve always found that they deserve their own line in your monthly budget.
- Recommended Reading: How to Save Money on Make Up
7. Self Care
Self care is so incredibly important for your sanity. If you aren’t able to do small things to take care of yourself each and every month, you won’t be able to properly take care of other important parts of your life, either. Having a monthly budget for self-care is the key to a well-balanced life.
Self care is going to look completely different for every person because we all relax in different ways so this could be a line for manicures, massages, movie dates, new books, and so much more. It’s any small thing that just helps you through your week with ease.
8. Savings
Have you ever heard the phrase pay yourself first? If you’re a frequent not quite an adult reader, than I bet you have! If you don’t prioritize your savings, then you’ll never be able to really save your money.
You must have a line in your budget that is entirely dedicated to your savings and growing a little nest egg for you to thrive! Two things you should definitely have in your budget under savings should be:
If you aren’t sure how to start saving or even where to start in your savings journey, I highly suggest you check out The Beginner’s Guide to Saving Money.
9. Hair Cuts
Does anybody else wish we could all just wear wigs and not have to cut our hair every couple of weeks? No? Just me?
I always forget to add a haircut into my budget but it’s one of those things you can easily plan for because your hair will always be growing and will usually grow at the same rate so you should always know how long it will be before your next hair cut.
10. Prescriptions
If you take any daily pills or even vitamins, they’re going to cost you some money which means they must also be in your budget. Prescriptions can really add up if you don’t have the proper insurance and they can easily be forgotten in a budget.
11. Gifts
Depending on your personal life, this line in your budget could be huge or it could be tiny. It all depends on how many events (i.e., birthdays) are happening at any given time. For me, my gift line in my budget is the largest in May, September, and December and the rest of the time it’s essentially nothing.
This line in your budget is going to vary a lot more than other things but it’s still really important to not forget to budget for gifts (even if they’re as small as $10 each).
Final Thoughts
Budgeting can be a serious pain in the butt, but if you remember to budget for all of your expenses you’ll eventually have a budget that is going to get you through the month without struggles.
Great list Taylor! Yes, those monthly subscriptions usually fall through the cracks for a lot of people. It’s important to look at every cent when you are budgeting.
So true! Thanks for reading ☺️