Starting with Budget
Financial discipline for beginner
How many times have you spent money, got broke then regretted it or wondered how you made some financial decision? The fact is, having a disciplined approach to managing money is much more than just a wish list.
In my book, the first rule to any financial literacy is having income then understanding your numbers appropriately. This is where the budget comes in. As an individual, I know a lot of us wing it especially when it comes to money matters. Carefully understanding the direction of your expense, which thing takes a chunk and the likes can help you to develop better financial understanding and make better decisions with money.
Impulsive spending is really a strain on true financial discipline, a good budget design is a big excuse to avoid unnecessary expenses. You could easily sprinkle, oh sorry, that is not on my budget when someone attempts to guilt-trip you to make some unplanned expense.
I have attached a simple Google Sheet Budget Template to improve your finance and get started. (To change the currency, select the numbers, go to format > select number > select Naira. Wishing you a great week ahead.
Beyond budgeting, tracking what we eventually spend our money on can really help. I make budgets all the time, but like you said, impulsive spending is a real killer. Also, having an emergency fund and clearly stating what an emergency is can really go a long way.
And thanks for sharing the Google sheet template.