How to Manage Your Money Even if You’re Bad at Math
Love it or hate it, math is something we all have to deal with, and do, at some point. Budgeting takes so much time and what makes it worse is that it can feel even more daunting if you struggle with math.
The bad news is that you can’t really have an effective budget without doing some basic math. The good news is that we have some tips for you here that can help you start to keep your finances in check without ever having to solve a math problem. For the math hater in all of us, here are some easy budget tips that you can follow without doing a lick of math yourself.
How to Manage Your Money Even if You’re Bad at Math:
- Compare
- Spend less
- Use an app
- Pay with cash
- Keep up on goods and services
Keep reading for the details on how to make it happen…
Compare
Okay. So, technically this is subtraction, but you don’t have to tell your brain that. You don’t even have to calculate the difference between the minuend and the subtrahend. All you have to do is recognize that one number is larger than the other number. In the case of budget, you want income to be larger than expenses. If it isn’t then you either need to make more money or spend less. That’s the basics of budget with out actually solving a math problem. Of course, if you want your budget to be more efficient you will have to get comfortable with some arithmetic.
Spend Less
Not everybody can get a raise or a new job every time their budget calls for more income, but you can almost always spend less than you already are. It isn’t necessarily easier, but it is more within your control to decide not to spend money on discretionary items. One great way to do this is to remove subscriptions and review all automatic payments. Without doing a single math problem, you can cut them out and wait for your next statement to roll around with all the math already worked out.
Use an App
Not using math can get you in trouble, but on the plus side (sorry), banks and apps usually do all of that for you anyway. When you spend money you usually round up your costs and ignore the change. But the change adds up and you should account for it somehow. Rather than keep track of all your nickles and dimes, you can download an app that takes your change and deposits it into an investment account for you. That way the “extra” money is not lost or forgotten.
Pay with Cash
If you think paying with a credit or debit card is easy, you should try cash. Swiping a card is convenient, but expenses can snowball and become a budget nightmare you will need mathematics to get out of.
Keep Up On Goods and Services
Adding expenses to your budget may seem counter-intuitive. Sure cutting out unnecessary spending will help, but how does it help to add automatic spending on the basis of maintenance? Well, to begin with, regular upkeep is a good way to stay current on house management and avoid unwanted “emergency” expenses. Rather than do the math to see how much money you can allot to your home/car maintenance, groceries, cleaning supplies, etc. You can put leftover money toward these things at the end of the month. Of course, if you have outstanding debt, that is the first thing you should manage. Doing the math is better from an efficiency standpoint. However, you can prioritize jobs to do instead and start growing a fund without ever doing any hard calculations.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these easy budget tips that don’t rely so heavily on math. If you take this approach you can stop avoiding financial health because of the math involved. Do you have anything holding you back from managing your debt or household budget? Let me know in the comments below and we may be able to provide more easy budget tips.