There are several factors that can play into how well or how awful you are with your budget. One of these aspects are the people whom you hang around with. No one usually realizes that their social circle impacts your budget, but it is actually a huge contributing factor to how much you spend and how much you save.
[Read: Get You Budget Right by Managing Your Personal Finances]
The Situations in Which Friends Impact your Budget
How many times have you been called and asked to go out with your friends? Probably countless times. However, what is it that your friends are wanting to do? For several people, this is when they spend the most money, even when they are trying to save money. This is when you want to consider just what type of people who are hanging around with:
- If you have friends who are more carefree, it may be making you spend more
- Consider spending your free nights with friends that are a bit more conscious of the money that they spend
The social circle impacts your budget and this is even more present on those nights that your friends want to have out. If you are trying to budget your money, then perhaps you would be spending more time with those who are trying to save money as well. There is nothing that states you cannot spend time with friends, but just do activities that are not going to set you back into more debt.
How to Get Your Friends on your Budget Level
Though your social circle impacts your budget, this does not mean that you have to find new friends. That is far from what anyone wants to do, after all, friends are often some of the strongest relationships that you have in your life. That is why you may want to consider ways in which you can get your friends to realize that you have a budget, while still having a good time with one another:
- Suggest activities that you all can do that are more in your budget limit. You never know, there may be other friends in your group who are thinking the same way that you do.
- Consider making your night out other than the weekend if possible. Activities tend to cost more on the weekends as businesses expect higher numbers of customers.
Make sure your Spouse is on Board with your Budget
Though your social circle impacts your budget, your spouse or significant other whom you share financial responsibilities with, is a huge part of your social circle. You are going to want to want make sure that he or she is on board with the budget you have planned. There are several things you can do:
- Make sure that you both sit down and discuss the budget
- Ensure that both of you are still able to do those extracurricular activities that you are interested in
When it comes to how your social circle impacts your budget, your spouse is going to be an integral part in deciding how to deal with this budget. You both must come to a decision, thus there may be some compromising that needs to take place in order to get the budget that you both want.
Additional Tips for Dealing with your Budget
Your budget is something that you need to stick to as much as possible. However, every professional out there is going to tell you that you should make time for fun activities or rewards for sticking to your budget. Though your social circle impacts your budget, this does not mean that you should cut these people completely out of your life. After all, what better way to celebrate how you stick to a budget than a night out with your friends? This simply means that be conservative with what you are doing. Instead of going to the bar and spending tons of money, have a movie night at your house.
Here are some additional tips that can help you in dealing with a social circle that may have no budget worries:
- Let your close friends now that you are on a budget, however, do not make them feel as though they need to pay your way, simply let them know that you may not do as much as you once did
- Look at other ways in which you can cut expenses so that you can spend as much time as you want with friends
- Offer to plan a few outings for friends so that they know you care, especially if you are not showing up to other outings as much as possible, as you do not want to alienate these friendships
[Read: How To Use A Budget Plan In Your Debt Management Program]
Though your social circle impacts your budget, this does not have to mean that you have to be without social friends. You can take these tips to deal with a budget, while still getting to have fun and mingle with your social circle.