Budget Tips
All tips tagged budget ✕
Review your last three bank and credit card statements to help determine where your money is being spent. Highlight each transaction made outside of bills and other financial responsibilities. Add them up to see how much you could be saving each month.
Set short-term goals when budgeting. This helps you stay on track with your budget and provides a feeling of accomplishment. It’s easy to get discouraged if you never reach a milestone. Reaching a goal reassures you that your budget plan is working.
Develop an accountability system. We are human, and we make mistakes. Having an accountability system or having a “budget buddy” can be very helpful for reaching your goals. Don’t get discouraged if you go outside your budget. Learn from it.
Know how you’re going to track your budget daily. Use financial apps that help you track your spending and saving. Seeing the number daily can really put things into perspective.
Make sure to reward yourself. It’s like a cheat day when you’re dieting. Rewards are a necessity. Rewarding yourself when budgeting is important. Just make sure you don’t get carried away.
Learn to wait on purchases. Take a few days and really assess how a particular purchase is going to impact your finances and budget. You might even find a better deal. Patience is important at all times, but especially when you’re on a budget.
Include an emergency fund when you create a budget. Without any money set aside for emergencies, your budget and progress can be destroyed with one home maintenance repair or car fender-bender. Build your emergency fund each paycheck to help keep your budget on track.
Make it a point to review your budget progress at least once a month. You might find you could be saving more or making larger payments to pay off credit card debt. It’s important that each dollar has a purpose.
Don’t forget about fun. Our lives are filled with paying bills, building credit, and spending too much on gas. You need to be able to relax. Set aside a little cash for fun and take a breather.
Meet your Airbnb host in person if they are around, even if only for 5 minutes. This reassures everyone involved in the booking in case something should go wrong, as well as giving you a chance to ask about local tips.
Always give your Airbnb host feedback: whether good, bad or neutral. This is a community site that works best if everyone contributes to maintain high accommodation standards. Little tips like ‘a hairdryer would have been useful’ could benefit the next person’s experience.
Ask your Airbnb host questions beforehand about accommodation basics, in case they can only provide limited contact when you arrive. Confirm arrival and departure times and instructions, as well as must-haves like use of Wi-Fi and washing machine.
If you have booked an Airbnb and you know you will be arriving late (post 11pm) or early (pre 6am) then discuss this with your host. It is never fun to feel stranded in an unknown city in the dark! They will need to make sure their location instructions are extra clear.
Never forget that you are staying in someone’s home, and don’t treat any Airbnb booking as an opportunity to have your own guests round. Never start a party. Stay in a hostel if your priority is making new friends!
If you are travelling on holiday/ business for more than a couple of nights, most Airbnb hosts offer discounted weekly or monthly rates. Also negotiate directly with a host as they can offer even lower Special Rates.
Save more pennies on Airbnb if you are travelling in a group by searching for properties that are slightly smaller than the number in your party (e.g. sleeps 2 if you are 3). Then enquire if your host can offer an extra roll out bed before you book.
Still compare Airbnb options to hotel search engines like Booking.com if the per night cost for 2 people is around $100 USD or more. In some very popular areas, a budget hotel can actually work out cheaper.
One major benefit of Airbnb is that you will typically have a kitchen at your disposal. Save money by eating one or two meals in per day. A good host will leave kitchen basics like seasonings, small milk, coffee and tea.
For the truly adventurous, check in regularly with the Airbnb Picks website section and book spontaneously! Categories include fabulously random inspiration like Famous Authors Homes, Castles, Lighthouses and Private Islands.
