How to Start and Keep Track of Your Budget + Free Budget Tracker

Aja Dang is well-known for successfully paying off her student loans worth $200K in just two years. She is admired by so many aspiring young women who are also on the same journey to become debt-free. She has a Youtube channel where she talks about her monthly budgets and goals, and how she plans on achieving these things monthly. She also recently came out with her new monthly budgeting finance planner called the MSTRPLN.CO.

I recently started following her method of monthly budgeting and let me tell you, it has helped me more than any of my previous budgeting methods that I have previously tried.

She has hundreds of videos about how she does her monthly budgets, and with that, she includes google spreadsheets of her plan. She has it out for the public so everyone can hold her accountable and it is also available for anyone to download and personalize for their own needs.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

I have a couple of these spreadsheets saved on my own Google Drive. The monthly budget helps because she has it designed so you can lay out all of your bills you pay monthly, and then it is segregated further from there so you can list out what comes out of your account every two weeks, as well.

Her method of budgeting truly helped me because I enjoy seeing point by point where my money is going, and how much I’m paying off. I also have my own planner that I keep with me everyday to track my expenses and my savings. This method works for anyone who likes to see a full breakdown of their monthly finances, and track their loans as chunks get taken off it every day.

I suggest downloading her spreadsheets and personalizing each month with all of your monthly expenses, and your monthly income. You can either do this online or by printing the spreadsheets and writing down your goals from there. You should also keep your own planner with a breakdown of your monthly to yearly financial goals, so you are motivated everyday to keep up with your goals.

Personally, I bought a bullet planner and wrote down my annual financial goals. I write down what I need to pay off and how much I would like to have paid it off (these are student loans, credit cards, vehicles etc). From there, I break it down to monthly fixed expenses, such as: insurance, rent, groceries, credit card bills, phone bills, subscriptions etc. Next, I take note of which fixed expenses come out of my account every 2 weeks. I also write down the amount I can set aside towards my savings, and the extra amount I have left that I can spend after fixed expenses and savings.

Every time I reach my weekly and monthly goals, I allow myself to have a reward. I write down my rewards at the end of every week and at the end of the month. These rewards can be anything you want—like getting takeout, ice cream, my favourite dessert (as you can see I am very food-motivated). Rewards allow you to appreciate yourself for working so hard and slowly achieving your financial goals whether it be big or small. Check out this post if you want to learn more tips on how you can reach your goals (and not give up on them).

Make budgeting fun! Grab your colourful pens, highlighters and markers and dress up your planner, so it is motivating to look at every day. Planners that are so plain and boring tend to make me feel the complete opposite of that.

If you're not into planners, you can get printable budget trackers! You're in luck because we have just the right one for you! You can download our FREE printable budget tracker (this link or fill out the form below) and fill your heart away. It has a simple yet colorful layout, and such a no-brainer. If you're intimidated by budgeting, the tracker sheet is for you. And if you have questions about budgeting, we might have an answer for you in this post.

I really do encourage you to start looking at your finances even at an early age, because it is never too early to save up, to start an investment and to start creating a stable financial status for yourself. Every month this year, we will be talking about different topics regarding finances so please feel free to tell us if there's anything you want us to talk more about. I really enjoyed Aja Dang’s method and will continue to use her practices, and learn from her tips and tricks. I also really encourage you to check her out because she is amazing. We aren’t sponsored or affiliated by her at all; we just really encourage supporting women killing it out here.

Until next time! Thanks for reading!

xx