Join Ashley on day four of the Budget Series as she discusses the crucial step of making your budget realistic. Discover why unrealistic expectations can sabotage your financial plan and learn practical strategies for setting achievable goals. From managing your food budget to adjusting spending habits, Ashley shares valuable insights to help you create a budget that works for your unique circumstances. Tune in to gain the confidence and patience you need to succeed on your financial journey. Hosting Today: Hey, I’m Ashley Patrick, a personal finance expert and founder of Budgets Made Easy. I help busy moms create systems to save money and pay off debt so they can reach their big dreams faster and easier. I was able to pay off $45,000 in just 17 months including $25,000 in student loans in just 10 months. I’m a Master Financial Coach and have a bachelor's degree in psychology and will help you get to the root of your money problems. Since my journey started I have been featured on Fox Business, Yahoo! Finance, Food Network, USA TODAY, MSN, CNBC, NerdWallet, and many others. “Part of making things realistic is to not expect perfection. You're never gonna be perfect. You are not a robot. You are a human. That is the human condition, is that you cannot be perfect. It's literally not possible. So we have to stop expecting everything to go perfectly. You can't expect your budget to be perfect. You can't expect your family to be perfect, your kids, you, like it's just not realistic. It's also not realistic when you are just starting out with creating a plan, with trying to save money, trying to get your spending under control, for you to go from a hundred to zero overnight, you're not gonna wake up and be a completely different person, right? So you have to be realistic with the process and with the journey. And what that means is having patience with yourself. It means knowing that it's gonna take time to figure out amounts that actually work for you.” - Ashley Patrick Timestamps: 01:18 - Introduction to Episode 4 of the Budget Series 02:45 - Step 4: Making your budget realistic 05:00 - Using the example of the food budget to illustrate realistic expectations 08:23 - Setting smaller, achievable goals to avoid feeling overwhelmed or discouraged 09:18 - Setting minimum, mid-level, and big goals for better goal-setting 10:40 - Preview for the next episode Tired of wondering why you can't seem to get on track with your budget? It's because you don't have a proper plan for your money! Grab the Printable Budget Planner and the Paycheck Budget Spreadsheet and create a plan you can actually stick to! Visit www.budgetsmadeeasy.com/planner and www.budgetsmadeeasy.com/spreadsheet to get your planner and spreadsheet today. And if you enjoyed the podcast today and got some great takeaways, I’d really appreciate it if you followed the Money Mindset Podcast so you don’t miss out on future episodes. Resources and Links Mentioned: Save $10 on the printable planner and spreadsheet: Code BS10 * Printable Budget Planner www.budgetsmadeeasy.com/planner * Paycheck Budget Spreadsheet www.budgetsmadeeasy.com/spreadsheet Connect with Ashley: * Instagram: www.instagram.com/budgetsmadeeasy

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