Fun ways to budget: The sticky note game

Your personal finance journey is about to get a little more simplistic. These past couple of years I have been on a financial journey that consists of improving and maintaining my credit score, budgeting, investing, and creating more savings. While on this journey, I have come up with multiple tricks to make your personal finances journey both fun and productive. If you’ve been looking for a fun and easy way to budget, you’ve found the right place.

I remember walking around my house and noticing so many items I no longer need or use. Every time I walked by an item, I remember thinking, “Wow, I thought I needed that item at the time, but it turned out to be a big waste of money.” I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of wasting money. According to an article written by PRN, many Americans are doing just that by not budgeting.

One day I was on my laptop while searching for ways to budget and noticed a couple of colored sticky notes by my desk. My initial idea was to write down the information I came across on the internet and use that as a way to budget. However, after doing a little more analyzing I came up with an even better idea.

How the sticky note method works

I took 2 different colored sticky notes and put them to use. Here is the fun sticky note game:

  • Pick 2 pads of sticky notes that are both different colors.
  • Peel off the top layer of each colored sticky note and grab a pen or pencil.
  • On one sticky note, write “Items I use often.”
  • On the other sticky note, write “Items I hardly use or never use.”
  • Go through each room in your house and mark every item you’ve purchased in the last 3 months with the colored sticky note as required.
  • Write the name of the item on the specific sticky note.

After you completed that task, tally up the amount of sticky notes used for each color. Now, rather than opening your bank or credit account, or finding receipts, you simply take a sheet of writing paper and write down the different items. Jot down the items in two categories on your paper; Items used, and items hardly or never used. The items you used often over the past 3 months are more than likely necessities. You should continue to purchase those products going forward. Finding those items on sale or even couponing them is an even better idea.

You’ll have a better understanding of how to budget

The items you hardly use are more than likely items you probably purchased on instinct. These could also be items you’ve purchased for future use. Either way, products similar to the ones listed under the “hardly or never used” category should not be purchased until they’re a necessity purchase. Instinct spending can lead to storing items that are hardly or never used. You’ll realize how much money you have sitting around your home. Sitting around simply means money you’ve spent that is not currently giving you a return of investment.

By focusing on only purchasing items that are necessities, you will begin to save money. You’ll look back a year later and notice the amount of money you’ve saved, and you’ll also have more space around your home.

Be sure to check out my book: Strategies to Master Credit

Darnell R. McKinnon