Doing a monthly budget audit will teach you more about how you spend your money, and Carolina Title Loans, Inc. can help if you find financial gaps! These regular audits will help you learn more about how you spend your money so you can find areas to improve.

Keep reading this article until the end to learn more about these audits, how they work, and why they matter. Then, you’ll discover what you can do if you come across gaps in your budget that need to be addressed quickly!

 

What Is A Personal Budget Audit?

A personal budget audit is a process where you take some time to re-evaluate your monthly budget and see if it’s still working well for you. Overall, it involves checking your income and expenses to look for areas of improvement.

For example, your income might increase or decrease as time goes on. That will require you to change how you spend the money that comes in.

Similarly, your expenses can change as prices increase or your responsibilities change. Whatever the case, doing a monthly budget audit will help you keep up with those changes to spend your money as effectively as possible.

Why Is It Important To Audit Your Monthly Budget?

Here’s a deeper dive into why it’s essential to audit your budget every month:

• Analyze patterns: Your monthly budget audit doesn’t always involve making changes. Instead, it’s crucial so you can analyze your financial patterns. Those include income patterns (e.g. whether it’s consistent or changes monthly) and spending patterns (e.g. paid off expenses or new expenses that weren’t there before).
• Find areas to improve: A monthly audit helps you identify parts of your finances that you can improve. For example, you might discover that you spend too much on entertainment each month and can find ways to cut back.
• Create financial goals: Regular audits help you understand your financial patterns and adjust for what’s realistic. That can help you create better financial goals, like knowing what kind of car or home you can afford.

Bottom line: regular audits help you gain knowledge and experience to create a budget that gets the most value from your finances.

How Do You Perform A Monthly Budget Audit?

Performing a monthly budget audit is pretty straightforward and doesn’t take much time.

Here Are The Five Steps You Can Practice To Do That:

1. Prepare A Complete Budget

Firstly, you must begin with a complete budget as a starting point. This budget doesn’t need to be perfect, but it must account for your income (the money coming in) and your expenses (the money you plan on spending).

2. Record All Expenses

Next, you must record all paid-off expenses. Doing that can be as simple as writing things with a pen and paper. You can also choose from many different mobile apps that help you do the same.

3. Identify Necessary Changes

Then, look for areas you need to change. For example, you might have new expenses that you need to pay for. You’ll have to adjust your budget to ensure you can afford them.

4. Look For Gaps

Lastly, always look for gaps, like needing more money for financial emergencies or other essentials. Gaps can be dangerous because they leave you exposed to financial risks. Monthly budget audits will help you spot those gaps so you can do something to resolve them.

What Do You Do If You Find Gaps In Your Budget?

Suppose you find gaps in your budget that you need to address. In that case, you can reduce some other expenses to free up money to fill that gap. If doing that isn’t sufficient or doesn’t work fast enough, you can consider getting cash quickly through a title or installment loan.

These are two options for short-term borrowing that can help you fill the gaps you find during your monthly budget audit. Here’s how they work, in a nutshell:

• Title loan: A title loan is a way to borrow amounts between $601 and $15,000 in the short term, depending on your car’s value. It requires you to use your lien-free car title as collateral. You’ll get to keep your car but must bring it in first for a quick inspection to assess its value.
• Installment loan: If you don’t have a car, you could get an unsecured installment loan instead. You could qualify for up to $1,500 this way and only need to provide your driver’s license, a checking account statement in your name, and your latest pay stub.

Check out these loans, as they could be short-term options to fill your financial gaps as you improve with future budget audits.

 

Fill Your Budget Gaps Now!

It’s always a good time to perform a budget audit and quickly learn more about how you’re managing your money. If you encounter any financial gaps, you can contact Carolina Title Loans, Inc. for help getting a title loan or installment loan.

Take the first step by submitting the online form with your information. Soon after, a representative will call you to discuss the rest of the process!

Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.