Budgeting might sound complex, but it's really not once you take the leap and actually get started. Plus, the payoff is worth the small learning curve.
Creating a monthly budget can put your financial woes at ease because you know exactly where your money is going and how much money you're bringing in monthly. Taking control of your finances can seem daunting, but it's worth it when you're not stressed about your ability to pay your bills on time, while still meeting your personal financial goals.
1.Set A Reminder
First things first, pick a day out of the month to prioritize budgeting and set a monthly reminder on your calendar. When life gets busy, the last thing on your mind will be a budget.
2.Set Personal Financial Goals For Your Budget
As a beginner, it's important to set personal financial goals before creating a budget. Ask yourself, why are you creating a budget? Solidify the long-term financial goals you are aiming to reach, so you can create a personalized plan of attack to conquer your goals. Everybody has a reason for wanting to clean up their spending habits. It's up to you to determine what your budgeting end goal is. Are you budgeting to:
- Save for a car purchase?
- Create or build an emergency fund?
- Pay off current debt?
- Afford a pricey vacation?
Sit down and write down your purpose for budgeting and the exact goals you are hoping to achieve.
3.Pick A Budgeting Method
50/30/20 Rule:
The 50/30/20 method of budgeting was popularized by Senator Elizabeth Warren in her book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. This rule offers a simplistic budgeting plan to help others reach their financial goals. The rule recommends spending up to 50% of your after-tax income on necessities and obligations, essentially fixed expenses. Then 20% of the remaining half should be allocated to savings and debt repayment, and the last 30% of the remaining half should be allocated to anything else that you want.
Zero-Based Budget:
Zero-based budgeting is a method of justifying all expenses for the period. Basically, the income minus the outgo has to equal zero for the month. After covering your expenses for the month, if you have $300 left over, then you have to allocate it towards something. For example, allocate the money towards paying off debt, an emergency fund, etc. Studies show this method of budgeting helps people pay off 19% more debt and save 18% more money.
4.Choose A Tool To Create Your Budget
Determine what tool you want to use to create and track your budget. Some people enjoy the old-fashioned pen and paper method, but in this day and age we have many technological options as well. For those who know their way around Excel, you can make a budget using an Excel spreadsheet. If you choose to create a budget, then follow these simple steps:
- Record your sources of income
- Record your monthly expenses
- Divide the expenses into fixed (same expense every month) and variable expenses (changes month to month)
- Total your monthly expenses and monthly income to understand your monthly cash flow
If manually creating a budget isn't convenient for you, then there are many free budgeting tools available to give you a hand. Mint is one of the leading free budgeting apps that automatically tracks your expenses and incoming money by syncing to your bank accounts. Mint helps you to create a budget and set goals with ease.
If you aren't interested in downloading an app or manually creating a budget, then Budgetpulse could be the perfect solution for you. Budgetpulse is a free personal finance software that organizes your cash flow, expenses, bank accounts and allows you to set financial goals.
5.Analyze And Assess Your Budget
Setting financial goals and making a budget is great, but it's important to analyze and assess your budget monthly by creating a plan to meet your goals. How much money do you need to save each month to reach your goal and how will it potentially take? If you're saving towards a relaxing vacation on the beach and you estimate that you need to save $1500, then figure out how much money you will save per month to reach your goal. If this requires you to cut back on expenses, then assess your budget for opportunities to cut-back on expenses or increase your income.
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Kayla Nicole says she wore a dress that was once worn by Braxton herself for the Halloween costume. “It’s not a secret Toni is more on the petite side. I’m obsessed with all 5’2” of her,” she tells xoNecole via email. “But I’m 5’10'' and not missing any meals, honey, so to my surprise, when I got the dress and it actually fit, I knew it was destiny.”
The episode was the perfect way for the multihyphenate to take control of her own narrative. By addressing the viral moment on her own platform, she was able to stir the conversation and keep the focus on her adoration for Braxton, an artist she says she grew up listening to and who still makes her most-played playlist every year. Elsewhere, she likely would’ve received questions about whether or not the costume was a subliminal aimed at her ex-boyfriend and his pop star fiancée. “I think that people will try to project their own narratives, right?” she said, hinting at this in the episode. “But, for me personally – I think it’s very important to say this in this moment – I’m not in the business of tearing other women down. I’m in the business of celebrating them.”
Kayla Nicole is among xoNecole’s It Girl 100 Class of 2025, powered by SheaMoisture, recognized in the Viral Voices category for her work in media and the trends she sets on our timelines, all while prioritizing her own mental and physical health. As she puts it: “Yes, I’m curating conversations on my podcast The Pre-Game, and cultivating community with my wellness brand Tribe Therepē.”
Despite being the frequent topic of conversation online, Kayla Nicole says she’s learning to take advantage of her growing social media platform without becoming consumed by it. “I refuse to let the internet consume me. It’s supposed to be a resource and tool for connection, so if it becomes anything beyond that I will log out,” she says.
On The Pre-Game, which launched earlier this year, she has positioned herself as listeners “homegirl.” “There’s definitely a delicate dance between being genuine and oversharing, and I’ve had to learn that the hard way. Now I share from a place of reflection, not reaction,” she says. “If it can help someone feel seen or less alone, I’ll talk about it within reason. But I’ve certainly learned to protect parts of my life that I cherish most. I share what serves connection but doesn’t cost me peace.
"I refuse to let the internet consume me. It’s supposed to be a resource and tool for connection, so if it becomes anything beyond that I will log out."
Credit: Malcolm Roberson
Throughout each episode, she sips a cocktail and addresses trending topics (even when they involve herself). It’s a platform the Pepperdine University alumnus has been preparing to have since she graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism, with a concentration in political science.
“I just knew I was going to end up on a local news network at the head anchor table, breaking high speed chases, and tossing it to the weather girl,” she says. Instead, she ended up working as an assistant at TMZ before covering sports as a freelance reporter. (She’s said she didn’t work for ESPN, despite previous reports saying otherwise.) The Pre-Game combines her love for pop culture and sports in a way that once felt inaccessible to her in traditional media.
She’s not just a podcaster, though. When she’s not behind the mic, taking acting classes or making her New York Fashion Week debut, Kayla Nicole is also busy elevating her wellness brand Tribe Therepē, where she shares her workouts and the workout equipment that helps her look chic while staying fit. She says the brand will add apparel to its line up in early 2026.
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Tap into the full It Girl 100 Class of 2025 and meet all the women changing game this year and beyond. See the full list here.
Featured image by Malcolm Roberson
My main motive? Mostly, I hope that it will serve as a solid reminder to embrace all of the things that you adore about this time of year, so long as you do it in moderation and you weigh the costs.
Especially as far as drinking alcohol is concerned.
PRO: Manages Blood Sugar Levels
GiphyHere’s something that you may have never seen coming. Were you aware of the fact that alcohol can actually help to stabilize your blood sugar? Yep, according to the American Diabetes Association, so long as you leave it to no more than 1-2 cocktails a day, alcohol may be able to lower your A1C levels. Pretty cool, right?
CON: It’s a Carcinogen
GiphyAlcohol is a carcinogen. The reason why this should somewhat alarm you is because carcinogens are things (like tobacco, UV rays, processed meats, etc.) that can increase your chances of being diagnosed with cancer (especially mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach and breast cancer). There are various ways this happens including the fact that alcohol, specifically, can hinder your body from breaking down certain nutrients, it can cause your estrogen levels to spike and alcohol can also cause certain toxins to damage your DNA and certain bodily proteins over time.
PRO: Cultivates Euphoric Feelings
GiphyIf you find yourself feeling more euphoric while you’re enjoying a drink, it’s not all up in your head. Although, for the more part, alcohol is considered to be a depressant, when consumed in small amounts, it can provide a stimulant effect. This happens due to the fact that when you first start to consume alcohol, it causes the production of the feel-good hormone known as dopamine to increase — and since dopamine makes us all feel more relaxed and confident while heightening our senses of pleasure too…well, there you have it.
CON: May Increase Anxiety/Depression
GiphyAs they say, “what goes up, most come down” at some point — and that is what you have to be careful of when it comes to alcohol consumption. For instance, when you drink alcohol, although it tends to initially cause your dopamine levels to uptick, because it is a temporary bodily response, sometimes the dips are lower than the rises…and that is when anxiety starts to kick in. A similar point is made with depression because oftentimes, people with depression-related symptoms, will use alcohol as a way to deflect from what’s really going on with them — and that can make them feel even worse than ever once the buzz of alcohol starts to wear off.
PRO: Has Some Heart-Related Benefits
GiphyWhen it comes to your heart, there are interesting findings surrounding its relationship to alcohol. For instance, some research states that, so long as the consumption is moderate, alcohol can actually help to increase the good cholesterol in your system while also breaking down proteins that can potentially lead to blood clots; both of these factors alone can reduce your chances of dying from heart disease.
CON: Packs on Pounds
GiphyIt’s no secret that alcohol tends to contain quite a few calories. That’s why, it’s not uncommon for people who’ve lost weight to mention “I’ve stopped drinking” as one of the causes for the shed pounds. That’s not to say that there aren’t some alcoholic beverages that have less calories than others including vodka (133 calories per serving), white wine (148 calories per serving) and tequila (99 calories per shot). Just keep in mind that the more you drink, the more calories get into your system and the more weight you stand to gain.
PRO: Lowers Inhibitions
GiphyAlthough you really should only be uninhibited around people who you absolutely trust, if that person is your partner and you’re looking to have a pretty — eh hem — active evening, alcohol can certainly help to make that happen. The science of it all is the prefrontal cortex of your brain is what regulates your inhibitions and levels of self-control. Meanwhile, alcohol suppresses your inhibitions which can cause you to be more spontaneous and open to trying things that you might not immediately do if you were sober. And with the right individual, that can be sexually beneficial (emphasis on “right person”).
CON: Makes It Harder to Orgasm
GiphyOn the other hand, as odd as it may seem (in light of what I just said), if you have too much alcohol in your system, it could make climaxing difficult. That’s because orgasms happen, in part, due to your nervous system being stimulated — and since alcohol is technically a depressant…well, it could reduce nerve sensitivity (especially as far as your clitoris goes) for you while making it challenging for your partner to remain erect or have consistent stamina. And yeah, that sucks.
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‘Tis the season. And with that, if some wassails or hot buttered rums are in your immediate future — hey, don’t let me stop you — not even a lil’ bit.
All I’m saying is now that you know what alcoholic drinks have to offer (both ways), you can know exactly how to incorporate them into your holiday plans. Enjoy!
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