Using a budget is one of the best ways to help you achieve your financial goals. But what if you hate budgeting? You do not like the idea of removing all the extra expenses in your life. What do you do?
First off I want you to know that EVERYONE budgets differently. What works for one person, will maybe not work for you. And this is why I bet you hate budgeting. You are not using a budgeting system that works for you!
WHAT ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH?
You need to decide why you do not like budgeting. Is it because…
- you only feel like you’re lacking (can’t do it right)
- you’re always going over budget
- budgeting is a fun sucker (you can’t budget anything you like to do to have fun)
- you don’t have time
Whatever your reason I want to talk about some of these I listed above and maybe I can change your mind about budgeting!
HAVE YOU GIVEN IT A CHANCE?
How long have you tried to budget? A week or even a month? It takes longer than that to get the hang of budgeting.
I am going to give you some tough LOVE right now. If you want something to be successful (learning something new, becoming fit, or improving your finances) it takes time and practice. So in other words, you will not be perfect and it takes time to feel the change, especially when it comes to budgeting.
You know that “aha” moment when things start making sense, this is what I am talking about!
To truly give budgeting a chance you need to do it for at least 3 consistent months. But maybe you have this false vision that budgeting is easy to start with, you should only spend money on the needs, and you have to be perfect every month never going over that budget. It’s time to break it to you, none of these are true. Yes, there are some people who can do the perfect budget but I am NOT one of them and I am ok with that.
IMPROVEMENT IS KEY!
This is what I want you to try if you hate budgeting or if you don’t, improve your current finances. So instead of thinking I need to budget, you will think how can I improve today or this week.
Maybe it’s cutting back on eating out or something else. The key is to do better than you were. And stop comparing to that perfect budget (or the ones that people think they are perfect). You know the ones! Stop eating out, stop vacationing, stop paying for this or that. You don’t have to stop having fun to improve your finances, you just need to use your money wisely. Cut back to start out and see where that takes you!
TRACK IT!
Here’s the thing, you still need to track your spending or you will never know if you’re improving.
I offer a FREE budget workbook to my email subscriber that I use but maybe you need something different. How about an app? One that links your accounts and tracks everything for you.
Now I personally have not used anything like this because my workbook works for me. BUT I know people that use Mint (for example) and they love it. So if you’re having a hard time finding the time to write everything down maybe try an app. But I do have to say doing the tracking yourself is probably the best!
HATE BUDGETING? DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!
If you leave with anything today I want you to leave knowing that everyone is different. So your budget will be different. The key is to improve! What do you need to do to achieve that? Stop letting others tell you and you decide for yourself!
I am going to be honest, my budget has things in it that most frugal people would not include. But I have them. My things are home projects, entertainment, and vacations! We are fine with not eating out and not having cable, which saves us a lot of money! Now you’re probably different than us and have different things you budget for. But always make sure you are IMPROVING!
One way we do this is only going to the movie theater a couple of times a year, instead we rent movies. Or we go camping instead of staying in a hotel. And we DIY almost all of our home projects. We still enjoy our life but we cut back to improve our finances so we can pay off debt.
Don’t hate budgeting because you think it makes you not able to do anything. Make that budget work for you and start controlling your money the way you want!
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