I can’t be the only one struggling to make a budget! I’m a finance professional, I work with excel spreadsheets all day, I love numbers, but I still can’t manage to stick to the routine of making a monthly budget. I have no excuse to not love the budget!
I tried because:
- Experts said it was the first step in managing your finances
- I felt like that was the only way to grow my savings
- There are lot of success stories (online/social media)
- I thought it was going to help me cut down expenses
- Etc.
But soon I realize that it is not solving my problems. I’m a saver by nature; the issue was not that I spent too much on unnecessary things or that I didn’t know where my money went.
What’s a budget?
To me, budget = expenses. Most of the information out there about budget focuses on managing your expenses and making sure you know where every dollar goes. That’s fine if that’s your struggle. The one tip that I would give is not to cut out every ounce of pleasure from your life at the expense of making the budget. It will make you angry and you won’t be able to sustain it.
My problem is that I am not able to save at the rate I wanted to achieve my goal in a specific period. My solution was to find ways to increase my income rather than reduce my (already frugal) expenses.
Is a budget for you?
You have to know who you are and what works for you. The good thing about a budget is it forces you to look at your numbers. A good budget starts with looking at your income and expenses for the past 3 months. This exercise alone (even if you don’t go through with creating a budget) opens your eyes to some questionable things you might not be aware of (for example monthly subscriptions you don’t use, how much you spend eating out, etc.).
You can still reach your saving goals
The reason I don’t use a budget is not because it’s not effective, it just doesn’t solve my problem. If that’s you, I don’t want you to feel frustrated and defeated that it’s not working. There are other ways to manage your finances without the stress of a budget. I have been using these steps and they have been game-changers:
- Why do you want to save – this will keep you motivated when things aren’t going great.
- Figure out how much you want to save – knowing your number helps you set attainable goals.
- Pay yourself first – set aside your savings before you pay your bills.
- If your income doesn’t allow you to set aside enough, you might need to consider starting a side hustle.
- Stay consistent. Life happens to all of us, the important thing is not to let it get you off track.
Your finances are personal. What works for someone might not work for you. It doesn’t mean anyone is wrong, it just means you need to customize the information you receive to your individual needs/goals.
I do know where my money goes but I don’t stress about every dollar I spend. My goals focus on how much I want to save not how much I spend. Whether I reach my goals through cutting expenses or increasing income is less important to me.
“A budget tells us what we can’t afford, but it doesn’t keep us from buying it” William Feather
