If you are a frequent reader, you know I think budgets are important.
Budgeting is critical for us to understand our spending habits. A budget helps us target unnecessary spending. If you are trying to pay off your student loans, creating a budget is essential.
The first step in any financial planning is to look at what money is coming in and what money is going out. When you look at what you earn and spend each month, patterns begin to emerge. For example, you may think spending five dollars on the occasional cup of coffee isn’t a lot of money. Those purchases can add up, though.
In light of my strict budgeting views, it may seem surprising that I think budgeting for fun is a necessity. However, fun is a critical component in any well-thought-out plan.
Budgeting Goals Must Be Attainable
At the beginning of the month, you create a bare-bones budget to limit your spending to just the necessities. You plan to use the remainder of your money to pay down your debt. This plan has you feeling pretty good about yourself. You may stick with this budget for the first week or two. If you are disciplined, you may even stick with this plan for a month or two.
Eventually, however, it catches up to you. Maybe you are sick of Ramen Noodles, perhaps you miss your social life, or maybe you want to run the AC a little cooler in the summer months. These weaknesses are a part of human nature. If you don’t incorporate them into your budget, your budget will fail.
The key is to cut yourself some slack. This slack comes in the form of money that can be spent guilt-free. At the beginning of the month, decide how much money you are comfortable budgeting for guilt-free spending. It could be as little as $20. I use $50. As the month progresses, that extra money can pay for a take-out meal when cooking at home sounds exhausting. It can be a bottle of wine or a movie. That money can be spent on any luxury or impulse purchase. It is the opportunity to have the fun that a strict budget would never allow.
If you try to maintain a super strict budget, odds are you will fail. You may keep it going for a while, but it will eventually fail. The question then becomes, do you go back to your unsustainable budget or just give up on budgeting altogether? A not quite bare-bones budget is way better than an abandoned budget. Having some money set aside for fun allows our goals to be more attainable and helps us sustain our budget long-term.
Budget Guilt
If you are like me, you feel guilty about your spending from time to time. On the one hand, this can be a positive sign. It means the budget is important to us, and we are mindful of it in our daily lives. It means that we are working hard towards freedom from our debt. On the other hand, this can be a negative. We can’t feel bad about enjoying life. Prioritizing financial responsibility is important, but so is not being miserable.
If you set aside some money each month to spend on whatever you want, you won’t have to feel guilty when you spend it. Make your budget a healthy habit, not a source of self-loathing.
Reward Yourself for Keeping Your Budget
My favorite part of the fun budget is successfully reaching the end of the month without spending it. At that point, I feel like I am playing with house money. I can roll it over to next month, or I can splurge on something I don’t need. It is the treat I give myself for sticking to my budget.
That little carrot at the end of the stick can be a great motivator. If we stay motivated, we stick to the budget. If we stick to the budget, our bills get paid, and debt becomes part of the past.
The Final Thought
I have always seen financial planning as a means to an end. I get one life, and I want to enjoy every moment of it.
If you cannot afford the things you genuinely need or creditors are constantly calling you, your finances are ruling your life. This is what you want to avoid.
If you go too far to the other extreme, however, you have the same problem. Pinching every single penny may get you a nice number in your bank account, but its no way to live your life.
Find your happy medium. Budget for some fun and create a budget that works for you.
Do you budget for fun? How do you treat yourself each month for sticking to your budget?
I honestly cannot say that budgeting is fun. It is a necessity to stay on the right track financially!
Yeah, I can really argue that budgeting is fun… but I do think that it is important to put fun in your budget.
Hey Michael! We now have a very strict budget, but it’s something that has evolved over time. We started at a 40% savings rate a few years ago and are now just over 60%. The key was to constantly make small changes that we could sustain. But by making a small change every month we slowly increased our savings rate by a significant amount!
60% savings is very impressive and you make a very good point. The strict budget is definitely not for beginners. It is definitely something you have to work your way towards.
My grandpa raised 7 kids on a military stipend and he always budgeted to the nearest penny. He said by the end of the month he had something like $2 and bought himself a comic book as a reward for staying in budget. I think it helped me try to always want to make more, to avoid being in such a stretch, even though he was still in the black, I have a fear of not having enough.
That does sound tough. Given how hard your grandpa had to work, I bet he really treasured those comic books.
Budgeting is fun when you realize how much money you can save!
Budgeting can be fun… In my experience, budgeting isn’t to much fun at the beginning. However, its definitely worth it.
I am not good at this. 🙂 I budget in a Fun category for my wife to spend each month, but not one for myself.
Nick, I wish I had your problem. If I didn’t give myself a fun category, my budget would fall apart. I think you are in a pretty small minority on that one.
awww… budget. We have a love/hate relationship. If I stick to a budget for that month, I feel like I have to reward myself and I get relaxed and following month I’m off. Then I’m back on track again on the next month and it’s really on and off for me. I still haven’t found that budget that I can stick with yet.
I know exactly what you mean Peter. If I don’t create some sort of incentive for myself, I do the same exact thing.
This is beautifully done and addresses the factors that prevent a lot of people from sticking to their budgets…they don’t cut themselves any slack after they’ve built a very strict, very ambitious budget.
Thanks Betsy! Ambition is definitely a good thing, but I think too much can prevent you from long term success.