Budgeting – Striking a Balance

27 Apr Budgeting – Striking a Balance

Ah, the dreaded word – budgeting. Many of us see budgeting as a plan that keeps us from enjoying life. It brutally strips spontaneity from our life.

If you’ve read my previous posts, I’ve shared that budgeting is liberating. It enables spontaneity. It makes a hoped for future a present reality. It’s the basis for realizing what’s most important to you and your partner.

Here are the two sentences you need to remember from today’s post. First, a budget is your personalized plan to achieve what’s most important to you. Second, a budget is a reflection of the individuals who created it. That’s it – there’s nothing more.

Yes, your budget can be adjusted to save you more. This is irrelevant if your budget is achieving what you and your partner wants. Understanding this simple concept will enable you to feel good about creating, tracking and revising your budget. As life changes, as you and your partner change your budget will change too.

With new experiences, your priorities will change too. It’s inevitable. With each new lesson learned, you’ll review your plans and update your budget accordingly. Approaches that you wouldn’t have considered trying before may now look attractive. Ideas you’d earlier embraced you’ll set aside.

In short, there’s no right or wrong path to budgeting. There’s only one question to be answered. Does your budget enable you to achieve your future goals? Your budget is your present reality of who you are. Looking backwards wishing you had done something different has little value unless it can be comfortably integrated into a plan that creates a bridge that makes a hoped for dream a reality.

Here’s a great article that will help you keep things in perspective. http://www.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/budgeting/5-tips-living-comfortably-on-tight-budget.htm