• Home
  • About
    • Disclosure & Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
  • Advertising
  • Guest Posting
  • Tools

Wealth Gospel

Earn, Save, and Invest Money

  • Budgeting
    • Behavior
  • Credit
  • Debt
    • Behavior
  • Giving
  • Investing
    • Insurance
    • Risk Management
  • Life
    • Family
    • Life Skills
    • Marriage
    • Personal
    • Deep Thoughts
    • Awesome
  • Net Worth
  • Retirement
    • Planning
  • Saving
    • Frugality
    • DIY
  • Work
    • Hustling

Budgets are Sexy

August 19, 2013 by Justin Weinger 2 Comments

budgets are sexyRemember when I said I won’t be listing any absolutes on this blog? Well, either I lied or you misunderstood, and I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. There are a few exceptions to that rule. The first one is that you need a budget, because budgets are sexy. Why? Well, sit back while I ramble.

Budgeting is so simple, but it has the potential have one of the greatest impacts on your financial well-being in the long run. There are many reasons people don’t budget, but here are some of the top ones I’ve heard:

I don’t need one. If you are in a situation where you spend like you want and still have money leftover to save, hooray for you! You are truly blessed. But the purpose of this blog isn’t to help you be mediocre, it’s to be a champion! So even if you still have some leftover, think of how much more you could save, whether it’s to invest or for a big vacation! A budget is about managing and tracking your money; that means you  are in control. And remember, you’re the one setting the limits, so don’t think that just because you’re budgeting, you have to eat rice and beans. Do what you want, but be in control and I promise you’ll find new ways to save money for awesome things.

Don’t know how to create one. Of course you don’t, you’ve never done it before. But that didn’t stop you from learning how to tie your shoe, which is arguably your best defense from tripping in a crowd and becoming a trampling victim. If you really don’t want to spend the time to create your own, there are plenty of tools you can find online, such as Mint, Quicken, You Need a Budget, Moneydance, etc. Or you can hop on over to my almost completely empty Templates page to find the spreadsheet I use. I’ve also included a how-to page for those whose Excel skillz are about as good as my dancing skillz. If none of that feels comfortable, create your own. Create one for each month and be as specific as possible. It may take time, but you’ll get the hang of it and it will become easier.

It’s too time-consuming or complicated. It isn’t, really. Especially if you use budgeting software. But even if you use my spreadsheet, the spreadsheet does a lot of the calculating for you once you enter the info in. I usually spend about 10 minutes a week updating it and maybe 30 minutes at the end of the month to review the month with my gorgeous wife and set up next month’s. It might take you longer when you start up, but I believe in you! And if you think about it, you could save yourself literally hundreds of dollars each month by keeping track of where your money goes. For an extra 1-2 hours a month? That’s some serious dollarage per hour, holmes.

I don’t want to feel controlled. In a perfect world, we would all run around meadows in loincloths, doing what we please whenever we please. This would be awesome. But when you’re creating a budget, you’re the one setting the budget. You’re not trying to restrict yourself, you’re just trying to be more responsible.

Budgeting doesn’t work. If you’ve tried to budget and you just can’t seem to rein yourself in to keep it, it isn’t a budget problem. It’s a behavioral problem. If this is the case, you may need Señor Ramsey’s envelope budgeting technique.

I can go on and on about my love affair with budgeting. It’s essential to your financial plan; at least if you want it to be like this:

It frees up so much for future planning, but not just retirement. That’s important, but what else are you passionate about? What else is important to you? Budgeting can take you on that magic carpet ride. Start budgeting, friends, and be prepared for a whole new world! One day you’ll thank me when you realize that budgets are sexy. Totally 🙂

FacebookredditlinkedinFacebookredditlinkedin

Filed Under: Budgeting Tagged With: budgeting

Trackbacks

  1. Why It’s Smart to Use Your Credit Card for Christmas Shopping says:
    December 19, 2017 at 5:47 pm

    […] have the product in stock.  While it would have been nice to save up all year, and not saying that budgets are sexy, but now it’s time to just get your shopping finished up and hopefully you can pay the bill in […]

    Log in to Reply
  2. Ways You Can Boost Your Credit Score this Year says:
    January 10, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    […] on, budgets are sexy, well maybe not entirely but they can save you money.  In 2018 you should forget about wasting […]

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts

  • Digital Deals: How to Save More When Shopping Online
  • Tips for Trading the DAX 30 Index
  • 7 Ways to Make Money in Less Than One Hour
  • Best Ways to Improve a Bad Credit Score
  • 5 Ways to Start Preparing for Retirement
  • How to Save a Little Extra Money this Summer
  • How to Avoid Living Beyond Your Means
  • Some of Your Biggest Money Wastes
  • How You Can Save on Food Expenses
  • Tricks on How You Can Save Money in No Time
  • Ways You Can Get Ahead with Your Finances
  • Key Considerations When Trading Online With Bitcoin
  • Secrets of the Headhunters
  • Credit Card Mistakes You Could Be Making
  • Top Tips When You Have the Builders In
  • Improving Your Credit Score Should be a Priority in 2018
  • Expenses You Can Save Money on Going Forward
  • Debts to Pay Off Before You Retire
  • How You Can Avoid Overspending this Holiday Season
  • Reasons Why You Could Go Into Credit Card Debt

Recent Comments

  • Credit Card Mistakes You Could be Making on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Some of the Biggest Money Wastes You Could be Making | Edward Antrobus on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Now is the Time to Get Your Finances in Order on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Ways You Can Boost Your Credit Score this Year on Budgets are Sexy
  • Money Saving Tips for 2018 on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Why It’s Smart to Use Your Credit Card for Christmas Shopping on Budgets are Sexy
  • 5 End of Year Tips for Broke Millennials on 4 Simple Rules to Make Retirement Savings Work for You
Finance Blogs

Search The Wealth Gospel

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in