Budgeting

How to prepare a budget which doesn't leave you feeling like you've created a monster is an important consideration when choosing a budgeting system.

I personally don't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary on my budget. And I'll most certainly never ever be caught sitting down night after night entering expenses into a budgeting software! Perish the horrifying thought! I'm just basically too lazy & too busy doing other (much more fun) things. That's the honest truth.

It's absolutely not necessary to be a slave to your budget - quite the other way around actually! The budget is there to work FOR YOU! Its job is to keep your money going where you want it to go. It's the air traffic controller of your life, controlling where your money flows to ensure it ends up in the correct place, on time & without any mid-air collisions. Meanwhile you can be sitting back in the first class lounge, enjoying the free buffet.

So how to prepare a budget that does this?

Seeing your money as something you make work FOR YOU, rather than seeing yourself as having to work for your money, is one of the first mindset shifts we usually need people to work on. Most people see themselves a bit like that old Donna Summer song 'She works hard for the money'. They slave away for their 'hard earned dollars'.

Please don't get me started on that and dozens of other destructive money attitudes we just love to hold onto! Why do people love to talk about their 'hard earned money'? Why are they so proud of that? Shouldn't we strive for & be proud of having EASILY earned money? Why do we often feel a twinge of guilt at the thought?

Do you realize that money is something we earn for giving service & value to our fellow human beings? Therefore, shouldn't we all be striving to be as wealthy as possible and be proud of it as it means we've given a lot of service to others?

Most people really have some messed up attitudes towards money and are not even aware of it! We find it's something we need to really focus on with our clients and members to help them have a good relationship with their money.

Ok, time to step off the soap box & get back to today's topic

The daily entering of expenses does seem to be a common feature of many budgeting systems. I personally just don't get it. Firstly, that's NOT budgeting! It's simply tracking your expenses. Frankly, I also think it's just plain boring & I'd pretty much rather watch paint dry.

Tracking your expenses is necessary initially & we do ask you to do that when determining your starting point, but then you're done. That's The End Of It! You only ever have to do it again if you need to overhaul your budget completely down the track.

If your budget's working properly, you should not have to track your expenses. Expenses should fall within your budget guidelines and a system should be in place to ensure that you can't blow the budget by accident.

This is why we strongly recommend you choose a budgeting system which runs on auto pilot. This kind of feature makes sure the budget can't crash. It keeps it right on course and leaves you free to get on with the rest of your life.

One of the easiest ways to help make this happens is to break expenses up into fixed & variable. You then keep separate bank accounts for them. The fixed expenses are easy to automate by having bills paid via regular direct debits. A 'Cash is King' system helps keep the variable expense account on track. Then it's just a matter of getting into the habit of working around the new system!

It's really quite quick & easy to prepare a budget that does this. Most people avoid budgeting simply for the fear of becoming a slave to their budget. The fear only stresses them even more.

Our philosophy is quite the opposite. You set up your budget quickly & easily and then spend as little time focusing on it as possible. It's then time to move on and focus on your goals and how to achieve them. We encourage you to get excited about your goals and give you strategies to increase your income. Doesn't that sound like a lot more fun?

It's just about making a bit of a mindset shift and getting your money to go to work FOR YOU.

How to prepare a budget that runs on auto pilot is just a matter of getting into some new routines & habits. You just need to put some simple systems in place.

So now you know not to fear budgeting - go to it!

Have a most wonderful & prosperous day!

Miriam