Why is it hard to stick to a budget?
When my former husband and I first got married, I knew that managing money was important. It was only logical to make up a list of all of our expenses and see if we had enough money to pay them.
I knew that there was only x amount of money available for each item, etc., so I wrote things up and evaluated. And on paper it always worked out, just barely.
But no matter how hard I tried, it never actually worked out in reality.
It got very frustrating, and I gave up. In fact, I’ve never really had a official “budget” since. (Instead, I have a spending plan, which is a much more palatable way of handling things that works for me.)
One of the big reasons that my budget never worked out was that I was doing it backwards. I listed out all of our expenses, and then tried to see if we had enough money to pay for them, or tried to get enough money if we didn’t. My then-husband was also not involved. I was the designated “money person”, and so I made the budget up and presented it to him.
That just doesn’t work. What would have been more likely to have worked (at least a little better) would have been for us to come up with the list together, and agree to it.
Another problem was that I never sat down and figured out what it was that was actually causing the problems. It wasn’t that “well but we weren’t expecting that expense, next month will be better”. It was that I wasn’t facing reality. I wasn’t expecting the unexpected, or taking into account things I regularly forgot about and spreading them over the entire year (like car insurance or Christmas). I also didn’t realize that we were spending way too much money on transportation expenses as a percentage of our income.
The thing is, it’s normal to have a few problems with a spending plan (especially if you make very little money) when you’re just getting started. It takes time to adjust things to where they work. Instead of getting upset or giving up, step back and analyze. Try something different. Make small adjustments. Get what’s really important to you in there. If you’re going to go out to eat once a week, actually put it in the plan instead of telling yourself that you won’t and then doing it anyway.
The key is to make a spending plan/budget work for you instead of the reverse. Make it something that helps you get to where you want to be, instead of this dreadful thing that you “have” to follow.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I have been budgeting for a while and find that every so often I need to adjust the figures. A budget should never be set in stone but I do agree that having one makes it easier to deal with the ‘oops’ moments that happen.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Yeah, I agree that they are flexible things. Life changes, why shouldn’t budgets?
October 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I think in generally b/c people don’t budget properly, and also because people are generally weak.
There’s always a desire to eat, consume, and want more.
The best is to try and cut EVERYTHING out except for the basi expenses, and see what happens.
Hope to see you at FS one day.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I think people usually make budgets that are too unrealistic. They don’t allow enough leeway and when they brake it, they brake it hard.
October 15th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I don’t have a budget. I am worried about those unexpected expenses. I have a list of the bills that need to be paid, and when I pay them, I make them green. It works for me! :)
October 15th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I have never had a budget because my financial life didn’t seem constant enough as a full-time student to warrant a budget and there would be wild fluctuations when tuition is due and such. Since this is my final year in school I have came up with a spending plan to get a good sense of where my money goes so I will be more adept at handling my income when I start working.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I think keeping it simple is important even if that means keeping a basic budget on paper. I keep mine on a spreadsheet which helps with the calculations. I know several people who have used software programs only to stop using them because they are complicated. Budgeting should not be difficult and it can be fun if you find the right method. In other words if your budgeting is helping you be disciplined and hence saving you money, that is a good thing and hopefully fun.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Wow, your post brings up so much that I may find myself writing a couple of posts at my own blog. Suffice it to say, I’m the designated “money person”… We do have a budget and we do save for upcoming bills by saving monthly for a portion of those bills. Thanks for the great thought-provoking post!
October 16th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Wow, lots of interesting ideas here and reasons I hadn’t thought of. I appreciate the comments!
October 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Great points! I feel like I have a spending plan rather than a strict budget, but I know there are places I could improve. I hate dreadful budgets! But usually, I think of being strict for a while until I increase my savings, then I can slack off a tiny bit as a reward. I know that thinking probably isn’t correct, but it’s what goes through my head so I can stick to my budget.