Yesterday we talked about how a budget is the ROCK of your financial plan. Of all things financial, it's first priority. If you're concerned about your retirement nest egg, you must first be concerned with the chicken. And, as we talked about yesterday, if you want to grow some fruit (retirement, debt freedom, college funding), you need a budget - err, tree. Whatever.
I'm sure it was as true in your neighborhood as it was in mine. There was a house nearby that the kids decided was haunted. It was occupied by some scary lady who would peer through her curtains and scare the living daylights out of any kids that dared set foot on her lawn. You stayed awake with your friends during sleepovers daring each other to knock on the door and bolt.
Little did you know how absolutely wrong you all were! The scary lady was the sweetest lady you ever could have met. She peered out of her window hoping you would come and knock on her door, so she could show you pictures of her grandkids that lived thousands of miles away. She also wanted to feed you the most delicious chocolate chip cookies you ever would have tasted. She just wanted some company. You never heard her talk (because you wouldn't dare go near her house), but if you had, you would have heard the sweetest grandmotherly voice EVER.
See what I'm getting at? A budget is like a sweet grandmother who bakes to-die-for chocolate chip cookies but is shunned by the neighborhood for no good reason! (I'll see if I can't use some sort of analogy with each day. By the end, I imagine we'll all be good and confused!)
Dirty, Rotten, Lousy Lies. Why is the budget so shunned? Lies, and the media. (Just kidding about the media.)
Lie #1: I'm spontaneous. Budgeting destroys spontaneity. Wrong. If, on a whim, you buy shoes, and you've done it consistently, and you can't stop, you either need to take drastic measures to keep yourself out of shoe stores or you need to acknowledge reality and budget for it. You still won't know which shoes you're going to buy (brown, white, black? Who knows!? That's the unpredictable spontaneous part), but you're acknowledging the fact that you WILL do something unplanned. See? Spontaneity and budgets can coexist.
Lie #2: I'm not heavily in debt. I don't need a budget. If money ever passes through your fingers, you need a budget. Your money works harder, lasts longer, goes stronger, thinks faster, and moves quicker. Whatever your income, you need a budget.
Lie #3: I don't have time to budget. Oh, don't even go there! Throughout this course you will learn the most effective, efficient way to manage your money. It takes one to two hours per month. (My wife and I have been as fast as 38 minutes for the entire month. Yes, I timed it. Quiet, you.) Put another way, you're saying you DO have time for: talking with creditors, going to the bank to take out a loan, financing the purchase of a couch, settling for a new job that you don't want because you can't make it one month without a paycheck, etc. You don't have time NOT to budget.
Lie #4: Budgeting means lots of paperwork. Nope. How the heck could my wife and I have done ALL money management tasks for the entire month in 38 minutes if there was a ton of paperwork involved? We enter our spending on our phones, and plan monthly. That's it. Sometimes there's something good to eat while we're doing our budgeting meeting, but I'll talk about that on Day Six.
Lie #5: Budgeting causes inexplicable pain and suffering. Just the opposite my friend! The budget removes inexplicable pain and suffering. It is your straight-to-the-point doctor that never misses a diagnosis and tells you like it is. The budget will make your life easier. Truly.
Lie #6: I'm on a variable income, so I can't budget. Wrong again! Budgeting is NOT forecasting. You'll just answer one question every time new money comes into your life: "What do I want this money to do before I'm paid again?" That's it. No forecasting. No guessing.
Write down what has kept you from budgeting. Do you not know how? Is the tracking too daunting? Is the software too overwhelming? Have you used the TIME excuse? Write those all down, then critically address each one of them. Are your excuses also just dirty rotten lousy lies about a sweet, lonely grandmother?
Based on my experience working with others, these lies appear fairly often. They're dirty, rotten, lousy lies. Pay them no heed. Remember: the budget wants to give you fresh, hot, gooey chocolate chip cookies, and just chat in a sweet, grandmotherly voice for an hour or so each month. Tomorrow we're going to get into the mechanics of the budget, starting with the First Rule of Cash Flow. Hey, it only gets better, so hang on for the ride. There are no action steps for Day Two. Just stop believing all the lies about budgeting. | If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Unsubscribe YouNeedABudget.com 770 E Main St. #236 Lehi, Utah 84043 United States | |
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