If you do not currently have a budget, I want you to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror and say, "Today, after work, I will make a budget for myself." If you're married, put your hands gently on his or her shoulders and say, "Today, we need to make a budget. Its important." Feel free to insert whatever disgustingly mushy nickname you have for your spouse, if you like.
Dave Ramsey has some other really great resources on his website regarding budgets. If you have a good 30 minutes of downtime in general, I really recommend checking out the entire site. Its a really great resource for money management.
http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/
Not having a budget is just letting your money run wild, without any guidelines. Its a lot like if I let my two young children go unattended in Target. Obviously, I would never do this. However, let's imagine what that would be like. Anything and everything Elmo would be open in the toy section. I'm sure they would be chugging chocolate milk and feasting on Teddy Grahams in the grocery department. Then, they would head on over to Electronics to play with the iphones and download kid's apps. It would be complete and total chaos and I would be standing there with my jaw open, trying to clean up the mess and pick up the pieces.
Having a budget means that we can see exactly how much we're spending, where we are coming out ahead or where we are falling behind. If one month, I go over my budgeted amount on clothing, I can take that into consideration for the next month and make the changes to be sure that this doesn't happen again. Furthermore, it means that I don't wake up one day and wonder where all of our money went or wonder who ate all the Teddy Grahams.
In our house, the budget is the law. If either of us want to go outside the budget, we must have the other person's permission and we must "sleep on it" or wait 24 hours until we make the decision. If for some reason, we don't have 24 hours, then we walk away entirely.
Having a budget might feel like a major restriction at first. However, in the end, it feels reassuring to know that we can pay all of our bills, have some money to pay off debts, or have a little extra cash to treat ourselves and go out for dinner.
Dave Ramsey has some other really great resources on his website regarding budgets. If you have a good 30 minutes of downtime in general, I really recommend checking out the entire site. Its a really great resource for money management.
http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/
Not having a budget is just letting your money run wild, without any guidelines. Its a lot like if I let my two young children go unattended in Target. Obviously, I would never do this. However, let's imagine what that would be like. Anything and everything Elmo would be open in the toy section. I'm sure they would be chugging chocolate milk and feasting on Teddy Grahams in the grocery department. Then, they would head on over to Electronics to play with the iphones and download kid's apps. It would be complete and total chaos and I would be standing there with my jaw open, trying to clean up the mess and pick up the pieces.
Having a budget means that we can see exactly how much we're spending, where we are coming out ahead or where we are falling behind. If one month, I go over my budgeted amount on clothing, I can take that into consideration for the next month and make the changes to be sure that this doesn't happen again. Furthermore, it means that I don't wake up one day and wonder where all of our money went or wonder who ate all the Teddy Grahams.
In our house, the budget is the law. If either of us want to go outside the budget, we must have the other person's permission and we must "sleep on it" or wait 24 hours until we make the decision. If for some reason, we don't have 24 hours, then we walk away entirely.
Having a budget might feel like a major restriction at first. However, in the end, it feels reassuring to know that we can pay all of our bills, have some money to pay off debts, or have a little extra cash to treat ourselves and go out for dinner.
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