WHY YOUR BUDGET SHOULD NOT FEEL RESTRICTING

BEFORE WE STARTED BUDGETING

I often think about the stress I would feel with pretty much every purchase I made. Whether it was picking up a sandwich and a soda at a convenience store, shopping for holiday gifts, or needing a new appliance. I knew we had a limited amount of money to spend, but I had no idea how to spend it. I never knew how much we could or should spend on various things that would come up. Every single purchase was stressful. I didn’t know if that would be the one that would put us in a position of overspending.

I did track our cash and credit card balances. However, it was after the fact, and not against any type of plan. It was more like ok here is what happened.  And maybe now we need to carry a balance on this credit card because we spent more than we could afford.

LIVING ON A BUDGET DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE CHEAP OR HAVE TO SCRIMP ON EVERYTHING

Often when someone says they are on a budget, people interpret that as meaning they are short on funds. Or maybe they are going through a challenging time. There is a chance that may be the case. However, that is not the main purpose of being on a budget. A budget is only a plan for what you want to do with your money. I’m not sure why having a plan for your money is often looked down upon. It’s really smart to budget for the ways you use your money. You worked hard for what you have earned and have accumulated.

When you work so hard for what you earn. Why would you want to just let it be used randomly without putting thought into it? There are always choices to be made.  If you want to go on a nice vacation, maybe that means cutting back on other expenses so that you can devote more to vacation savings.  That’s not being cheap or meaning you are struggling.  It is making a decision to use your money in a purposeful way.

A BUDGET LETS YOUR SET UP BUCKETS OF MONEY THAT YOU CAN SPEND FREELY

Within your budget, you can and should include amounts for things that you enjoy spending money on. This might be a dinner out, a fancy latte, a new pair of shoes, or going out to see a movie. When the opportunity arises to do one of these things you can spend the money that you have budgeted for that purpose with no guilt. If you are not budgeting your money, it may make you feel unsure if you can afford to do these things.

When you have accounted for your income and expenses and these costs are part of your plan, you can spend the money freely without any worry that you will have to make up for it later. There is no stress with spending money that you planned on using for a particular purpose. And it is important for some of those purposes to be things you enjoy!

BUILD FLEXIBILITY INTO YOUR BUDGET

As you start to really get to know your budget, you will be more in tune with the categories you may be able to pull from if you really want to make a purchase or spend money on an experience. For example, maybe you know that you spent a lot less on pet expenses this year than typically so you might be able to pull some of those funds for something else. You can reallocate funds to other expenses or increase your savings. This also helps when an emergency comes up, it’s a good idea to see what budget categories you may be able to pull from before having to take money from your savings. When your spending plan is detailed out, you can often see opportunities for where you can cut back in the event that you need or want to.

YOUR BUDGET IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

I have been budgeting for years and while my budget is very detailed and I am always tweaking it to make it more accurate. If you do not allow time to work at budgeting, then it may start to feel restricting. It takes time to develop a good budget, and it seems that there is always room for improvement. If you feel like your budget is too restrictive and you are not able to stay within what you have laid out for yourself, you may need to allow yourself some time to work out the issues you are having.

Be sure that you are budgeting realistic numbers.  It can be discouraging to come in over budget every week in a certain category. Maybe you think you should spend less, but you either can’t spend less or don’t really want to spend less in that category. If your budget dictates that you only have so much for that expense, you usually need to dig deeper and see if you can cut something else. If there is nowhere else to cut, then the restriction you have placed on yourself is due to an income limitation. The restriction is not due to following a budget!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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