Before You Start Budgeting…

Written By Herb Cherwoniak

You need to know this one thing about budgeting!

What are you wanting to achieve with your money?

Just recently I was having a conversation with a young man who openly admitted that he did not understand budgeting and did not care to understand it…

“I live pay cheque to pay cheque and I’m okay with that…”

Most people are programed to make money out of necessity and then spend it as they get it…

the more they make, the more they spend.

therefore, creating the need for a higher level of necessity.

Now I am not a psychologist, it is just a repeating theme I hear, especially from people that do not budget.

So how can you get started budgeting?

And put yourself in a position to be less vulnerable to financial woes or even worse, out of control spending?

The biggest step is…

getting started!

This is true. without starting you will continually be under pressure to make more money and have less.

When you finally make that first step you don’t want to get frustrated or disappointed by being overwhelmed with the process.

Know what you are trying to achieve makes everything far more simple.

You can start targeting key areas that you want or need to change.

Chances are you have a good idea where change is needed but being specific will make the process much more clear.

If you are budgeting because bad things have forced you to budget,

then just realize that you are now doing everything as a crash course rather than easing yourself into it.

Some of the reasons that you may want to budget will vary,

and this may also change your level of commitment to achieve those goals,

so be aware of your level of commitment before you dive in,

“think of it like a diet for your money,”

if you don’t want to diet you will most likely cheat on that diet.

budgets may consist of:

  • building your savings for

    • retirement

    • a house/car

    • travel

    • an event

  • getting out of debt

    • overspending

    • credit cards

    • paying down debt

  • creating security

    • emergency fund

    • having cash rather than credit cards

    • reducing monthly stress

These are all good reasons to start budgeting, and you don’t need to pick one, but there may be one that is the most important.

To be honest, there are many times that I wish I had taken more time to focus on an emergency fund,”

even now when my priority is shifting towards a retirement fund.

Once you have your reason to budget you may start to feel a little nervous, this may make you feel like you want to walk away and just avoid the stress,

you may feel like it is too much effort,

or you may feel like it is too difficult to understand.

This may be true to a small extent at first but once you have started to get organized you will start to feel

relief,

understanding that in a short period of time,

the effort was worth it,

and you will know that it is far simpler to budget than you thought it would be.

Remember to know what you are wanting to accomplish will give you direction and overcoming the fear of doing something that you have never done before seems scarier than it really is.

Check back as I will be talking more about budgeting and how you can help yourself and your family become more financially secure.

Check the link below, I have create a basic check list to help you get started with your first budget.


Herb Cherwoniak