Is Budgeting really for me?
Who is budgeting actually helpful for? This is a very common question, and many people has an idea of who they think that budgeting will be helpful for, but they're not 100% sure.
The people who are tight with money or have low income tends to believe that budgeting is helpful for those who actually make a lot of money because well "duh, they actually have money, so they need to see what they can spend it on." On the other hand, the people who have a higher income or are "good" financially believe that budgeting is helpful for those who don't have enough because well "duh, money is tight, so they need to stretch their money".
So, who is right?
They both are! And the reason why they both are right is because budgeting has NOTHING to do with how much a person's income is. Hear me out, whether you make $400 a month or over $10k a month, a budget is needed and helpful to you. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people say either "I'll start budgeting when I make some more money" or "I make enough, I don't need to budget." This comes out of mentality that budgeting is about how much a person makes. The reality is that budgeting is meant to help you with 2 main things and as I tell you these things you will notice that everyone needs a budget.
Here are the two purposes of a budget:
To give you full control of your money. This is by far the top purpose of it. When you have full control of your money, there's no surprises, no wondering or guessing. You know where your money went, is currently going and will go to in the future. And yes, life will throw you curve balls that you might not expect or be ready for but because you're in control of your money it will be easier for you asses, adjust and apply. When you don't have control of your money a curve ball or even the slightest shift becomes a catastrophic event since you don't really know what is going on in your finances. If you don't know what is going on in your finances, then how will you know what you're able to adjust in order to be okay.
To help you reach your dreams. Yes, you read that right, a budget will help you reach your dreams. Part of being in control of your money is being able to know and tell your money where it will go, and that can be your dreams. When you budget, you can clearly see the situation you're in financially. But when you budget you also can see where you need to be in order for you to reach one of your dreams.
I'm a dreamer, I LOVE to dream of what I will do if I was a millionaire or if I was able to own a house or actually a second house or I don't know you fill in the blank, but my husband tends to be the realistic one, so he will be like that will be nice, but it will cost this much or becoming a millionaire will be a miracle LOL. A budget combined both of our mentality. I honestly created a 5-year plan out of a projected budget of what we could accomplish if we managed our money correctly. And guess what? It worked! Therefore, yes, one of the budget's purposes is to help you reach your dreams.
Yet, as you can see the amount of money you earn doesn't make a difference. At the end of the day, I have not seen two budgets from two different people who are the same. People's values and situations are always all so slightly different, even if their income is the same. That is why a budget is for you and everyone else.
I hope that after reading this you are motivated to start budgeting, if you don't already do so. If you need some help to get started, make sure to download the free Budgeting checklist that I have created to help you! You can get it here.here .