Simply hearing the word budget, or budgeting, can put a bad taste in your mouth. If it does, you are not alone. Having to face the circumstances of your situation can be daunting; it doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough money to cover everything you need it to, or if you’re avoiding seeing how much you’re spending on takeout. Perhaps you merely don’t want to be restricted, and thinking about a budget leaves you looking for the exit.
I understand all of these emotions and more. I have experienced them and am still adjusting to some of them even now. I realized in part, that while one side of my brain wants to document my journey and hold myself accountable, another part of me does not want to share with the world the mistakes I made and how it is affecting my daily life today.
However, it is also true that seeing someone’s journey from the beginning (or close to it) may be helpful, or at the very least, keep you from making some financial mistakes. The numbers may not be exactly relatable, but the process may be what you need to see. Maybe you were like me and just heard a piece of financial advice that wasn’t fully or clearly explained, so when decision time came you did it anyway because you didn’t really understand the consequences.
Budgeting is personal. It is not set in stone. It is a plan for your money based on what is going on at the time, along with what your goals are. Budgeting is a skill and habit that has to be developed. It is okay to fall off the wagon. It’s okay if the budget or plan you made for your money blows up right after you do it. The thing is to just pick yourself back up and keep moving.
A few things to note about my budget:
- I have a lot of debt and obligations. It is what it is.
- I have decided I like certain things that I would rather pay extra for than sacrifice. This is prioritizing according to me, and that is okay.
- Lastly, my income has increased by over 20K in the last 3 years so I am just now able to incorporate some guilt-free fun and planning into the budget.
- My full-time job pays semi-monthly (twice a month), so I plan based on that for simplicity. These expenses cover the first half of the month.
ln this budget, 64% of my expected income is going towards bills and other financial obligations (including savings – treat it like a bill, even if the amount is small), 16% is set for spending, and 20% is going towards my debt. While I do not follow a percentage rule in my budgeting, it can be a helpful way to easily see how you are allocating your funds.
Hopefully seeing this budget breakdown will help you in your own budget journey.