We’ve been talking about budgets for a while now. So far in our Build a Better Budget series, we’ve talked a little bit about why we even bother creating a budget, about how the budget is more of a seat belt than a shackle, about the budget being a great communication tool, about the nuts & bolts of budgeting, about using cash envelopes, and about planning for the unexpected. I hope that our conversations have gotten you thinking about the possibility of creating your family budget. Be sure to sign up for my free email updates or for my RSS feed so that you don’t miss out on any of the conversation.
It’s the ultimate irony. Here I am neck-deep in a blog series about budgeting, and we missed doing our May budget. Completely missed it. I was somehow operating from the April budget (they would have been quite similar) and thinking it was May. We never had a discussion about it. We just plain missed it.
That just goes to show you that budgeting isn’t something that anyone will do perfectly.
So what do you do when you blow it? And there are LOTS of ways to blow it when it comes to budgeting. Maybe you’re way off base with how much you budgeted for one category. Maybe you have something unexpected happen. Maybe you just forget to do your monthly budget. There are oh-so many ways to blow the budget!
The only advice I can give you is from our experience. We didn’t try to go back and clean up the mess. It was pointless to try to write out a budget for May when the month was all but over by the time we realized what we’d done. We just picked up where we left off and plowed ahead. The worst thing that you could do is to throw in the towel and call it quits. Sure, it’s frustrating when things don’t work out according to your budget plan. But it’s a plan, a framework, a guide. It can be redrawn, adjusted, and completely replaced if necessary. The best part is that you can start fresh each and every month.
Have you blown your budget? Don’t give up! Just jump in right where you are and start over. It’s totally worth it!
This post is linked to:
:: Frugal Friday hosted by Life As MOM
:: Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family
What exactly do you mean, missed doing your budget? Is your income so vastly different each month that it gets allocated differently each month?
I’m here from Frugal Friday. Gonna check out your blog some more.
Our income is VERY different from month to month, and so are the expenses that we have. For example, we had budgeted $60 for vet expenses last month. This month, we won’t have that expense, so that $60 will need to be budgeted elsewhere. We work on the Dave Ramsey “zero-based budget” where every penny is spent on paper each month. That means that we need to account for the varied expenses that we can foresee each month. This month has Father’s Day, so we’ll need to budget for some gift-giving that we don’t normally have. Our budget is unique each month.
You have no idea how perfect this post is for me right now! Here we are, halfway through June, and realizing we have blown it! Vacations, birthdays, graduations…all those things got in the way and we were mindless. But like you said, we will pick up and push forward! Tonight we will sit down and figure out our July budget and agree to start fresh once again. The only thing we have on our side is that we made the concrete declaration that we will never again use a credit card. We may have blown out budget, but the bills are paid and the debt is still getting smaller!
Good for you, Alli! I figure that if one month is a mess, then we’ll just clean it up next month. No need to throw it all out the window! Life just happens… to all of us. So know that you’re NOT alone! 🙂
Thanks for this tip. I am just now starting a budget and I can use any help possible.
Good for you, Lynn! Budgeting may have its ups and downs, but it’s totally worthwhile! It’s amazing to see how much was slipping through your fingers without you realizing where it went. When you pay attention, you can save SO much!!
That is so ironic that your WFMW post is about building your budget when mine is about actually writing a budget!! I love your series about building a better budget and may pass your blog link along to some clients who are in serious need of actually writing and sticking to some budgets.
It’s a budgeting kind of week! I think that more people are starting to think about creating budgets as they look for ways to more wisely spend and save. I hope this can help with some of your clients!
You are so right. In the past when we’ve found our numbers just don’t match or we’re behind, we start from scratch, balancing with what’s in the account and move ahead. Time is such an issue that it is worth it!
Thank you for posting this! Last month we were quite over budget, but I praise God that we are back on plan this month. 😀