I can’t buy that. It’s not in the budget.
Have you heard yourself say those words lately? I have…. and it’s not because we don’t have the money.
One of the biggest financial changes we’ve made is doing a monthly budget before each month begins. That can be a little overwhelming for us, because we have an income that fluctuates from one pay period to the next. We’ve chosen to budget our basics based on the dependable income, the part that we know never changes. Then we keep a running list of the things we will do with any extra money that comes in. When we receive a check that’s above and beyond our budget’s base, we check our list to see what we should do with the rest.
Creating this budget and our above-and-beyond list means that we’re assigning money to specific tasks before we even receive the money. This also means that opportunities may crop up for us to spend some of that above-and-beyond money on items that aren’t on the list. It happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and I caught myself saying “That’s not in my budget, so I’ll have to pass.” I said it to my mom, and I’m guessing she was wondering whether or not she should slip me a $20 to make it through until pay day!
While I chose to stick to the budget, that budget isn’t a shackle. It’s not an abstract formula created by some financial guru who’s trying to tell us the best way to spend our money. If we tried to follow a formula created by someone else, the budget would be a constraint that we would constantly fight against.
The beauty of our budget is that it’s OUR budget. We created it. We told the money where to go. We carry it out. We choose where to spend our money, and we can choose to make changes to the plan. In fact, had I wanted to spend the money that my mom and I were discussing, I could very easily have had a quick chat with my husband. We could have decided whether or not we wanted to adjust our above-and-beyond list to include this particular purchase. We could have chosen another item to bump down the list.
Our budget is a seat belt for us. Just like a seat belt protects you from harm if you’re in an accident, our budget protects us from ourselves. Sometimes we can be financial accidents waiting to happen! I’m the queen of “oh-let’s-just-buy-this-one-thing-’cause-it’s-only-$10-and-it-won’t-really-matter-in-the-big-picture.” I could probably nickel and dime our family into financial ruin if I didn’t have a goal and a plan. I don’t spend a lot when I’m shopping, but I could spend a little WAY too many times! Having a budget gives me guidelines… a seat belt created by the two of us to benefit our family.
Do you have a budget? How do you view it? Shackle or seat belt?
If you’re a blogger and would like to share a story about how budgeting (or not budgeting) has impacted your life, please link up your post below. Just be sure to link directly to your post, not to your home page.
You’ll find the first installment of Build a Better Budget HERE. Want to make sure that you don’t miss any of the Build a Better Budget series? You might want to subscribe to my FREE email updates or subscribe to the RSS feed.
This post is linked to:
:: Frugal Friday hosted by Life As MOM
:: Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family
Hi there! I am stopping over from Frugal Friday. I enjoyed your post about budget making. My family’s attitude about frugal living fluctuates back and forth. I like your analogy with the seatbelt!
When you get a chance, stop by Free 2 Be Frugal.
🙂
We’ve been on that back-and-forth ride too, Niki. Hang in there… and put your seat belt on. 🙂
I LOVE this analogy! You’re right it’s not a constraint, it’s a life saver! I needed these words of encouragement right now! Thanks so much.
I’d love it if you’d link the to my Tuesday’s Tips at http://www.couponomicstimuluspackage.com/2010/04/gathering-coupons-for-shopping.html
You’re welcome!!
I have always thought of a budget as a shackle. But now I am looking at it as a seat belt. What changed? My goals.
Amen, girl!
We just finished reading Dave Ramey’s Total money Makeover. I love it. I hate it! Days like today (payday) stress me out. We have created out zero budget, and it scares me to death! I like knowing where all the money is oging to go, I just have this fear that we will not make the two week stretch until payday rolls around again! We have decided to leave ourselves a small cushion just in case – like for an unexpected car ride that took an hour each way and ate quite a bit of the weekly gas budget!
I must say though, to see the results, and to know where it’s all going is comforting on its own! I have a feeling this will be the best life change for our family. Thanks for starting this series!
Oh, Alli! It’s a love-hate thing with living the way Dave suggests, isn’t it? I’ll tell you from personal experience that it’s worth it. We did Dave’s plan for a while, then stopped (still living frugally but without a real plan), and started again. We lost all traction when we weren’t paying attention! We also keep a cushion of money for times when I made a subtraction error in the checkbook or something silly like that. You just never know! That’s why that baby emergency fund is so important to us. It’s a nice cushion between us and life!
Hang in there! You’re so right that it’s going to be worth it!
Alli, you might also want to start keeping a list of things that happen quarterly, annually, etc. so you can start thinking/savings for these things. It really does take some of the stress away. For example, my son plays two sports in high school so this means in the fall & winter we’ll have two sets of sports/equipment replacement fees, booster club fees & the year-end banquet/gift fees. We’re already putting just a little away each month so that we’re not caught unprepared. Since he’ll be a senior in the fall, I started saving last summer for graduation expenses, especially because we gave our oldest child a $1500 gift to buy a laptop for college and I’m sure the expectation is the same for my younger son. The point is, taking the time now to think about the future, has been so amazing in our lives. We may not have the full amount saved when some of these expenses pop up but we’ll be so much better prepared financially that we can enjoy the times instead of stressing over money. I promise you, it is so WORTH the time now so you can live like no one else later!
Thanks Jennifer. I say this all the time. I completed the Ramsey course last December and it’s the first time in our 22 year marriage that my husband and I have truely taken the time to budget. We’re quite blessed to be completely debt free since that time and I’ve learned so much about money. Mostly I learned that having money has a lot to do with how I think about money and when I say “that’s not in the budget” it makes me stop and think if I really want to live differently and live debt free. Yet, as you said, it’s not a shackle. Just yesterday I found the perfect purse at Target on the clearance rack for just $12. Honestly, it wasn’t “in the budget” this month but we do have a “column” in our savings account for clothing, so I’m able to use some of that money for this purchase or even use some of my “blow” money with out spending it all on one thing. I’ve wanted a new purse for months now (my husband doesn’t get it!) and have passed many up saying they weren’t in the budget. Seeing this purse reaffirmed again that it was worth waiting for because I got what I had been looking for for less than half the price. So, it really wasn’t in the budget for April but obedience to the idea of living differently (by not using a credit card) helps me to realize I can be incredibly happy living within my means.
It sounds like you’re already reaping the rewards of “living like no one else,” Barb! I’ve found that God truly does bless those who are trying to live by His principles. My daughter has pretty much everything she needs summer clothes-wise, so we kept our clothing budget for her very low for now. When it was time to get a couple of things for school pictures, we found the two items we needed for exactly what we had in the clothing envelope for her. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 🙂 Enjoy your new purse!!
Just one other thought. This really is doable for anyone. We live on one income and while my husband has a job, he’s not making boatloads of money. But we save and plan, and it’s making such a difference! I am an incredibly blessed woman who believes that God always gives me what I NEED and many times what I WANT and more often than not, MORE than I can ask for or even imagine!!