Many people in the blogosphere are strong advocates of budgeting and managing your finances closely. It’s easy to understand why. Not only do they love keeping a close eye on their money and putting it to good use (as I guess we all should desire to do the same), but they also have a lot of time on their hands.
Heck, even as I write this, I have a few spare minutes to get this blog started. While I’m no graphic designer, I spent time setting up this site, choosing the colors, etc. Budgeting is easy to manage when you have lots of extra time. I’m not trying to suggest that it’s not beneficial, but the truth of the matter is that budgeting can be time consuming. When you are a high earning executive or have a family to support, it may seem unnecessary to write down your budget.
While most of us would hesitate to admit it, we all, at one point or time, ask ourselves THIS QUESTION:
Is a budget worth my time?
Why Budgeting Takes Time
There are many aspects of budgeting. While I will go into the details later of how to budget, it’s pretty easy to describe the process. First you have income. You have to figure out how much money you are making. Then, the hard part. How much you are spending. If this is your first experience with a budget, tracking your expenses can be difficult. Most people don’t know where to begin nor how much they spend on a monthly basis. Imagine the shock when someone who has never budgeted before realizes that it could take a couple hours to do all of this. That’s right – A COUPLE HOURS!
To those of you who already maintain a budget, and understand the benefits of a budget, you are probably shaking your head. A couple hours isn’t that long of a time commitment, you are probably saying. No, it may not be, but here’s the real truth. The truth that no one ever talks about…
Budgeting Doesn’t Have to Be Time Consuming
The truth, as I see it, is that budgeting does not have to be time consuming. Budgeting does not have to be complex. It can and should be simple. This is the very premise upon which this blog is formed. If you simplify your budgeting process, you will lower your chances of giving up, thereby increasing your chances of positively affecting your finances.
This is what this blog is about. Not only how to do that, because ironically, simplifying can be quite difficult. There are too many people telling others that they need to spend a lot of time doing this or that. As a result, it will take us a lot of time to undo the damage already done. Time to revert the lies and reveal the truth that managing your finances and doing it well doesn’t have to be costly – either in your time or in paying someone to do it for you.
You are the one who should be making the decisions about where your money goes, how it is put to use, and that doesn’t mean you have to waste your life away in front of a spreadsheet or computer screen. In the coming weeks, we will elaborate on how and why to do this. I hope you will stick with us. It may mean a big change in your life.