The Vast Wasteland of Budgeting

Budgeting isn’t about going without. Its not about an endless journey of self sacrifice, starvation or, being left out in the cold. Its about being honest with yourself. And sometimes the truth hurts.

I’m certain you don’t wake up each morning, look in the mirror, and tell yourself, the goal for the day is to be the biggest loser you can be. Yet, if the goal is Mexico and you mindlessly waist money on things you don’t need, are you a winner?

Budgeting is about aligning your spending habits with your priorities. If you want to eat out every night, then you should eat out every night. But if you want to find yourself lying on warm beach in Mexico for months on end, then maybe eating out every night isn’t the right way to be spending your money.

Budgeting will allow you to be honest with yourself. You will be able to measure your actions to your financial goals. I guarantee, if you are not creating a spending plan and measuring your actions to those plans, you are basically wandering aimlessly through winter. And at some point, you are going to freeze to death.

This post isn’t about teaching you how to budget, its about inspiring you to start. Besides my education and my CPA license, creating a monthly spending plan when i was fresh out of college (that aligned my spending habits with my goals) was the best thing i could have ever done.

Budgeting became an opportunity to invest in my hopes and dreams rather than someone else’s. Every dollar I invested was a dollar I put towards my dreams, while every dollar I spent became another I put towards someone else’s.

I’m just asking you to take a small step toward this….. not asking you to cross a snow covered mountain range. Come on, the truth will set you free.