Overcome Spending Mistakes With a Budget That Is “sorry for the Money”
Regretting money is useless. If you get stuck on a spending mistake, you’re more likely to repeat it , so it’s best to put the past in the past and move on. However, some of the costs can be tricky. If you find it difficult to fixate on mistakes, try a regret-for-the-money budget.
Like many people, I kick myself when I unexpectedly spend money from my budget. It could have been a parking ticket. Or your electricity bill is above average. Maybe I just got carried away at dinner and spent more than I wanted. Whatever the expense, you know financial regret when you feel it. You cannot stop blaming yourself and you cannot get rid of the mistake.
To combat this dwelling, I am using the “cash regrets” budget. I write down my spending mistake – let’s say it’s a $ 80 parking ticket. Then I work to bring that amount to zero, either by reducing or writing off the windfall. For example, suppose I earn $ 10 in interest on a savings account this month. I would deduct that amount from the $ 80 in my “cash regrets” budget, bringing it to $ 70. Then, let’s say I’m at the grocery store and I decide to put ice cream in there. Unfortunately, the budget dropped to $ 65. This is a variation of Ramit Sethi’s Silly Mistakes savings account , but instead of dedicating an entire account to your mistakes, you just track them yourself and then work to fix the mistakes.
If you have no problem getting rid of your spending problems, this is probably a big overkill for you. But as a person who finds it difficult to deal with financial regrets, it helps. Full Disclosure: I wrote about this tactic a while ago on my personal blog, but it’s a mental trick that has proven to be quite useful over time. Sometimes it’s enough to just write down the mistake to forget about it and immediately feel better.
Bonus points if you take responsibility and end up zeroing that budget, but it mostly has to do with letting go of the mistake so you can get on with your life and prevent it from happening again. For more details, check out the full publication at the link below.
Budget “Regretting the Money” to Get Rid of Mistakes | Brokepedia