Give Your Budget a Goal to Make It More Efficient.
Budgets are easy to break. They are getting old; they become boring. Money blog Rags to Reasonable notes that budgets often fail because they lack an important ingredient: goals.
When I first started personal finance, all I knew was that I wanted to get my money in order. I didn’t really think about why or how; I just followed the rules I read in the book. I made a budget, sometimes kept track of it, but mostly I didn’t spend it. I quickly realized that my budget had no goal. I had no real reason to stick with it other than it seemed like the right thing to do. Rags to Reasonable puts it this way:
A budget is not a bunch of numbers (although it looks like a bunch of numbers). This is the plan… this is the plan of life… and therefore he needs a hearty dose of passion to fuel him.
What kind of passion it is doesn’t matter … but it MUST be present.
So what are you passionate about? Do you want to sing at the Met? Looking to build your dream home? Do you want to travel the world?
This is the plan (budget) that you need to create. A plan based on your deepest desires and desires.
That’s what turns the next nonsense into a budget … into a terrific life plan.
If you have a reason to stick to your budget – and a specific one – it will be much easier for you to follow. You are not cutting just for the sake of cutting; you are cutting back on expenses to be able to travel or save money for a wedding or some other purpose.
Check out the full link for more information.
THE KEY TO BUILDING A BUDGET THAT IS NOT MISSING | From rags to sane