Bringing Balance to our Budgets – Part 2
Budget = FUN!
Have you embraced the concept of the budget yet? Today we are going to look at three more aspects of how to make a budget work for you: be flexible; make room in your budget for FUN; and keep your goals in mind.
Be Flexible
A budget is a fluid document. Don't be surprised if you need to tweak it from time to time. If you have never had a budget before, you may have unrealistic expectations of how much money to allot for each category. Especially in the beginning you may find you allow too much money in one area, but not enough in another. Allow yourself some time to learn where your money is going and where it needs to go.
Budget in FUN!
When you set your budget, allot money for fun. Yes, you get to have FUN! If you don't budget in fun, you will explode! Just like on a diet, far better to plan a controlled sweets splurge daily, than to wait until you can't take it anymore and eat a Jim Dandy Banana Split with five scoops of ice cream and three jars of topping! A budget doesn't mean you won't have fun anymore, it simply means you will decide ahead of time how much money to spend on fun. If you want to go out to eat once a week - or to the movies - plan that in the budget. Maybe you can't afford to go to the theatre, so you plan money for a rental movie and a bucket of popcorn. Maybe you can't go to a five star restaurant, but you plan for dinner at a casual sit down restaurant. Set a reasonable budget for your family's entertainment and stay within that budget. When the FUN money is gone, play board games!
Keep your Goal in Mind
You won't always have to be this restrictive. Remember, you are choosing to spend your money in a particular way to reach your goal of financial freedom. With each small goal reached, you will free up money and then you'll get to decide where to spend that "extra" money! All of these decisions are yours. No one is forcing you to spend money in a particular way. You have a goal...keep that goal in mind. That goal is why you have set a budget. You aren't arbitrarily eliminating activities from your life. You are making a conscious decision to forego certain pleasures now so you can provide long-term security and enjoyment for your family without the stress of debt. Only you can decide what restrictions you can live with. Be realistic. Once you begin to see your debt decrease, you may be motivated to pare down your extracurricular activities even more in order to reach your big goal more quickly. Or, you may decide to take a longer time to pay off your debt so you don't have to restrict your current lifestyle as much. Only you know what is realistic for your family. Remember...these are your goals. A budget is simply a tool to help you reach those goals.
If you have any techniques that have helped your family's finances, will you share them with us?
Happy budgeting!