I’m going to start working out every single day.
I’m going to start a new business next week.
I’m going to stop drinking.
I’m going to start my assignments ahead of time.
Does this sound familiar? Have you ever made extravagant promises to yourself?
We all lie to ourselves. We lie about our money and our health all of the time. Then we feel guilty when nothing happens. This happens to all of us.
What’s the biggest budgeting lie that we tell ourselves?
The biggest lie is that we’re going to track our daily expenses. Nobody does this. It’s reality. How on Earth could you track every penny that you spend? How can you stop lying to yourself about your money?
Run the numbers.
Just play around with the numbers. See what works. See what you can do with your money.
How do you run the numbers? How can you overcome this huge budgeting lie?
Track your monthly income.
How much money do you have coming in every single month? You don’t have to track every single penny but it helps to know how many dollars are rolling into the bank account. This is how you’ll know where you stand.
When you know how much money is coming in, you can figure out how you spend your money. For example, it wouldn’t make any sense to blow money during a slow month.
What’s your monthly income?
Look at your expenses.
Where does your money go? What are your fixed and variable expenses?
- What’s your rent?
- What’s your cellphone bill costing you?
- How much money do you spend on eating food?
It’s important to look at your expenses to see where your money is going. You shouldn’t track every penny, but it’s beneficial to know where your money is going.
Put aside money to blow.
I love to put aside days to eat like a pig, get super wasted, and splurge money like crazy. I do the same thing with money. I leave a couple of hundred dollars away every month for spending. This is money that I spend on anything. I get my splurging out of the system. I don’t lie to myself. I go in knowing that this money will be spent foolishly.
I suggest that you put aside money to blow. This beats using your credit card or spending money you simply don’t have. When you go to blow the money, just let loose. Don’t hold back.
Now you can stop lying to yourself about budgeting. Life’s too short to feel guilty about everything. When you plan for things, you won’t feel bad. If you’re planning to get wasted, then just prepare some water and a nice place to sleep. If you’re going to splurge, put money aside, so that you won’t use your credit card.
How do you budget your money? Do you know where your money goes on a monthly basis?
