Getting Rid of Your Budget

Good financial advice says you should create a budget so that you can reach your financial goals. Prior to being married I always had a budget, I would balance my check book on a monthly basis and knew where every dollar was going, down to the cent. Since being married we have tried to do a budget but it was difficult to follow with two people spending money and since having children our expenses have gone up even more and it has been even more difficult to follow a strict budget. Using a budget can be a very helpful tool to know what you’re spending but it is only useful if you stick to the budget. Beyond keeping to a budget, which has its own challenges it takes a lot of time and effort to create a budget; and it can cause a lot stress to keep to a budget. If keeping to a tight budget is not for you, you should still keep track of where your money is going. If you’re tired of doing the whole budget thing, don’t worry, you can still meet your financial goals.

We were talking to some friends the other day that use the cash budget system. For this system they created envelops for certain categories such as groceries, dining out, entertainment, etc. Then they start the month by putting designated amounts of cash into each envelope and that is what they have to spend in each category for the month. Sounds like a great plan but they have to spend a lot time to initially create their annual budget and then they have to spend time each month putting money into the envelops. For some people this is what they need to keep track of how much they are spending and what they are spending on, but with two small children we don’t want to use our free time each month creating a budget and putting money in envelops.

Not only does it take a lot of time to create a budget; it only works if you stick to the budget. Another couple we know was saying they do a budget, but if they don’t have the money they want to spend on something for that month they just add money to that category so that they have enough. If they decide to go on a vacation and it is more then what they have budgeted for they just add money to that area. There is no point in going through all the effort to create a budget if you’re going to spend what you want anyways.

One of the main reasons marriages fail is due to finances. There can be a lot of stress associated with money, spending and finances. When you’re budgeting, everyone who is spending money from the budget has to be in agreement on where the money is going. If one person is not willing to make the sacrifices in sticking to the budget then it is never going to work. The extra stress associated with budgeting and ensuing arguments may not be worth it. You have to ask yourself how much is your day to day happiness and avoidance of conflict worth. For our family the added stress of looking at a budget and not having enough money in the envelop at the end of the month is not worth the potential savings of being on a budget.

Creating a budget and sticking to it might be a great way for some people but it’s not for everyone, if being on a budget is not practical for your situation and it is causing more stress than it is worth it is still important to track what you’re spending your money on and set money aside for certain situations. Instead of sticking to a tight budget we set money aside by putting money in savings and tithing our money to our church right from the start. Money is automatically taken out of the pay check for health insurance and retirement. Then we pay our monthly bills for our house. We don’t worry about how much we are spending on groceries and if we need to buy more diapers or other things for the kids we spend the money. We don’t eat out all the time and don’t spend extravagantly on our cars or entertainment. We use a credit card for our regular day to day spending so that at the end of the month we can look at the statement and see what we’re spending our money on and if the amount is a lot more than normal we can look back and see if we spent money on something unexpected. By not holding to a budget and instead doing general tracking of our spending we are able to have flexibility in our spending, can still save for retirement, pay off debt and not have the stress of trying to stick to a budget.