The Real Reason to Budget

Tina Ollenburg
Nov 1 · 3 min read

It’s not just about paying bills

Reduce debt. Pay bills. Reduce debt. Pay bills.

That’s the mantra we always hear when it comes to building a budget. And yeah, I get it. Those things are important. But they’re also boring and, let’s admit it, a little scary. If budgets are an intimidating chore, what is the likelihood we’re going to do it? Put another way, when’s the last time you washed the outside windows of your house? Never? Got it.

For a long time I told myself I didn’t need a budget for this exact reason. I was lucky enough that my expenses were fairly straightforward and my finances might not be perfect, but I was doing okay. My bills were paid, my debt was under control, so why spend extra time diligently tracking what seemed to be working just fine? I concluded I was the type of person who didn’t need to keep a budget.

Then I got married. I realized it’s a lot harder to keep track of everything when there’s two of you. Even if you aren’t combining your finances, there are still a lot of expenses you share as a couple. It became more of a priority to have a handle on how we were spending our money.

Knowing that, it still took us at least a year to get into the habit of budgeting. We were the definition of “fits and starts”. One obstacle was figuring out the best tool for us (we landed on YNAB), but mostly we found it difficult to find the time to actually do the thing. We’d have a couple good months, then there’d be a few weeks of travel or hectic work schedules and we’d be thrown off course again, leaving the budget untended and neglected. The more we ignored it, the bigger the problem grew (you know, as problems do).

After one too many 3-hour-long “spruce up the budget” meetings, my husband and I finally got our butts into gear. For our sanity. Because no one wants to talk about their personal finances for 3 hours.

And that’s when I realized something. Budgets aren’t just about avoiding what you don’t want (i.e. debt or late fees), they’re about figuring out what you do want and how to get it. For instance, I want to renovate our kitchen and my husband wants a new computer. By putting together a budget and keeping our eye on it, we’re now able to identify spending areas where we’re willing to cut back (dining out!) in order to put more money towards both those purchases. Now updating the kitchen isn’t a pie-in-the-sky idea or a hazy “sometime in the future” empty promise. It’s a plan.

While I still wouldn’t go so far to call budgeting “fun,” it is rewarding. Maybe I had things under control before, but I wasn’t making the most out of my money or prioritizing. Plus, knowing there’s a reason why I’m heating up leftovers instead of getting takeout makes it way easier to resist temptation. Most of the time. I ain’t Dave Ramsey-level perfect.

So if you’ve resisted making a budget because it feels like a punishment, it’s not. Everyone should have one. Even if things aren’t looking great money-wise, I’ve found it can be a relief to take the worry out of your head and put it down on paper (well, maybe a spreadsheet). I don’t look at my budget as a chore anymore, I see it as an opportunity: to learn, to get better, to understand what I truly value. And that’s nothing to be scared of.

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B2B writer for finance and marketing/Avid reader

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