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My husband and I have never been able to stick to a budget, so we follow a 3-step system instead to achieve major goals
After giving up on every spreadsheet and budgeting app she’s ever tried, writer Olivia Christensen and her husband focused on setting goals first.
As a personal finance writer, the benefits of budgeting make up a solid 75% of my financial advice. Unfortunately, when it comes to taking this advice myself, I have tried and failed on many occasions. With dozens of budgeting apps and shareable spreadsheets at my disposal, I don’t have a single good excuse for these failures.
I’m not the only one at fault for my family’s lack of a budget, though. While my husband is usually more optimistic in this regard and always seems to have a shiny new budgeting app he’s certain is about to change our lives, he typically gives up as soon as the initial excitement has worn off, too. But I’ve accepted our limitations, because If I were to distill the other 25% of my financial advice, it would be: “Know thyself.”
Why traditional budgeting never works for us
Right or wrong, personal finance writer or not, I have accepted that I’m not a person who will track my monthly expenses on a spreadsheet, in an app, or in a…
