Give Your Budget A Purpose To Make It More Effective

Budgets are easy to break. They get old; they get boring. Money blog Rags to Reasonable points out that budgets often fail because they lack an essential ingredient: purpose.

Photo by HeatherPaque.

When I first started getting into personal finance, all I knew is I wanted to get my money in order. I didn’t really think about why or how; I just followed the rules I read in a book. I created a budget, and sometimes I followed it, but mostly I blew it. I quickly realised that my budget lacked a purpose. There was no real reason for me to stick to it other than it seemed like the right thing to do. Rags to Reasonable puts it like this:

A budget isn’t a bunch of numbers (even though it looks like a bunch of numbers). It’s a plan… it’s a life plan… and so it needs a hearty dose of passion to fuel it.

What that passion is doesn’t matter… but it NEEDS to be there.

So what are you passionate about? Wanna sing at the Met? Wanna build a dream home? Want to travel the world?

That’s the plan (budget) that you need to make. The plan that’s based on your deepest wants and desires.

That’s what turns another bullshit budget… into an amazing life plan.

Once you have a reason for sticking to your budget — and a specific one — it’s a lot easier to follow. You’re not just cutting back for the sake of cutting back; you’re cutting back so you can travel or save up for your wedding or whatever goal you may have.

Check out the full link for more insight.

THE KEY TO BUILDING A BUDGET THAT DOESN’T SUCK [From Rags to Reasonable]