I love my budget.

There. I said it. If you are a spender like I am, you know that this statement is an amazing one.

You see, as a spender, I didn’t like the word “budget” because it cramped my style. It made me say the word “no” too often. For some reasons, the word “budget” made me think of being broke.

But I love my budget because NONE of those beliefs were true.

Here are the top reasons I love my monthly budget:

1. My marriage.  It ensures I meet with my bride every single month to talk about life and how our money needs to be managed to support it
2. Debt eliminated.  Using the budget, we eliminated all of our non-house debt in 14 months and our house debt in 10 years and 1 month (so we can live without payments)
3. Savings! Our budget allowed us to clearly understand what would be necessary to build savings
4. Giving! We get to decide where we will give money each month (it’s our favorite part of budgeting)
5. It provides control. In a world where everything seems to spiral toward chaos, it is awesome to know exactly what is going on with our finances

Why do YOU love YOUR budget?

Don’t have one? Just click HERE to access our free budget tools.

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There are a lot of people who struggle with budgeting. They know theyshould have a budget, but there never seems to be enough time, energy, or money to prepare one.

I know the feeling. However, I also know the feeling of not having control of my money and always running into financial disasters toward the middle to end of each month. It was in December of 2002 that I experienced my IHHE Moment (I Have Had Enough Moment) and resolved to figure out a way to gain full control of my money. By July of 2003, I figured out a way to make budgeting work for my family. Below are the steps I put into place. If you put them into place, I’m confident this budgeting process will work for your household too!

1. At least 3 days before the month begins, make a list of all your expected income and expenses for the upcoming month.
2. Pull up the FREE BUDGET TOOL. Enter the income and expenses into the worksheet.
3. Modify your income/expenses to ensure that the following formula is true: INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO

It really is that simple.

However, before you dive into preparing your best budget ever, I urge you to consider a few tips I’ve learned along the way:

1. Prepare the budget BEFORE the month begins (before you get paid and start spending money). It is very difficult to prepare an effective plan in the midst of already spending it!
2. Be realistic. I found that my previous attempts to budget failed because I was lying to myself and not being realistic.
3. Put some fun in the plan. It really is okay to spend some money on FUN – as long as you aren’t mortgaging future plans, hopes, and dreams in the process.
4. Use cash envelopes or a pre-paid gift card for categories where you have a tendency to overspend. This has worked wonders for my budget! The categories I use cash envelopes for are groceries, restaurants, clothing, spending money, and entertainment.
5. Recognize that you will forget some expenses – especially in your first few budgets! I’ve seen many people address this by putting a “I forgot!” line item in their budget to cover these forgotten expenses.

Now go put that budget together, and start winning like never before!

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“You need a budget.”

Chances are pretty high that you’ve heard that statement before.

If you are a saver, your heart started beating wildly (because you LOVE budgets). If you are a spender (like me), you probably felt the hair raise on the back of your neck and immediately felt flashes of frustration.

So this post is written primarily with the spender in mind. Savers: feel free to print out and show to your spender spouse or friend!

5 Reasons Why BUDGETING Is Important

1. It maximizes every dollar you earn.  As a spender, I can “accidentally” spend money. Preparing a monthly budget (and an annual budget once each year to cast vision for the future) allows me to know that money is limited and ensures that I maximize every dollar I do receive.
2. It makes you aware of your impulsiveness.  This is not the most pleasant feeling, but it very helpful to be reminded that it is much easier to remain broke than it is to win with money. My budget ensures that I am continually aware of my impulsiveness and the danger that presents to my long term goals.
3. You can buy stuff without feeling guilty.  This is probably my favorite reason for budgeting! I used to play a round of golf and feel guilty because I knew it wasn’t in the budget (because we didn’t have a budget). I’ll never forget the day that I was able to just go enjoy a round of golf and KNOW it was in the budget and I had planned for it! It didn’t help my golf score, but it did help me and my marriage!
4. You have probably married a saver (or if you aren’t married, and hope to be some day, you will most likely marry a saver)  I married a saver. Jenn is a beautiful and amazing bride, but she just does not have any desire to go spend all of our money. So when we didn’t have a budget, I nearly drove her crazy with my random ATM cash withdrawals and surprise expenses. I am certain she was the one celebrating the most when I finally “got it” and began participating in the monthly ritual of planning our spending and following that plan!
5. Budgeting will fund your dreams faster.  I know that I said #3 is probably my favorite, but I’m taking it back. This one is my favorite! I love funding my dreams. Because of budgeting, my family has been able to give more money away than we ever thought possible. We have been able to take wonderful cash-paid-for-in-advance vacations, pursue our dream of launching this organization, and pay off our house! All in 10 years and 1 month! I can’t WAIT to see what happens in the next 10 years!!!!

There’s my list. What would YOU add to it?

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Is it a challenge for you to stick to your budget while shopping for Christmas? If so, then here is a great way to ensure you do not overspend this year!

1.  Using the Mini-Budget, prepare a list of each person for whom you are planning to purchase a gift.

2.  Next to each person’s name, enter an amount that you are planning to spend for their gift.

3.  Look at the total amount of the gifts and ensure it fits within your plan. Make necessary adjustments.

4.  Enter the “Total Income” to make “INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO” and pull the money out in CASH to ensure that you do not overspend!

While this seems really basic and simple, it has really helped my family stick to the plan and ensures that our Christmas spending will not rob the joy of the season from us!

Here are a few additional tips for your Christmas budget:

1. Home made items are way cheaper and usually end up meaning a lot more
2. You are not REQUIRED to spend gadzooks amount of money for Christmas – especially when you are working your way out of a financial mess!
3. Using cash and putting away the credit/debit card will ensure that you do not overspend!
4. Facing a cash crunch this Christmas because you did not really save for it? Commit now to save every single month for Christmas 2013! You can set up a “Christmas Club” automatic savings account at your local bank or through an on-line bank (like ING or ALLY). Figure out how much you should save each paycheck by using our “Known, Upcoming Non-Monthly Expenses Calculator.”

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My budget is the reason my family stopped being broke and began winning with money. As a spender, one might think I would be opposed to the restrictions of a budget, but the opposite is true: my budget gave me freedom! Yet many people operate their finances without a planned budget. They are hoping to prosper, but that is a tall order without a written plan.

Since many people resist the idea of a budget, I will share five proven ways to ensure a budget won’t work.

5 Ways To Ensure Your Budget Won’t Work

1. Don’t prepare a budget  This is the top proven way to ensure your budget won’t work! Just “hope” that it somehow works out.
2. Be unrealistic  Decide to spend only $4 on groceries this month and ignore the fact that your children are growing like weeds by putting $0 in the clothing category.
3. Don’t include Known, Upcoming Non-Monthly Expenses  Ensure that landmines are established for your budget by failing to save for known, upcoming non-monthly expenses like Christmas, vacation, property taxes, insurance premiums and deductibles, and home and auto repairs.
4. Don’t allow your spouse to help  Believe (the lie) that your spouse is the reason you aren’t winning with money and prepare the budget on your own and demand they follow it without any question. You will ensure your budget doesn’t work.
5. Be impulsive  Give in to salesperson’s great sales pitch and buy the shiny item. It is so pretty, and they told you that it is necessary to own the item to be happy. What they didn’t tell you is it would ensure your budget won’t work and keep you broke.

If you really DO want your budget to work, I recommend you start HERE.

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I remember our first-ever budget. It was in July 2003. My fine bride, Jenn, came into the living room with a budget scribbled on a piece of lined paper. She had been trying to get me to budget for the past 6 months or so, but I was not playing along (because I’m a spender!).

I believed budgets were controlling, restricting, live-in-a-Maytag-refrigerator-box pieces of trash. They made me say the word “no”, and it interrupted my flow. I wanted no part of it.

But let’s consider a snapshot of my family’s financial situation when Jenn walked in:

• I was managing the money
• We had $4.13 in our checking account
• Our credit cards had a huge balance on them again – for the third time!
• We had a 105% financed car and a 100% financed truck
• There was nothing in our short-term savings account
• We were B-R-O-K-E
• I was in COMPLETE DENIAL!

I can not write this strong enough: I was B-R-O-K-E and telling my wife, “NO!” to doing something different with our finances! But, for some reason at that very moment, something happened that changed my life and marriage forever. I turned off the TV and looked at the budget she had prepared. It actually showed we could live for a month without incurring any additional debt!

LIFE-CHANGING does not describe the next few minutes. I moved into the computer room and started entering the expenses into Microsoft Excel. As I was putting together the formula to subtract expenses from the income, I realized that all of this time I could have been managing my money with the math skills possessed by the average first-grader. INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO! After a few minutes, we had a budget that was EXACTLY ZERO.

My life and marriage have been changed forever because we discovered that a budget is NOT restricting. It is freedom!  It is merely telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it all went. It allows you to pay off debt, save up for known, upcoming expenses, save money for emergencies, and fund your dreams.

The first budget was tough because not everything went according to the plan. Every month we had been spending an enormous amount at Wal-Mart and did not clearly know what we had spent it on. As a result, our first month was a little rough. Month two was a bit easier.  Month three was even easier.

Listen to your feelings as I write this next line: We don’t worry about money ANY MORE. We did something different. We applied God’s word and Grandma’s advice to our money and our lives have never been the same.

You CAN do this! You CAN get through the 1st month’s budget! Click on “TOOLS” at the top of the page or click HERE to download your FREE budget form and get started!

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Need further help? My book, I Was Broke. Now I’m Not., provides the exact tools my family used to win with money. It will help you do the same. Learn more HERE.

As I assist others in the creation of budgets that actually work, I see certain issues that crop up very frequently.  In fact, here are four reasons that budgeting is difficult for many people.

4 Reasons It Is Hard To Budget

1.  Unwillingness to change behavior.  A refusal to recognize that INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO will not eliminate this fact from being reality.  If someone is unable to pay their bills, but they are still getting weekly manicures – something is wrong!  If someone is unable to pay their bills, yet are still spending a ton of money eating at restaurants – something is wrong! Behavior MUST change in order to move from “surviving” to “thriving” financially.

2.  It is not about money at all.  It is a TRUST issue.  You want to see power struggles in a marriage? Get them to talk about their money!  I believe a lack of trust is a HUGE reason that it is hard for many couples to budget.  It is about trust.  Here are some of the questions being asked.

• Do I TRUST you enough to put our money together into a single checking account?
• Do I TRUST you enough to let you pull cash out for spending money?
• Do I TRUST you enough to follow our written plan – the budget?
• Do I TRUST you enough to hear your opinion about where we should spend our money?
• Do I TRUST you enough to believe that we really need to spend that much money at the grocery store?
• Do I TRUST you to do well in the future! – Because you have messed up with money in the past!

3.  One spouse is not interested in working with the other.  This will kill a budget before it ever starts!  I have seen multiple examples where one person works like crazy to get their money in order, only to have the unfortunate surprise that their spouse has run up a huge credit card bill, or shows up with a new car, or buys a new boat, or signs up for an expensive vacation, or … The list goes on and on.  When this occurs, the “behaving” spouse (who has been following the spending plan) becomes very tempted to throw in the towel and join in with the frivolous spending.  They reason, “Well, if he/she can have what they want, I deserve it too …”  Couples who do not work together on major financial decisions run a high risk of not maximizing their financial potential.  They also run a higher risk of divorce.

4.  Failure to recognize that there is an “INCOME” portion to the INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO equation.  Seriously, I can’t believe I have to write this, but it is SO true!  I have people show up for counseling, and they are not working!  Now, I can understand a couple of weeks without work (maybe), but I REALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW SOMEONE COULD NOT WORK FOR SIX MONTHS!  How is this possible?  GO TO WORK! DO SOMETHING! Go get a job.  I don’t care if it makes someone feel sad to take a job at McDonald’s!  It makes me feel sad when they draw welfare for 6 months when they have ABSOLUTELY NO REASON that they cannot work – except for “it makes me feel bad”.  Waaah!  Earn some money.  It will help cure depression.

Well, I have ranted enough today.  I know that it can be difficult to budget, but I believe that you can do this!  I believe that you have the know-how, the capability, and the inner-strength to work together with your spouse, avoid the debt trap, develop a plan for your life, and have fun doing this together!

YOU CAN DO THIS!

You CAN have a budget that really works!  Check out our FREE BUDGET TOOLS to get started.

My book, I Was Broke. Now I’m Not., can help you learn to live and operate with a monthly budget and begin to fund your dreams. Purchase your copy today and get started!

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“It’s too hard to budget!”

This has to be the top statement that I hear from people.

My response – “It’s much more difficult to be BROKE!”

Here is what I know from personal experience:

1. I was BROKE when I did not have a budget
2. I stopped being broke the very day that I prepared a budget and FOLLOWED IT
3. A budget took my marriage to the next level
4. I have found no better way to maximize every single dollar that I am blessed to receive
5. A budget is nothing more than telling your money where to go instead of wondering where in the world it all went
6. I have seen tens of thousands of people begin to prosper as a result of preparing and living by a budget
7. My dreams have been and are being fully funded as a result of my budget
8. My budget has made me a much better money manager

You CAN have a budget that really works!  Check out our FREE BUDGET TOOLS to get started.

My book, I Was Broke. Now I’m Not., can help you learn to live and operate with a monthly budget and begin to fund your dreams. Purchase your copy today and get started!

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It is time to prepare your budget for the month of April!

Here are few tips for this month:
• The FREE BUDGET TOOLS are located HERE
• Major Expenses Coming Up Soon? Graduations, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are next month. Father’s Day and a lot of weddings are in June. Are you traveling anytime in the next few months? These could add up to major expenses, and you could lessen the financial impact by beginning to save for them in April’s budget!
• Consider clothing. The weather is awesome, but all of the clothes from last summer will no longer fit the kids since they have grown like weeds! Be sure to put some money in the plan for this expense!
• Will. Why not make this THE MONTH that you get a will? Set up a meeting with an attorney or go to an online provider of will kits like LegalZoom.com or USLegalForms.com

Two questions for you:
1. What are some other unusual budget items that you will encounter in April?
2. What are some “wins” that you experienced during the month of March?

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Can you believe ANOTHER month is over?  Even with an extra day this year, February still finishes so quickly.

It is time to prepare your budget for March!

Here are a couple of tips for March:

• Be sure you are saving money each month so you are ready for a debt-free summer vacation!
• Spring is arriving – be sure to budget for some clothing – especially for the kids
• Tax time is arriving – ensure you file on time and be ready for any taxes you might owe

Get fired up!

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It is the last day of the month and you know what that means …

It is time to prepare your budget for FEBRUARY!

Here are some great things to consider for this month:

• If you are expecting to receive a tax refund, be sure to use the Mini-Budget to plan that money also!
• Be sure to review your Known, Upcoming Non-Monthly Expenses to ensure you are not going to be caught off-guard by a surprise expense (like vacation, property taxes, or a car repair)
• Review January’s budget to see if you accomplished everything you planned

Get fired up!

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I am a “spender” by nature so I am always looking for reasons to spend money.  Of course, my monthly budget helps ensure that my spending is well under control, but I do enjoy spending money as much as the next person.  After all, money is called currency because it is supposed to flow (like the current of a river).  With that said, here are 5 Good Reasons To Spend Money.  This should be fun!

5 Good Reasons To Spend Money

1. To transition to a lower cost service.  It might cost a connection fee to change to an alternative cable TV provider, but if it lowers the monthly ongoing cost of that service, it is worth spending the money!
2. To increase the value of something that will be sold.  When preparing to sell a house, it can be helpful to spend money to upgrade the kitchen or master bathroom as it can increase the overall value of the home.
3. To increase the likelihood of selling something.  If the car will not run, it will sell for a lot less.  A lot of times, it can be worth it to spend the money to bring the car to full operating strength.
4. To generate future profits.  If money can be spent to start a business that will generate future profits, it can be well worth it!
5. To free up time to produce additional income.  If you can use time that you usually spend mowing your lawn to generate additional income that is greater than the amount spent for the lawn service, it can be worth it!

BONUS:  To brighten someone’s day.  If you see someone in need and you have money available to help – do it!  There is nothing as rewarding as being able to bless someone else.

What reasons would you add?

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