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When I hear the term “budget,” I have to admit that I think of everything else I could possibly do to avoid sitting down and creating a budget. Mathematics was not my favorite class in school (even though I was an excellent student), and the idea of using numbers to analyze and create a budget to manage my finances sounds really boring and time-consuming.
Thankfully, budgeting doesn’t have to be a stressful, laborious process. There are all sorts of aids out there today to help you budget your finances and even find ways to incentivize you for sticking to your budgets. While it may involve investing some time in research on your part, in the end, you can hopefully find a simple budget that is manageable and easily applicable to your current financial situation.
Being the creative thinker I am, there is a good chance that if I were asked to do a traditional budget, I would procrastinate to the point that it would never get done. Thankfully, creative budgeting solutions exist for people like me. In fact, if you approach it in the correct fashion, you may find this a more fun exercise than you realized.
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1. First of all, don’t call it a budget.
This is by far one of my all-time favorite suggestions. There are a variety of different things you can call this “budget” without using that particular term. What about “wealth-building plan”? Maybe even a “vacation savings strategy”? Think about what your end result will be with this budget and possibly even the reason you are saving money, and this creative solution may be enough of a reason to inspire you to devise a specialized plan just for you and your money.
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2. Saving money should be your main focus.
This sounds pretty straightforward, and you may question the wisdom of considering this. After all, saving your money should always be the reason you are creating a way to manage your finances, right? But the secret of this approach is to think of things just a little bit differently. If you pay yourself first (i.e. put the money in your savings account), then you can use the rest of the money to pay your bills and take care of your necessities. You may even wish to set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account. Whatever you ultimately decide to do, this plan should be all about saving your money first and foremost.
3. Squeeze in some time for fun and rewards.
We all know that work and no play lead to a very ordinary existence. If you are singularly focused on saving money and making everything fit into a rigid budget, you are going to go back to living a monotonous life. And that is exactly what you are attempting to avoid. You might create a vision board with things you’d like to do with that money you are consistently saving. Possibly, you might consider going out at the end of the month for a special treat with your kids or your significant other. Whatever you need to do to motivate yourself, you had better do it. Otherwise, your financial savings plan may end before it even begins!
