A New Year, A New Budget

Welcome to 2020!

A brand new year, and an opportunity to get that budget right.

Budgets aren't set in cement. They're meant to be fluid, and change with your circumstances. And that means that you can create a new budget right now, for the new year.

​In the show last night, I stressed that it's important to keep it simple. If your budget is complicated, then you'll give up. Trust me I know, and not just from working with Cheapskaters, but from first hand experience.

If something is too complicated, and takes too long, needs too much attention, then it's not going to work. You are busy, with family, friends, life, work, home, garden, hobbies - just being. You don't need anything else to complicate your life.

And your budget shouldn't which is why I stress the "keep it simple".

Sure, once you have it down and working, you can pretty it up. Apparently my comments on charts and graphs and colours has been taken completely out of context and become the focus of last night's show. Wow! 

Thanks to Marion for forwarding the email to me, so I can clear the air.

Folks, I did not say you had to use pie charts and graphs and pretty colours. I did suggest if you have a Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestlye Planner that you take advantage of the yearly and weekly budget layouts, and if you don't have one, then Members can download the Simple Monthly Spending Plan.

And I did say that if you want to pretty it up, after you've kept it simple for a while, then go ahead, but do it one simple step at a time. Some of us are visual, and need the "pretty" to stay motivated.

Apparently, the writer doesn't budget, or track her spending. Right!

People, anyone who tells you they don't budget is either obscenely wealthy, in debt and hiding their head in the sand or flat out lying. 

Spending whatever you have is budgeting - bad budgeting, but it's still a form of budgeting.

The "no budget" trend is budgeting. Read up on it. They still budget, plan their spending and saving, pay down debt. They budget - they're just not honest enough with themselves (or anyone else) to admit it. Or perhaps they're scared of the responsibility that comes with a budget.

Last night I suggested you track your spending,and from the comments so many of you do. I still do. It doesn't take long and frankly if you don't know where your money is going, you can't control it.

Tracking your spending isn't hard. It isn't complicated. It doesn't take hours and hours. 

It does keep your spending under control. 

It does only take a minute or so each day. 

It does help keep you out of debt.

And it does show where you can cut back, and if you have debt, then you need this information. If you're building savings or and emergency fund, you need this information.

So, keep an eye on what you spend, and keep your budget simple: incomings and outgoings. 

I've been doing this for a long, long, long time - over 25 years -  and it works.