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Why I Budget

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 34 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

This week is going by fast! I’m so happy that it’s Thursday. Today my post is about budgets and it also happens to match up with Women’s Money Week’s Budget Thursday!

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails and comments about how I budget and what software I use. First,  I’m surprised that so many of you e-mail me about this (this makes me happy because I know that I’m getting everyone to think about their finances more!) but this also surprises me because you guys e-mail me about this! I never honestly thought I’d be the one for people to ask.

I only use Excel and my head. I store a lot in my brain and that’s probably not a good idea. I have a horrible memory but I recently signed up for Mint and that’s been helpful to see where my money is going. Mint does lag a little for me and I hate getting the constant e-mail reminders for bills that I need to pay (even though I paid them 2 weeks before I get all these annoying reminders UGH).

There are SOOO many reasons why I budget and why you should too! A lot of my friends don’t have budgets and they just base everything off of how much cash they have currently in their bank account. That kills me! They have nothing saved and most of them have literally no bills, so I just don’t understand! Ok well I do understand since I used to be like that. But not anymore!

There are many reasons why I budget:
  1. I love to travel. I have a separate travel fund that I save for within my budget.
  2. Buy things that I want. I hate buying stupid things that I don’t want. Do I need that cheap shirt that won’t last through 1 wash? No, but I will budget for something nicer.
  3. So that I can afford experiences. I’m not going to lie, I like materialistic things such as clothes and nice cars, but I greatly value experiences such as concerts, festivals and similar events. These are much more important to me.
  4. To pay off my debt and retire early. This is a given. If I don’t make more than I spend, and also watch my budget, then I will never be able to pay my debt or retire.
  5. To be in control. I want to be in control of my life, and without a realistic budget, that’s impossible.

The first step in creating your budget is to make sure it’s realistic. Making your budget be only $1,000 a month for everything when you usually spend $3,500 would be pretty impossible unless you did some drastic things.

You should also re-evaluate your budget every so often. I look at mine as much as I can just because it literally takes a couple of minutes and isn’t hard. Just take a look at your bills and see if there’s any unnecessary spending there.

Miscellaneous expenses should be included as well. Something will most likely come up every month no matter how big or how small. You should definitely be realistic with this area in your budget because it will most likely be the area that varies the most every month.

Why do you budget? Tips for people new to budgets?

P.S. I’m messing around with some things with the blog. What do you think so far? I changed the header (yeah I know, not a HUGE change), and I made a new button. Please let me know, anything good or critical, I want to hear it! Even post it as anonymous,  I don’t care as long as I’m hearing the truth.

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

    • Anonymous says

      On Mint, you can change the settings for receiving the email reminders. I set it up to email me only once a week, and only to give me a general overview. I don't get emails about when bills are due.

      Reply

  2. Alyx says

    Like I said before – I like! I did notice, thought, that the yellow on the header is sort of difficult to read. You could move it down a few pixels and add a shadow, and that would probably improve it x100000 !! Just a thought – take it or leave it, I won't be offended either way! lolAnd you have actually gotten me excited about getting back to the states and making a budget. We don't really have one here, since we're pretty much living on bare minimum anyway, but once we get back to the states, I'm a little worried about what our spending habits will become with Target and Walmart around. 🙂

    Reply

    • Michelle P says

      Thanks so much for telling me that. I was thinking the same thing but I definitely wanted your opinion since you're better at this stuff than me! I'm going to fix it on my lunch break!

      Reply

  3. BrokeElizabeth says

    I budget because I don't want to go into credit card debt for things like groceries. I don't have a lot of wiggle room, and I need to know that I will be able to buy food for the rest of the month if I spend a little extra on entertainment.

    Reply

  6. Becky Borgman says

    My husband and I are trying to get some student loans paid off and saving money for a new car so we have a lower monthly payment so that when we do have children, I will be able to work part time. The idea of being with my children 5/7 days a week is more push than I need to skip that sale at Banana Republic, eat out less, or to make our home decor instead of buying it. Love your blog!

    Reply

  7. Sarah says

    I was getting ready to say something about the new look. I like it!!! I'll have to switch out the button on my page…..aaaaaand I may be coming to you for help on how to redo my header 🙂

    Reply

  8. hklover86 says

    Hey i was wondering if you can talk about making the transfer over to self-hosting and getting your own domain name?? Crystal (from budgeting in the fun stuff) suggested I do that because it will get more people wanting to advertise on my blog and stuff. Did you pay someone to do all that for you or did you do it yourself?

    Reply

  9. Marianne says

    Budgeting allows me to buy things that I want without feeling guilty. I budget in an allowance for myself and my husband and it's wonderful to know that all of our needs are taken care of and if I want to buy something stupid just because I want it- I can- no guilt! Before, I felt guilty everytime money left my bank account because I didn't exactly know whether I could afford the item or not regardless of whether it was a need or not. Now I am completely in control. It's great. I blogged about our budgeting method here: http://preservingpennies.com/how-we-budget-a-simp…

    Reply

  11. bogofdebt says

    First: I love your new header.Tips for those new to budgeting: You'll make errors, you'll go over your budget,and like you said, you need to be realistic. My first stint at budgeting left me even more in debt because I was so unrealistic that I gave up at it. The key is to not give up but instead, look at where you went over and evaluate. Was it because you were unrealistic? Bounce back from your mistakes and it gets easier all the time. (Especially if you give yourself goals that you are looking forward to like your vacations)

    Reply

  12. CeCe @Frugalista Mar says

    I budget because I don't know anything else. It was never a conscious choice it seems. It was just something I did way back in high school when I got my very first job. It's definitely a good thing that it came naturally though b/c I hear all kinds of horror stories about what happens when you aren't managing your money well. I like it that you are budget minded BUT also allow yourself to enjoy life. It's good to have that balance. I used to just budget and freak out every time I spent money but I've gotten way better about the enjoyment part too.

    Reply

    • Stephanie says

      I'm the same way! My parents gave me an allowance from the time I was little, and if I wanted a toy or something I had to either save my money and buy it myself or put it on my birthday/Christmas list and wait. The concept of delayed gratification, and it's natural counterpart of budgeting, was a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

      Reply

  13. Liz Brown says

    I budget. 🙂 I have since I first started making money, probably age 10 or so.I'm about to graduate and get a 'real' job. I'm gearing up for some heavy duty budgeting … there are some big ticket purchases that need to be made in the next year or so, like another car.Your blog is great! I think its so sad how so many people our age have no concept of budgeting, saving, or even just staying within their means.

    Reply

  18. Lena says

    We budget to make ends meet at the moment. But we also budget because we want to know where every dollar goes, and how we can enjoy life even on a small income. I usually use excel form and my dear friend notebook. Like the new button and header.

    Reply

  19. Alice @ Dont Debt says

    I do budget! I want to get rid of debt as soon as humanly possible – or sooner. I only get paid once per month and need to know how much is left over after debt payments have been made. If all I have is money for gas for the month, then I know I'm not going to be able to eat lunch out with a friend. Those are the reasons I budget, so I know exactly where each penny of my hard earned money is going. I want to be able to feel good about it and know that I did my best each month of getting rid of debt.

    Reply

  20. fabulously frugirl says

    Budgets are so important! :)Now, I look forward to the beginning of a new month because it's an entirely new budget I can tinker with! I think a great tip for budgeting is to make it a dynamic document. We shouldn't just make a budget at the beginning of the month and then forget about it. If we realized that we forgot to add in our oil change, then our budget should be adjusted to account for such things.

    Reply

  21. Katie says

    I don't use a spreadsheet for my budget. I just use my checking account to pay bills and a cash system for everything else. I think I'm going to give the spreadsheet a chance next month and see if that works better for me.

    Reply

  22. Shaun @ Smart Family says

    I use an excel, but only to track and categorize my credit card useage. I'd be using Mint, but for some reason they can't get information from the card I have so, I'm stuck in manual tracking mode.

    Reply

  24. Marissa says

    Its funny that we have the exact same reasons for saving. Im really passionate about seeing the world and its really hard to do that when you're broke.

    Reply

  26. Debt Recovery says

    This type of thing needs to be introduced into our children's school curriculum, in terms of learning about budgets and saving. Introducing this type of learning will hopefully help future generations to understand how to manage a budget for when they become exposed to these types of things. Michael

    Reply

  27. SPF@ShesPrettyFrugal says

    I budget so that I can regain control over my money, and tell every dollar where to go. As a result of budgeting, I'm looking forward to being able to tell every debt/bill where to go too!

    Reply

  28. Amber says

    Are you still using Mint? Do you like it? I agree about the email reminders! I like it overall though. I also have a spreadsheet that I use with all the average amounts for my bills so I can know what's coming out of each check. It's a work in progress though…
    My recent post A Load A Day…

    Reply

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