4 Benfit$ of a budget
The average american has $38,000 in debt.
Only 2% believe that budgeting is necessary if you have a lot of debt.
This is alarming to say the least. Living in debt is slavery, and not having a budget is foolery.
I used to live on credit card debt. I had no control over my spending, and that was an indicator I had no control over my life. But the truth is, accruing debt is easy and budgeting is hard.
People have a number of reasons they offer as to why they do not have a budget. Some say they dont make enough, others they dont have time, others are just scared and hopeless.
Once I began to budget, my life changed. I saw hope. I had confidence. I felt in control. My marriage got better and my overall self control did as well.
Below I want to share four benefits of having a budget:
financial awareness
when you begin to watch your money, what comes in and what goes out. Where it comes from and where it goes, you begin to get a good sense of where your priorities are. This can be a painful truth to face, it can be embarrassing, but it can be fixed by a budget. When you begin to get educated about your money and spending habits you begin to become aware of what you really need in life. You will be amazed at how many things you realize you buy that you do not need.
Being aware of how you money is operating is empowering. It also shows you how you operate and that is freeing as well.
secondly it gives you control
First, you begin to control what your money does. When you do not control what your money does, your money controls you. A budget causes you to assign activity to your money. You tell your money where it will go, when and how. This gives you a sense of control and empowerment.
Also, there is a sense of self control you get from a budget. Alot of our spending is just flat out laziness. Tightening up our spending patterns causes us to tighten up our living patterns. We begin to adjust our lifestyle as we adjust our spending.
Third, a budget helps you destroy debt
It was debt that really cause my wife and I to get educated about money (a journey we are still on) and tackle our debt. Within a year we went from over $10,000 in debt to having $10,000 in savings, not to mention traveling with out using a credit card. We have not even used a credit card since we made the decision to eradicate our debt.
We felt free, in power, united and like a team. It was the first step in beginning to work on building a better marriage (also a journey we are still on :-).
This leads to the last benefit, which is peace of mind
Knowing what your money is doing because you are in control of it give a sense of serenity. In the end, that tranquility is what we are after in the first place. When our relationship with money is off, everything goes off. Money is not everything, but it is impossible to live life without it. Therefore we must have an educated and active approach to how we handle it.
Often we are stressed and anxious because of money. A budget will help you get peace and freedom. I know because it did for us. Are we perfect? No! But having a budget always shows us when and where we begin to get sloppy.
Thanks for reading. I write on related motivational topics to productivity like personal vision, goal setting and time management to name a few. If you want to read more posts like this give me a follow… I will give you my best each post!
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https://www.debt.com/research/best-way-to-budget-2019/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/20/how-much-debt-americans-have-at-every-age.html