An introduction to budgeting
It is officially the start of the new year and of a new decade. We have officially entered the 2020’s… how exciting Is that?!
The last lot of 20’s was the 1920’s – the era of the flapper girls and of Great Gatsby.
Now, Great Gatsby lived an extremely lavish lifestyle. People seem to think that that’s what all of or lives are now going to be like…
But let me tell you something, if you want to live like that, you need to learn how to budget your money.
I bet Gatsby had a budget…
On 2019, I put some blogs and videos about saving £15,000 to go travelling but I didn’t go into details on HOW I was able to save that money.
I could not have done it without having a budget and tracking my money and spending.
It literally would have been impossible.
Even now, the months that I don’t budget my money or don’t keep track of my spending, I always end up putting purchases onto a credit card or dipping into my savings.
I’ve been budgeting my money since I was 18 so over 8 years now (wtf) and sometimes I still get it wrong, but I have really learnt how important having a budget is.
Budgeting is not a negative thing!
Whenever I talk to people who don’t have a budget, they associate it with a lot of negative feelings, there are lots of negative connotations to the word budget.
It gets associated with frugal, restrictive, tight, being a cheapskate, etc.
But the thing to bear in mind is that a budget isn’t a descriptive word, it is a doing word. It is not an adjective, it’s a verb.
So YOU aren’t a budget/you aren’t BEING budget… you just have a budget or you are budgeting.
To budget or not to budget. The answer is always TO budget.
You are simply looking at what is coming in, you are also then assessing what is going out and then just seeing what is leftover so you can have a good time.
What is a budget / what is budgeting?
Budgeting is just a simple and really helpful tool to keep you on top of your finances such as:
Keeping you out of debt; making sure you don’t go onto your credit card or into your overdraft
Helping you reach your financial goals; whether that is to save £10,000 by the end of the year or to save for a house for example
Helping you get out of debt; helping you to clear your credit cards or to get rid of that loan you’ve got or to pay back your mum the money you owe her.
Whatever it is, it keeps you on top of your finances…
Now to me that is a actually a really positive thing.
You can watch my Youtube video here!
Happy budgeting
Laura
xxx
