10 Reasons Why You Don’t Need a Budget

by Erik Garcia

Why let your financial freedom be limited to a painful budget? Sure – you may spend a bit more money than you actually make, but that doesn’t make you a bad person, does it?

Here are 10 reasons you DON’T need a budget:

1. Creating a budget requires time management skills, who has time for that?
2. You strongly believe the unanswered question “Where does all my money go?” deserves to remain unanswered.
3. Living in your parents’ spare bedroom is cheap, plus your mom makes the best home red beans in all of New Orleans.
4. Budget… isn’t that what a credit card is for? To cover the things that you can’t afford?
5. You don’t want to be restricted in your spending. You’re a free bird and free birds don’t answer to the call of a budget.
6. Living to check to check is exhilarating. Will you make it to the end of the month? Who knows!
7. You tried the whole budget thing before and it just didn’t match the amount of money you want to spend.
8. Everyone has SOME debt, right?
9. Financial goals are for old people. You can think about those “goals” in about 15 years.
10. There’s nothing you enjoy more than a good argument over money with your significant other.

Okay, okay, those ten reasons were a bit sarcastic. But all joking aside, who really likes to make a budget?

To many people, “budget” is the equivalent of a financial curse word

When we hear the word budget, we hear an echo of “restrictive, anal, meticulous, and a waste of time” in our mind. It’s time-consuming and limiting. But, if you have any aspirations of reaching certain financial and life goals, creating and following a budget will increase your likelihood of success by more than you think.

Think of the budgeting process as simply aligning your monthly spending with your financial and life goals. If you want to get out of debt, do you really need to eat out five times per week? Or spend that $200 on ANOTHER pair of jeans? What if you’re starting your own business, don’t you want a bit of a financial cushion in case you have a slow business period?

Having a handle on your finances can help you plan for the future so you CAN afford the things that are the most important to you, your lifestyle, or your loved ones.

So, here are the 10 real reasons why you should create a budget:

1. To Know where you are spending your money and be able to make changes in your spending as needed
2. To be able to increase your savings
3. To improve your spending habits
4. To give yourself more control over your spending
5. To reduce your stress
6. To improve your relationships
7. To reach your financial goals
8. To spend your money according to your priorities
9. To ensure you don’t spend money that you don’t have
10._________________I’ll leave number 10 for you to fill in

What will your budget do for you?

Budgeting for the sake of satisfying some rules in personal finance is silly. Don’t do it because that’s what “they” say… do it because it will help you reach goals or help you to pursue a particular lifestyle.

If done right, a budget has a particular purpose. I budget because I want to spend more time with my kids. I want to pay my house off early. I want to travel. I want to increase my level of giving. That’s why I budget.

Why do you (or don’t you) have a budget? Share with us!