Budgeting is a very crucial part of your finances that will either break you or make you survive into another month. I have a very unpopular belief that says, if we take away the inflation issue, take away the wage issue and wage theft problem in America. I do believe that a lot of people are just simply bad with money.

And I’m no bank-level financial advisor or anything. I’ve been able to sustain all of my expenses without a hitch. I’ve paid my monthly loans on time, actually, pretty well in advance we’ll say because as soon as I see bills come up infront of me, I want them out of my face as soon as possible.

I always advise people when they’re out on their own and that’s to watch their numbers. Always total the amount you’ll be paid by the month, if it’s fixed income. Then, take all of the expenses you’re paying for by the month and total them up. Then, subtract the amount of your expenses from the total earning and you’ll figure how much you’ve got left to work with and how you’ll spend it if you want to. Saving is also key.

I’m not here to tell you what to do with your money. People get vehemently defensive when you point out the flaws of their spending habits, always treating it as a control issue when you’re just simply finding what’s wrong with it as they complain all of the time as to why they’re broke.

But all I will say in regards to that, is that, you really need to weigh your needs from your wants. Impulsivity is a bad driver in how it ruins our finances. I’ve done things where I’d be in a store and I’d take something I thought I’d really want to have and I’d carry it around for a while. Eventually over time, the feeling of wanting that thing, washes away because I know that it is simply an impulse issue.

I do get concerned when people lay out their budget plans. They spend triple the amount of groceries for just themselves. They actually even make budgets for bad money sinks like weed and alcohol. They never save anything, it’s always spending by the paycheck. You’ll never know if something will come up that’ll require a specific amount of money and you’ll find yourself in a tough situation where you are having to decide whether you want the lights on for another month or your car tire needs to be replaced because you’ve neglected it for so long that the threads are worn.

  • speaker_hat@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    The Simple Path to Wealth book has an interesting approach about the savings part of the budget:

    Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt

    Try saving and investing 50% of your income. With no debt, this is perfectly doable.

    The beauty of a high savings rate is twofold: You learn to live on less even as you have more to invest.

    I also highly recommend reading it.