Balancing The Good & The Bad Of Budgeting
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Done right, a minimalist budget brings clarity and lightness of mind. But it is not magic, and won’t compensate for misplaced priorities or lack of discipline.
As with nearly everything in life, this approach is the best of many imperfect options.
What can you realistically expect, both good and bad, as you create and uphold an effective budget?
Clarify what really matters day to day
The exercise of aiming every dollar at a purpose is invaluable.
It forces you to notice and record for your future self every tangible thing that matters. In the process, you also realize trade-offs that might not have been obvious.
Your inner, or family, dialogue will probably sound like this:
“I really want to travel next year. How much of ___ do I need to cut out to make that possible?”
“We have debt from ___. We’ve got to get rid of it before our eldest starts college, so what’s gotta give?”
Whether you act on these trade-offs is another matter, but putting them in time-constrained dollar terms is worthwhile by itself.
Achieve more of what matters, more efficiently
By clarifying in writing what means the most and what steps will realize it, you have already charted your course.
No more wondering, “Is this a realistic goal?” or “How much would that splurge even matter?”.
You no longer need to wander until you stumble across your financial destination. That is not an entirely bad thing, but is inefficient, and often unnecessarily complicated
Instead of meandering, it helps to mark ourselves a big, red “X” on a metaphorical map, with a straight and unmistakable path that to follow directly.
Easily tell whether you’re financially on track
Ever drive along, miss a turn, and your navigation app dings then blurts out, “Recalculating route”?
It leaves no doubt that you’re drifting off course. Without immediate redirection, even you don’t know where you would have ended up.
