What I Think of Budgets

Everyone wants to get the most of their money, however, living by a strict budget can become a tedious and boring task that proves hard to commit to. The problem is in order to attain wealth it is a must that I seriously commit to my finances. Most budgets are too time consuming for me to upkeep and maintain. So for 2010 here is my solution to keeping up with your expenses in a budget like way and using the proper tools to keep track of my finances as if I was maintaining a proper budget spreadsheet in excel or some other program. I simply want the results of hardcore budgeting but in a much simpler way.

First, I keep track of your expenses by using Mint.com which is one of the personal finance tools mentioned in my blog: Personal Finance Tools and Informative Sites. Using a personal finance tracking site I am able to keep track of my expenses to the penny which is a necessary task when attaining wealth. Mint.com actually creates a very nice budget for me based on my spending history which is fantastic, but isn't necessarily a budget replacement. Second, instead of standard boring and tedious budgeting I have simplified the process. Instead of trying to contain my spending and money usage with a standard budget, instead I track every paycheck and every bill. I start with my weekly income from my paycheck and then list all of the bills that must be paid on that paycheck. I know the exact dates my bills are due and I know the exact dates that I am going to be paid and because I am a salary employee I know exactly how much my paycheck will be every week. I know how much spending money I will have available using simple subtraction of all my bills being paid from each paycheck, I also include in my bills my automatic payments to myself every week into various savings and investing accounts. From the leftover balance I treat it as if that is what I got paid and I splurge it on whatever I want. If I have any leftover at the end of the week it goes into next weeks play money adding up for extra frivolous spending that happens from time to time. I find it easier to know how much I will have available for spending weeks in advance. I find it much more satisfying to let this leftover cash burn a hole in my pocket when I want and not having to worry about sticking to complex budget or not saving enough. I simply don't care what I spend my money on, no restrictions to any areas of my spending other than the total amount I have available to spend. Technically this may still be a budget, but it just seems simpler and less time consuming to me.