Budgets Are Boring Just Like Success
This is not financial advice. I’m not qualified to give financial advice. This is just what happened when my family started following a budget.
Before
We made good money. We spent good money. At the end of every month, there wasn’t much left. We weren’t broke, but we weren’t building anything either.
Unexpected expenses were emergencies. Car repair? Stress. Medical bill? Stress. Kids need new shoes? Believe it or not, stress.
We knew roughly what we made. We had no idea where it went.
The Change
We started telling our money where to go before the month began. Every dollar got a job. This is just zero-based budgeting—nothing revolutionary.
The first month was humbling. We’d been spending way more than we thought on food. Subscriptions we’d forgotten about. Random Amazon purchases that felt small but added up.
We made a budget. We failed. We made another one. Failed less. By month four, we had something that worked.
What Changed
Stress went down. Not because we had more money—we didn’t, at first. But because we knew where we stood. Car repair isn’t an emergency when there’s a car repair fund.
Arguments about money stopped. Most money fights come from different expectations. The budget is the expectation. Both people agree to it upfront. Nothing to argue about.
We started building. Emergency fund. Then retirement. Then kids’ college. Slow and boring. But actually happening.
Lifestyle inflation stopped. When you have to budget a raise, you think about it. Do we actually need more? Usually no.
We could say yes to things that mattered. Want to visit family? It’s in the budget. Kids want to try a sport? It’s in the budget. Generosity? Budget.
The Boring Part
Here’s the thing: budgets are boring. You know what else is boring? Success.
The exciting financial content is about crypto moonshots and options trading and hustle culture. The boring reality is: spend less than you make, invest the difference, wait decades.
No one wants to hear that. It doesn’t go viral. But it works.
Same with fitness. The exciting content is biohacks and fad diets. The boring reality: eat less, move more, sleep enough, wait months.
Same with relationships. The exciting content is grand gestures. The boring reality: show up every day, communicate, don’t keep score.
Boring works. Exciting usually doesn’t.
What We Do Now
We budget monthly. Takes about 30 minutes at the start of each month. We use YNAB but a spreadsheet works fine.
Every purchase gets categorized. Not because we’re obsessive—because awareness changes behavior. When you see “Restaurants: $847” you eat at home more.
We have sinking funds for everything predictable. Christmas isn’t a surprise. Neither is car insurance. Neither is the water heater dying.
The emergency fund is six months. That’s probably overkill. But I sleep well.
The Point
Money stress is optional. Not the having-money part—that requires income. But the stress part is mostly self-inflicted by not having a plan.
Make a plan. Follow the plan. Adjust when needed. Boring. Effective.
Everyone has a different income and different situation. But everyone can tell their money where to go instead of wondering where it went.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Drafted by AI