Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Christa, Day 66: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.... MONEY!

For the most part, I love organizational tasks, so it's kind of surprising how much I dislike things like balancing the checkbook or making a budget spreadsheet. Chalk it up to my hatred of money. No, scratch that. I adore money. I just hate the necessity of money and how obsessed everyone is with showing off how much they have of it. The obsession with money leads to people overspending to feel wealthier and so on. Do you know what would make me feel wealthy? Gobs and gobs of money in bank and retirement accounts, my stock portfolio, and so on.

Wait, where was I?
Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated. Read more here.
Yeah, budgeting. My husband was nice enough to keep a budget going for some number of months so we could have a better idea of where our money is going. And that was great. Very revealing. The thing is, we're not big spenders. Leo mentions how most people's money downfall is "fun money". Our fun money pretty much equals a couple of sodas and fries at the occasional trip to the zoo, which is essentially free since we're members and go often enough to make it worth it. It's not that we're not fun people - we're just good at making our own fun.

So honestly, I don't feel that inclined to budget. It's actually the one thing we ought to be doing that we're not, according to Dave Ramsey, as we roll our debt snowball. I'm too lazy. And I dislike money, as I said. And the husband is too busy these days to keep on top of the old spreadsheets. I want to try the zero sum budget system recommended in the Total Money Makeover, but for that to happen we both need to sit down together. Which by itself has been difficult to accomplish lately.

Our budget? Currently adds up to one simple directive: Don't spend money on stuff you don't need. The end. Pretty simple, na?

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