A few weeks ago I changed my budget, not that there was anything wrong with the one that I had but I like to try new things. I am inclined to treat my budgets like haircuts - I may have the same one for years but at some point they aren’t practical anymore. I did not change the amounts that I save or spend but what I did change was my style of planning. Every year for the past 3 years or so I have set a budget at the start of November for the rest of the year. It includes how much money I think I am going to spend and then how much I will need to put away in order to make it happen. However, I often find that come January there were some expenses that no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t plan for. Therefore, this year I have decided to create a different budget. I have set an amount that I can spend per week as well as an estimate of holiday expenses. My start day for my fiscal week begins on Monday; whatever I have left on Sunday afternoon I use towards Christmas presents. At first I was hesitant that this system would work, after all I have had a hard enough time with my budget the past 6 months without having to save for presents as well. Yet, I have found that this has become a big motivator for me. When I am craving that $4 cup of starbucks and the $3.50 muffin I think to myself “If I buy this I won’t be able to get that spatula from Crate and Barrel for my mom.” I have really surprised myself with how it has motivated me to save. Normally I would buy my presents all at once and either have saved up for them before hand (which literally took months) or I would buy them and promise to pay myself back later. In either situation I found that I couldn’t get myself motivated but I can by doing it on a weekly basis. Furthermore, I have saved more money than I ever did with either of the other two plans. It has also allowed me to buy some things for myself that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford. At the end of last week I still have over $50 so it allowed me to buy new paint for my room. However, there have also been a few weeks (such as this one) where I did spend my entire allotted amount so I was not able to use any of it towards Christmas presents. Yet, this only makes me want to work harder the following week.
Overall, I think that we often think to ourselves “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” but just because something is “working” doesn’t mean that it is the best system. Of course there have been budgets that I have tried that have been absolute failures but I wouldn’t have known unless I tried. While everyone needs something different from a budget, I think that the most important lesson that I have learned in the past few weeks is that finding a motivator can make a huge difference. Furthermore, it is important not to get overzealous about saving. There have been times where I have saved more than 70% of what I was earning and while it felt satisfying to save so much I was risking my sanity by not allowing myself even small spurges. Moderation, motivation, and allowing yourself small indulgences can really make a huge difference.