#3: Breaking Through the Stigma of Budgeting

There’s no denying it – there’s a stigma around budgeting.

In fact, the negative association surrounding budgeting is so prevalent that another money coach I’m acquainted with doesn’t even use the word “budget” in her vocabulary with clients.

You know it’s bad when we can’t even say the word BUDGET!

I’m here to break through the stigma of budgeting.

I turned my life around completely thanks to budgeting, and I’m on a mission to help as many other people does the same as I possibly can.

Here’s the thing though…we must break through our budgeting barriers!

To start, it takes some awareness:

When you hear the word “budget”, what do you instantly think of?

Then, peel back the layers. Why do you think that? What does it make you feel like?

If your answers are negative, then it’s no wonder why you see budgeting as a bad thing.

Take a step back and let’s look at budgeting from a purely logical standpoint.

Budgeting is the act of creating and sticking to a budget.

A budget is simply a tool that tells you what money is coming in, what money is going out, and what money is left over (if any).

That’s all folks.

When you see budgeting from that standpoint, you start to realize that it’s not a bad thing.

Where the negative thoughts and feelings come in is when the budget tells you that you can’t afford to do everything you want to do.

This could be because you don’t make enough money, you’re spending on too many things, or your focused on too many goals at once.

That’s not the budgets fault though. The budget just brings it to light.

Once you recognize that fact, you can start reframing your thoughts around budgeting.

When you start leaning into budgeting, instead of resisting it, that’s when great things happen!

Here are a few steps to get a simple budget created:

• List out your monthly income
• List out your monthly expenses
• Subtract your total expenses from your total income
• Assess that number:
  1. Positive? What goals can you work towards?
  2. Negative? What spending areas can be reduced? Or, how can you make more money?

You can download my free Monthly Budget Overview Tracker to get your numbers into a good format for brainstorming!

Here’s a glance at this episode:

• [01:30] Why I think the stigma around budgeting is real and some examples to prove that it truly does exist.
• [03:35] How to take a logical approach when thinking about budgeting – this is the first step to breaking through the stigma that comes with budgeting.
• [06:20] I walk through how to complete an exercise to pinpoint what about budgeting is creating the negativity and anxiety for you.
• [08:54] Ideas to help you reframe your thought pattern when it comes to budgeting.
• [13:43] How to create your own simple, logical budget – steps you need to create a simple budget, so you know how to move forward.

Click here to listen!

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

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