Waiting for the perfect time
I love talking to people about budgeting. I know it’s a bit geeky, some would say a bit weird. However, the reality is 15 years of being a budget coach has taught me that a good budget can positively change the course of person’s life forever.
Most people know that they should budget and they know they would be better off if they did but for some reason years come and go and, well, it just still hasn’t happened!
One of the biggest reasons most people fail to ever get started is that they are waiting for the perfect time to get started. I’ll often hear things such as, I want to start a budget but I am just waiting until – I have started my new job, I have got a pay rise, I have moved out of home, I have finished studying, I have paid off my debt, the kids have started school, I have more time!
The reality is there will always be another reason, another excuse not to get started with budgeting. Believe me, the older you get the less time you have, so waiting until you have more time is like looking for unicorns.
The hardest part of any new task is getting started, and this especially true of budgeting. When we are busy we tend to procrastinate on new things because we know it will take time and energy and it is far easier to stick with the old and familiar.
When to start a budget
So, when do you need a budget? There will never be a perfect time to get started than now! Every week, month or year that passes without a budget is an opportunity lost. I encourage you to make the time!
The power of budgeting
The power of budgeting is immense. It is our experience at Grandma’s Jars that our average client saves hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars more per month than before learning how to budget. By sitting down and actually identifying where their money was going, they were able to make objective decisions about their spending and find savings they never knew existed.
There is great power in small amounts of money saved regularly, especially if you are in your 20’s and 30’s. With a bit of focus, paying off a mortgage can be done inside 15 years! And in the process you would save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest. Imagine what you could do being debt free from your mortgage, with those hundreds of thousands of dollars! Imagine what you could do if you had no debt repayments!
My financial advice is stop imagining and start doing – today!
Every now and then we take on clients in their 50’s and 60’s. Since saving for retirement, they find having a good budget helps them maximise their savings leading up to retirement, but more importantly once in retirement having a budget allows them to enjoy their money without worrying about how long their funds will last.
Without exception, the universal comment these clients make is – “I wish we had started this 30 years ago.” They know that life would have been very different for them had they budgeted when they were younger.
Each stage of life will present its own challenges in terms of the income you make and the time you have available. There will never be a right time, or good time to start a budget – you just need to bite the bullet and do it.
How to start budgeting
If you are not sure where to start with a budget, I suggest you have a look at our blogs on how to budget, learn tips for sticking to a budget.
As a personal budget coach, I love helping people set up and live to a successful budget, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.