It seems like every week there is a new popular diet, guaranteed to help you lose weight and feel great. One week you boycott every form of carbohydrates out there, and the next week you can eat all the cabbage and lettuce you want but nothing else. Then the next week you have to eat peanuts with every single meal. The week after that you puree all your meals in a blender, not sure that you have ever heard of half the ingredients before. And the list goes on.
It has occurred to me that budgets are like diets with so many of the self-help books and quick remedies. You try this one and that one. And some of them actually work for a little while. It’s like the diet where you ate only grapefruit and boiled eggs and lost 10 pounds in one week. But you can’t live forever on only grapefruit and boiled eggs. After the 3rd or 4th day you needed some other types of food in your system. So you go back to eating your old foods, and you quickly put the weight back on. Sometimes you even end up putting on more weight than you had started with!
Time and time again, what it all boils down to is that you need to make a lifestyle change. You need to eat healthy foods in moderation so that you get enough of the nutrients you need and quit putting your body through the rollercoaster diet ride. The same holds true for your finances. It is a good idea to build a long-term spending plan, a healthy plan for allocating your income so that you are getting out of debt, saving, and investing. Rather than trying one quick fix after another and ending up back in debt after that, a long-term spending plan would keep you on track and healthy financially.
What does a healthy spending plan look like? Well, it consists of multiple accounts so you can divide your income into separate funds. And you are setting aside a good percentage or your income for savings each month (you really can get it up to 10%). You are even able to start investing and growing your funds so that you will be able to retire one day. Imagine how you would feel if you ate healthy and exercised regularly. At first thought, you might shake your head and say it’s too much, but when you really think about it, you know that you would feel great if you were in that condition. After your body got used to the change in food and exercise, you would actually miss it if it weren’t part of your life. Your finances can work in the same way. So throw out your old budget if it is like your diet plan, and get on track with a spending plan that becomes a long-lasting part of your life.
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