Budgets are the worst lie being told by the personal finance industry. People like Dave Ramsey are happy to sell you a shitload of useless products to budget more effectively. All you have to do is pay him some money for those products and he promises he will save you even MORE money back!
If you’re brand new to the concept of how money works then sure, budgeting is a great form of training wheels. Once you have a basic understanding of saving, investing and Money 101 then budgeting is a colossal waste of time and resources. How is budgeting still a thing that is being sold to people in the FI/RE community?
Over the years I have tried every budgeting approach you can think of. I kept trying different approaches and then always giving up or failing. The reason I kept going back was I would fail then end up reading some blogger or article about how budgeting is the number one key to financial success! Turns out, that’s all bullshit.
When you look at ways to simplify your life you’ll want to look put the magnifying glass on every way you spend time each day. After multiple failed attempts at budgeting I was trying again. Putting each item I had bought in a spreadsheet to figure out how much I spent, trying to figure out how to categorize some random purchase and I realized this is a colossal waste of time. Don’t believe me? These are Dave Ramsey’s top 10 signs you need to spend MORE TIME on your budget.
1. You’re constantly worrying about money emergencies.
2. You use the same exact budget each month.
3. You aren’t tracking purchases.
4. You don’t have a budget line for giving.
5. You overspend in one category. A lot.
6. You forget annual expenses.
7. You need space for a new budget line item.
8. You aren’t budgeting to zero.
9. You just hit a Baby Step milestone.
10. Your budget doesn’t line up with your money goals.
11? You Need to Refresh Your Budget by Season
How many hours a month am I supposed to dedicate to this bullshit? I have to spend every single dollar before the month begins……why?
Here is what I do now and I have done for the last several years. It takes almost no tracking, no line items, no seasonal budget adjustments and it maximizes our savings.
FireDad’s budget approach:
- Automate all your savings and investments
- Spend less that what’s left in your account
- Don’t waste money on stupid shit
There you go! If you follow the patented FireDad budget not only will you not stress about your zero balanced budget, you won’t think about budgeting at all! Even better there are no envelope systems to buy, no software, no step by step books, this budget can fit on a sticky note you attach to your credit card and can sit in your wallet unaltered for years like that expired condom.
Stop wasting time on worthless tasks that over complicate life.
Fire Dad 