Budgeting is like a dirty word! It’s a necessary evil for most and very few people look forward to budgeting as survey after survey shows. Why does something as critical as budgeting get such a bad rap? Maybe it’s because our perception or experience of budgeting tells us it will be time-consuming, feel restrictive, and it simply isn’t much fun!

We all have the same amount of time, but we value different things. These differences are not an issue of right or wrong, it’s just a matter of priority. We make time for the things that are important to us. Time is a funny thing though, while science tells us it is a constant, it seems to change as we age. In our twenties, there is endless time to get serious, plan for the future, save for a rainy day and prepare for retirement. In our seventies, the end of time is on the horizon, the future is today, rains have come and gone and we wonder if there is enough saved for retirement. Yes, budgeting will take some time, especially in the beginning, there’s no way around it. Do we value financial peace enough to spend time on a budget? Are the benefits of reducing and eliminating debt worth some amount of time?

Year’s ago, we were sitting around a fire with family friends, one of whom was a professional athlete. The discussion of budgeting came up and someone alluded to this athlete not having to worry about a budget. I remember his response to this day; “We all have to budget, it’s just different numbers.” Ultimately he is dead on—we all have limits to what we can spend. What we do with those limits and how we feel about them will determine our financial health. It’s ultimately wants verses needs. If our desire for things we can’t really afford leads us to being in debt, we will feel like having a budget is restricting us from having the things we want. However, if we budget within our needs we can save for the things we want avoiding debt and sleeping much better at night!

Not everything in life is fun. Having fun is great, but having fun when you know it’s not adding to your debt pile is so much more fun! I’ll admit that even as we developed this system to budget and started living in the freedom of no debt, doing our budget has never been fun—however, it has been extremely rewarding! Maybe that’s part of the puzzle that most people miss? Life is deeper and richer when it is lived for rewards rather than fun.

So, budgeting doesn’t have to be a dirty word. Budgeting can be rewarding and bring you peace of mind by being in control of your finances. You’ll also gain a sense of satisfaction living a debt free life. Sounds like real fun, doesn’t it?