So why haven’t I started my budget yet?

You keep putting off starting your new budget.  You might be scared, or it might be that you just want to start it at exactly the right time.  You know, for maximum effectiveness.  You are procrastinating when you should be implementing.  STOP.  Or rather, stop stopping.  You can do it, and you need to do it right now.

I could give you any number of reasons why I haven’t started my budget yet.  Most of them are legitimate too.

• I have had family visiting for the last three weeks. So, between eating out, going places, and general visiting, time and money is scarce.
• The kids are on Spring Break. So, having the little bastards (meant in the nicest way) around is distracting at best but keeps us busy as well.  Plus, while they are home, they are more financially needy than while they are occupied at school for most of the day.
• We recently just got a new puppy. Keeping tabs on a psycho, high-speed four-legged family member is a full-time job.  Puppies chew things.  Puppies need to be house broken.  Houses and yards need to be puppy-proofed.  Puppies chase cats.  Puppies have no respect for other’s property, like my pool table for instance.
• I have needed to get our taxes done. These new numbers and dollar amounts would drastically throw my budget askew.  This one is weak, I know.
• I have had some projects to complete around the house and the cost of the materials would not fit in a newly made budget. This one is important.

That last one, oh boy.  That last one is probably one that you have used, or something very similar.  I know because I have used it many times.  I just didn’t want to start a budget knowing that I was going to blow right through it almost immediately.  It’s a legitimate thought for sure.  I mean, who wants to start something so needed, menial, and tedious only to have to disregard it before it ever really took a foothold.  But even the last excuse, however legit it may be, or may have been, is just an excuse, and probably not even the complete truth.

The complete truth is that I’m scared.  I know that starting a budget is going to take time and determination.  It’s going to take my wife and I to be on the same page about our finances and what we truly can and cannot afford.  It’s going to take my kids to understand that we may not be able to do all of the things that we had normally done before.  As much as I am committed to doing what it takes to get back onto a secure financial track, I’m not sure my family is.

I’ve done a ton of research and taken a few classes but I never took that dive into a budget.  It’s not that I never thought that it would work, or that it wasn’t a good idea.  No, it was because I was afraid.  I was afraid to find out exactly where we were financially.  I was afraid to find out that we may be upside down.  I was accustomed to our quality of life and the fear of having to change that was enough to make me live life in financial oblivion.

Ignorance is in fact, bliss.

But that doesn’t make it a good thing.

As much as I knew that a budget was what we needed for so many years, the fear of having to make major changes to our lifestyle outweighed the fear of whether we had enough money to fund it.  We always seemed to be able to come up with the funds to pay for what we needed.  Something would always turn in our favor.  Maybe not all the way, but enough so that we could get by.

As the main income source for my family, I have been aware of our financial shortcomings since we have been experiencing them once moving to California.  My wife has been feeling these effects in recent pay periods which is why she is in favor of a budget.  To be fair though, she is probably more scared than I about starting it for the same reasons.  My kids, well, they are completely oblivious of our current financial situation.  They’re kids.

Of course, as the main income source for my family, it is within my right to start said budget.  I HAVE THE POWER!!!  Albeit it won’t be a popular decision.  This also weighs in on my hesitation to start my budget.  I’m not happy about the sacrifices that we will have to make to stay within a budget and when you have a couple of sad teenagers chiming in, well it’s tough to hold your ground when you are wavering in your own decisions.

So, here is the plan.  I will have my budget in place, however rough and unrefined, by April 1^st.  April Fool’s Day, what better time to start something that you have been putting off due to your lack of confidence?  That only gives me a few days.

The bottom line is that someone must take that first step.  As the main bread winner of my family, I believe that it should be me.  The other reason that I believe this is that I don’t think anyone else in my family will do it, and it must be done.  Someone has to step up.  In my case it will have to be me.  In your case, it will probably have to be you, so stop procrastinating.  Start that budget today!

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