The Benefits of Big, Beautiful Budgets.

Since I moved out of my dad's apartment, I have been working towards completely supporting myself. Right now, I'm living with my family, paying minimal rent until I finish beauty school am in a good enough position to move out either by myself or with a roommate. This means: working hard and spending lightly.

Many of today's young adults (millennials) do not understand the real value of actions such as saving, prioritizing and budgeting money. When millennials hear "save your money", they automatically create an association to the words "not mine". Basically, putting money away in a savings account feels more like giving it away than keeping it for their future self. This is unfortunate because such a mindset brings said people to the conclusions that they having money is too much of a responsibility and they are therefore doomed to lives of hard work and little reward.

I was not raised this way. I still remember the day that my dad put two brand new lock boxes on the table and told my brother and I that 10% of all of our future money was to go into that box until we retired. Being 10 or 11, my immediate response was "what, why? It's my money, I should be able to spend how I want."

Of course, as an 11 or 12 year old, I couldn't quite grasp the lesson at hand. Now- 7 years later- I finally understand: Saving money is the action of prioritizing future security over current financial comforts. This essentially means that it's that much more satisfying to have a nice financial cushion later in life (knowing that you spent years working for that security) than to spend $10 a day and $3,650 a year going out for lunch.

Here are a few benefits that come from budgeting and prioritizing money (even if you don't technically "have to") :

1. POWER & AWARENESS: A budget is not made to control you. You decide what financial choices will best benefit your financial security and lead you to success. Rather than not having enough or losing too much money, you're prioritizing it. Is it more important for you to go out and buy lunch every day or to spend that money on a date night with your significant other? Is it more advantageous to buy cheap work pants that you have to replace three times in a year or one pair that lasts for two years. When you work on your budget, you really get to make all of the decisions, If your budget is hurting you, then figure out a way to remedy that!

2. PREVENT LOSS: Everyone takes financial blows in their life. Your car engine is acting funny? There's an unexpected cost. Someone broke the window in your front room? There's an unexpected cost. Broke your arm playing tug of war with your money?

You get the picture, right? It's always best to prepare for an emergency as if you expect it- this way, it'll never be a surprise and you won't lose control of your money.

(You may be wondering how this is related... it just is.)

3. RETIRE: A lot of people's issues with the idea of saving money is that they want to buy stuff "right now" and retirement is so far away that they don't really have to worry about it. Believe it or not, retirement will come up sooner than you think and it is better to prepare your 65+ year old self with a cushion than to turn 60 and realize "shit, I still have to work for 10+ more years".

4. APPRECIATION: Frivolously spending money is fun, it really is. That is until you come to the point in your life where you have to start carrying more financial responsibilities. From this point, you have two options: sink quickly or swim slowly but surely. When you first start budgeting your money, it's going to be hard. It feels like breathing: at first, you've got both nostrils, then like half of one. Not sure why you'd lose a nostril, but that's the analogy I chose and I'm sticking to it. The point of this is that, once you're able to budget in things like outings and vacations, you're going to appreciate your time and money that much more. Even though it feels like you're "broke" at first, one you're able to compile the necessary funds, such rich and rare occurrences will feel like gifts that you gave to yourself! Not to mention, you'll better appreciate the little things that you spend money on every day!

All in all, it's SUPER important to learn how to manage your spending. Even if you don't feel that you need to, savings will serve as security blankets and budgeting will help you to spend and prioritize money more wisely.

Pay more attention than this pug. Spend money purposefully, not impulsively.

#Money #finances #richmindset #growthmindset #savings