| Budget! We don't need no stinking Budget! We live | | | | sections like clothes for you, clothes for spouse, |
| for the thrill of financial turmoil. That's how our | | | | clothes for children, food, electronics. Come on! Does |
| parents lived, and that's how we live. It's a strange | | | | anyone really know how much they spend in EACH |
| attitude to have, but it really is, how most of us live. | | | | of those areas? Do they really expect you to come |
| The real reasons we don't do a Budget is that we | | | | home from shopping and sit down with your receipts |
| don't want to do all the work (tracking, recording, | | | | and divide the numbers up according to which |
| adding, subtracting, filing, etc.) involved with keeping a | | | | member of your family bought what? Get real. A |
| Budget updated. We also don't - want to know - just | | | | receipt from a department store could take more |
| how little is left for us to spend, after the bills have | | | | time to file, than the shopping took. |
| been paid. And then we certainly don't want to cut | | | | In the end, the worst part of all this work is... most |
| back our spending to stay within the boundaries of | | | | systems... still only track what you've already done. |
| the Budget. It just seems to be a bad deal all around. | | | | They tell you where you have-spent your money. |
| Some very sophisticated systems have been | | | | Don't you already know that? Don't get me wrong |
| developed to try to combat the negative sides of | | | | here. It's important to know where your money is |
| budgeting. Unfortunately, the only thing that most | | | | going, so you know where you can make changes. |
| systems have done, is make the problem worse. For | | | | But most systems leave the hardest part... all up to |
| example: there are some on-line systems that claim | | | | you. That's the part of actually CONTROLLING your |
| to be easier because they do all the tracking for | | | | Future spending. |
| you... by having software connections to ALL of your | | | | Another downfall of most systems, is that they don't |
| bank accounts and credit cards! OK, so you don't | | | | maximize your savings. Have you ever noticed that |
| have to record each purchase because the system | | | | your paycheck isn't always the exact same amount? |
| can read it directly out of your bank. But now it's also | | | | It may vary by just a few dollars. But why not save |
| easier for a hacker to get -ALL- of your financial | | | | those few dollars instead of spending them? Sounds |
| information with One-Stop shopping. Talk about | | | | like I really am against budgets. I'm not. I'm just |
| Identity Theft. | | | | against... well... Stupid Budgets. You know, the kind of |
| Some other systems sell you an Over Priced, fancy | | | | budget systems that try to track the 80 cents you |
| looking, binder... with a "free" calculator. Then they | | | | spent in the vending machine at work. (Really, if 80 |
| expect you to fill in pages, and pages, of information. | | | | cents is that important to your budget... you ARE in |
| You're expected to group your spending into sub | | | | trouble, and need much more help than just a budget. |