Just because you are doing a budget, paying off debt, and trying to save more, doesn’t mean you have to turn into a brooding hermit, or be caged up like a werewolf when the sun goes down.
A few simple things to remember about your budget:
- Budgets aren’t meant to tell you what you can’t do. They’re meant to tell your money what it is going to do. (Tweet this)
- It’s your budget. No one else’s. So take control of it.
- Your budget is not sacred or sacrosanct. You can change it any time you need or want to. And you should.
Okay, so what is the one category you probably left off your budget?
Wait for it….
FUN!
Play money, blow money, the money you know you’re going to spend in a moment of weakness or after receiving an unexpected invitation. You know what I mean. There’s no use denying it, so you might as well stop cheating on your budget and get this category in there.
This category is critical to remember in your budget for 3 reasons (there are probably more, but 3 is good for blog posts):
- planning some fun is almost as rewarding as the actual experience
- you are going to buy that pizza or go out to dinner spontaneously with friends or whatever it is, so you might as well put money aside for it
- you actually enjoy things more when you aren’t worried about how your are going to pay for it
A budget enables you to enjoy life without sabotaging it at the same time. (Tweet this)
This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)