[Seadog]

I've always thought budgeting was pointless. Far more important to make the best financial decision available to you at the time, and what ever it costs, it costs. Attaching a meaningless number to it before hand serves no purpose.

One example is food, I buy things I like when they're cheap, then either freeze them or stick in pantry. The actual dollars I spend don't matter, because I'm buying the food I like at the lowest possible price. Time of consumption doesn't really play into it.

At the same time as this, I have a reasonably well paying job, and probably save over 75% of my after-tax income.

Because of this, I feel perfectly justified in splurging now and again. If I feel like nice things, I just get them. I'll routinely go out and pay no attention to what I spend. A few hundred dollars just gone. These are rare, but happen, and because of good habits, the impact isn't noticeable.

That said, lately I find myself doing this sort of thing more and more. I tell myself "75%, 65%, 50%, hell I can spend whatever I want, and I'm still saving more than 90% of people out there." I can afford, justify, and want a random $1500 trip. Let's go." "$200 for fancy drinks and sushi? what the hell" The problem is that I feel like I'm taking an easy way out. 10 years ago I didn't have a car and would walk 40 mins each way in the cold just to get groceries. Now if it's too cold I drive. Just laziness and hedonism.

My question is has anyone here ever budgeted, not because of financial reasons(the money might run out), but for ones of discipline(I want to stop being soft)? To make a promise to yourself and follow through?

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

I don't budget per se, in the sense of planning finances and setting an upper limit for them.

I do however meticulously track my income and expenses in an Excel table that looks like the command bridge of USS Enterprise.

It encourages me to to track what I'm spending my money on and reduce it if needed, and also to track my savings and savings goals.



And you're totally right about how reaching a massive amount of savings encourages you to splurge, which then cuts into your savings rate.

[malakaix]

(12-23-2014 09:13 PM)Seadog Wrote:  

My question is has anyone here ever budgeted, not because of financial reasons(the money might run out), but for ones of discipline(I want to stop being soft)? To make a promise to yourself and follow through?

In a way.

I sometimes think im masochistic with the way i manage my money, i will sacrifice a great deal in order to save usually at the expense of my happiness.. but sometimes i feel it's necessary to cultivate the discipline to reach a particular goal.

I also think it's easy to burn out with this method and suddenly spend a lot of money in a short period of time, especially if you've saved a lot this way and your at the edge of cracking for some release..

So i think some kind of healthy balance is necessary, allocating a certain amount of money towards 'whatever' and not exceeding that. I have the bulk of my savings in a high-interest savings account, if i withdraw any money from it i will lose the accumulated interest for that month.. this a big incentive for me to allocate a specific amount of spending money and put the rest into the savings account.

This helps me cultivate discipline with my finances. Not for everyone, but it works for me.