We’re trying out a new budget

Budgeting is probably the most cited (and most dreaded) piece of financial advice. If you’re wondering why the word budget makes your eyes roll without even trying, you’re not alone. Budgets, diets, and new year’s resolutions are like the Detroit Lions—they often fail.

The coins, the guilt trips

Budgets fail because they’re too much work and allegedly only useful at a mind-numbing level of detail. (Pennies?! I have to count flippin’ pennies?!)

On top of that, the point of a budget seems to be to make you feel so bad about yourself that you cancel your Netflix subscription, start eating beans and rice, and vow never to enjoy anything ever again. This lasts for approximately 14 hours, or until you say “screw it” and book a trip to Florida.

Introducing the 4S Budget

Healthy eating is a thing, and healthy spending should be too. That’s why we here at Brightfin are going to try out a new kind of budget, based on what we Save, Spend, Splurge, and Share. We call it the 4S budget. We’ll try it ourselves in Q1 2022 and report back on what we find.

Three months from now, if we all end up in Florida, you’ll know how this went. Here goes nothing!

-----

I hate budgeting. I think it’s a huge pain in the a** and I don’t want to do it, at all, ever. Previously, I’ve attempted a spreadsheet or two. Usually I don’t even open the file again after the first attempt. There’s too much friction in that click and I just can’t even.

I don’t expect to love this exercise either, believe me. But I do think it will teach me something, so I’m taking a deep breath and committing to it for at least the next three months. I also hate beans and rice, so… I guess this has to work?! 🤞