Feeling Overwhelmed Just By Hearing The Word Budget? Start Here

#006 Feeling overwhelmed just by hearing the word budget? Start here.  

Budget overwhelm is a real thing! Especially when we try to do too many things all at once. 

Today we are talking about what to do when you feel overwhelmed by that dreaded B word – budget. 

Our world is filled with information overwhelm. When you google ANYTHING, ANY TOPIC at all, you will come across hundreds of websites giving you a ton of information. 

Should we save for a house first? Should we continue to contribute to our retirement? Should we live off the grid and under a rock until our debt is paid off? 

We were in this scenario too. 

I remember having this conversation with my husband when we first started budgeting. The interest rates were really low and all of our friends were buying a house. I remember scrolling through the real estate websites just infatuated with the idea of owning a place we could call home. 

Then I heard this little voice on my shoulder say – FOCUS ON ONE THING AT A TIME. BECAUSE IF YOU TRY TO JUGGLE TOO MANY PLATES AT ONCE, you know what happens? Those plates will come crashing down. It won’t be pretty. It won’t be music to your ears. You’ll be left with a mess to clean up. 

So in the back of my mind… I tried to justify it. 

·       I NEED a house. It makes sense to buy when the market is good. 

·       I NEED to save for my kid’s college. 

·       I NEED TO save for my retirement. 

·       I NEED TO BE DEBT FREE. 

So then I made a mock budget. If I saved this much per month for our house down payment, it will take x amount of months until we can get a house. 

Then the remaining can go to debt. So if I allocate this much, I will be debt free in about 7 years. 

Then I need to save for my kid’s college. Ok, so I can do this much per month and then he’ll have x amount by the time he heads to college. 

Oh wait, I still need to put in money for food, current housing expenses, maybe a date night once in a while… gas for our cars… and … wait did I say food? 

It was so overwhelming and all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner with a bag of Doritos and take a nap. 

Let’s scratch all of that. The trick is SIMPLICITY. Focusing on one thing at a time. 

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry. I’m going to give you three tips that you can do starting right now.