Overcoming Barriers to Budgeting

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I bought a Habit Nest budgeting journal and it took me 2 months to actually open it. Why? As a neurodivergent person, there were many mental barriers:

I was experiencing overwhelm by all the information that would be needed. My perfectionism mindset decided I'm not going to do it unless I know each expense accurately. I was procrastinating for the right "normal" example month. Quantifying and having to be accountable for dopamine-seeking impulse purchases was terrifying. Maintaining a budget would be another dreadful routine task I avoid.

Eventually I made a plan of micro steps and adopted the mindset progress over perfection. Having a "V1" budget now is better than waiting for a "perfect" budget later. I recommend this approach and scheduling 1 step per day:

1) Clarify what would improve in life, and what barriers there are and how to overcome them.

2) Choose a plan for monitoring and address any barriers. Schedule a time in the calendar.

Pro Tip 1 If you need a signal, you can change your credit card and bank statements from paperless to mailed and gather them in a to do basket to be addressed.

Pro-tip 2: You can separate your variable spend (luxuries/nice to haves) and fixed expenses (necessities) onto 2 cards/payment methods. Then align the totals of each statement to the totals you have in each section of your budget easier monitoring. Further dive in to subcategories for misses and adjustments.

3) Gather the credit card and bank statements together. Print if preferred.

4) Quantify transactions into 4 sections: Income, Fixed Costs, Variable Costs, and Savings.

5) Calculate Cash Savings by subtracting fixed and variable costs from income. Then add in any payroll deducted savings to retirement or savings accounts (add back to income as well).

6) Calculate Ratios: Fixed Costs/Income, Variable Costs/Income, Savings/Income. The general recommendation is to aim for 50% of income to Necessities, 30% Luxuries, 20% savings or debt-reduction.

7) Identify any adjustments needed to current spending habits to maintain your ratio goals in the initial and the recurring reviews.

The simple act of making a budget helped me identify forgotten subscriptions and save money. Remember progress over perfection!