At My Divine Concierge, we are not financial experts. However, we do know from experience that budgeting is an important part of home organization. We have helped a number of clients do everything from organizing a home-based business to downsizing and moving. Moreover, we have found that a lack of budgeting can make doing all of these other things more challenging.
Statistical data from 2013 indicates that fewer than one-third of American households have and use a budget. That might explain why consumer debt in this country is so high. Nevertheless, debt issues aside, there are some excellent reasons why every household should have a budget. Below are three reasons for budgeting if you are looking for a more organized and efficient household.
1. Money Influences Decisions
There is no getting around the fact that money influences nearly every decision we make. A budget is a blueprint that tells a family how much money is coming in and how much is going out. How does this affect decision-making? Let’s assume you have a real organization problem in your basement and garage. Let us also assume that My Divine Concierge recommends modular storage systems to help you get organized. Such systems are not overly expensive, but they are not cheap either. Can you afford one? Can you afford two, one for the basement and one for the garage?
Maintaining a budget tells you how much you can afford to spend on storage solutions. Without knowing how much you can afford, you will be spending blindly with no guarantee of maximum return on investment.
2. Budgeting Teaches Discipline
It is not easy to develop and maintain a budget over time. That may be another reason so few people do it. However, the discipline that can be learned from budgeting easily carries over into other areas of life. For example, once a household learns to better control its spending it also tend to be more careful about bringing new things into the house. Budgeting can lead to less clutter, a need for less storage space, and better use of the things one currently owns.
3. Budgeting Leads to Financial Organization
This last reason for budgeting as part of household organization is the most important. It is predicated on the fact that we Americans can easily get in way over our heads financially because we are afraid of embracing reality. If you have a pile of bills on your desk waiting to be paid, you know exactly what we are talking about.
Rather than sit down and come to terms with one’s financial situation, there is a temptation to ignore and hope for the best. We do not balance our checkbooks, we use credit cards far too often, and then we fall hopelessly behind with little hope of ever catching up again. The result is that we never seem to have the time or money to get the bills paid.
Effective budgeting does not work when you ignore your finances. Therefore, establishing and maintaining a budget forces you to deal with the uncomfortable. We have discovered that those who are willing to budget find bill paying more efficient, less stressful, less time-consuming, and a lot more manageable.
On the surface, it may not seem as though budgeting has anything to do with home organization. Nonetheless, it does. We recommend that you develop and maintain a budget if you are not already doing so. Moreover, if you do not know how, there are plenty of experts ready and willing to help.