Today, I thought we'd talk about that B word. You know what I mean. The budget. I don't even like that word, it just brings back memories of somebody telling me what to do with my money. And let's face it, we work hard for our money, we don't want somebody else telling us what to do. It's my life, it's my money, right? Same for you.

The first thing I usually do with clients when we're talking about the B word is really getting a good feel for what your values are. I give them a sheet of values circle the different ones, you might just think of it off the top of your head. But I encourage you to just sit down and just take a little bit of time. Things that might be on your list could be community, contentment, creativity, humanitarianism, hard work, originality, relationships, or one of may others.

So once we've got your values in life, it's then time to really nail down the values of your budget. That is the numbers, how much money's coming in, and how much money's going out, and where it's all going. A great way to do this is with objects that represent a certain amount of dollars. I use 2 different color blocks. You could use peanuts and almonds if you want.

First write each of your monthly expense categories on a card and fold it in half so it will stand up like a tent. Assign a dollar value to each green block, peanut, or whatever you're using. Let's say one block is worth $15. Divide your monthly income by that amount. So if you earn $2,600 a month, that's about 173 blocks. Count out 173 green income block. Then the number of blocks/nuts in front of each card that represents that expense. So if you rent is $1,500/mo that's 100 block in front of that card. Do that with all your expense categories. Do you run out of blocks before you run out of expenses? Then use yellow blocks, or almonds if your using nuts. This will make any shortfalls stand out.

Now step back and really look at it. Think back to your top 5 values you wrote down earlier. Do these piles reflect your values and what's important to you? Can you rearrange them by cutting in some places and adding more to other expenses to better meet your values and eliminate the yellow blocks. Put the new dollar amounts on the other side of each expense card. Here's you new, special you, budget.

Does your income or expenses change? Do the exercise again. Priorities and goals shift? Repeat. Keep going this way in life and you can put YOUR money where YOUR heart is.

Want to buy a kit to use? Maybe you ate some of your peanuts? You can purchase one here:
https://livewealthynow.com/shop/

Other resources , lke the Values Worksheet can be downloaded here:
https://livewealthynow.com/resources/

I love questions and suggestions for upcoming podcasts. Please reach out to me at katie@moneypilotadisor.com
Or on our website:
https://www.moneypilotadvisor.com/