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5 lessons I’ve learned while budgeting
Although I made many failed attempts at budgeting off and on for years, I first got truly serious about budgeting at the beginning of the pandemic. During that time, I was living alone without my husband due to visa issues, was pregnant with our first child, and was watching the pandemic throw my online test prep tutoring business into chaos. As SAT after SAT got canceled, and as my son’s birth grew nearer, I knew a budget was going to be our lifeline.
Since then, I’ve used budgeting to keep us on track during the newborn stage, to keep us focused on big goals like retirement and an international move, and to make sure my business could support all of that.
I’ve learned a lot during these past two years with a solid budget. And I want to share with you today the top five of these lessons.
Lesson #1: A budget is only valuable if it is sustainable
When things get tough financially, the temptation is to cut as much as you can. Netflix? Gone. Starbucks? No more. Clothes? Eh, not worth spending a lot on if you’re just going to get covered in baby spit-up.
At first, anxiety drove me to cut my budget ruthlessly–anxiety about the pandemic, the exorbitant cost of giving birth in America, and the knowledge that babies aren’t cheap and neither are…
