Budget, Budget, Go Away

I’ll be the first to admit that I can be budget conversation avoidant.   

If you know me well, you know this: (1) I don't really like to talk about money from a personal perspective, (2) I most definitely don't want to limit the joy in my life by thinking about whether something is "in the budget," and (3) I absolutely don't want the budget conversation to grow into a tense conversation (which, let's be honest, it usually does).  

Maybe, It’s Not All Bad 

I can understand how those feelings can trickle into business budget conversations. But recently, my husband and I sat down to have a conversation about how we wanted to be more mindful about our expenses and plan more strategically for our financial future. Instead of feeling restricted or overwhelmed, something unexpected happened: it brought us closer together. We didn’t just crunch numbers; we aligned our priorities. And we even pulled our 15-year-old into the conversation and turned it into a real family reset.  

Just Goals and Numbers 

I just needed to think about my family budget from a business perspective. Just like running an organizational assessment, we needed to break down our goals and priorities and look at our revenue and expenses. We couldn’t just look at this year or this month – we had to focus on the trends as a whole. Is the trend of our expenses aligned with our goals? What are our sources of revenue, and have they been consistent? These are the kinds of questions you want to be asking when running an organizational assessment. It all breaks down to revenue vs expenses.   

Budgeting doesn’t have to be a big, scary cloud that limits joy and sparks conflict. When done right – it can lead to your next breakthrough.  

Stay tuned by joining my newsletter! This is just a sneak peek of breaking down budgeting!