Budgets are an important tool for many diverse financial starting points. They help people dig themselves out of debt holes as well as launch themselves into early retirement. Budgets are even sexy, apparently.
The discord of budgets
Our problem has always been that utilizing budgets appears, on the surface, to work through deprivation. Doesn’t this contradict the productive use of the law of attraction? Obviously, nothing can contradict the law of attraction, at least not for very long. So what gives?
For the newly initiated, some law of attraction teachings sound like they’re saying to spend like crazy in order to tell the verse you’re already wealthy. Feel wealthy in order to become wealthy. Yay! Why didn’t you tell me that 10 years ago?
It seems, again on the surface, that the act of budgeting is like saying, “I don’t make enough, so I have to deprive myself.” How could you attract more wealth if you’re living poorly? Let’s get to the bottom of this.
Why we overspend
This is a touchy subject for most of polite society. The fact that you, dear reader, are reading an article with the word “budget” in the title means you have already recognized that you are in control of your financial future. That’s a tough sell for many people, and we’re happy that you’re already past it.
We overspend for a variety of reasons. Keeping up with the Jones abstracts away many of the actual causes. The hedonic treadmill describes still more reasons especially as we earn larger and larger incomes over time.
- automatic, habit, pattern of behavior
- social insecurity, hiding something
- attempting to regain some kind of control
- simply not knowing the actual rules of the game (i.e. Google hasn’t told you yet)
The point is, we can change. The larger point is that we can change our pattern of thought (i.e. vibration) to create a new pattern of behavior. Budgets are a tremendous tool for accomplishing a new pattern of behavior.
Changing the pattern of thought, however, is a much trickier topic as it’s more personal, but it is required for sustained change.
A very destructive pattern of thought
“When your outflow exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall.”
Various
Overspending, particularly sustained overspending, is a big problem. Besides the damage it does to our personal finances, it causes or reinforces a destructive pattern of thought. Reinforcing a destructive pattern of thought allows it to take deeper root which is quite the opposite of what we want. The following attitudes become more prevalent patterns of thought as these financial results persist.
- I don’t make enough to survive
- Everything I need is too expensive
- The system isn’t fair
- There’s no point in trying
Budgets change behavior and eventually thought
Budgets are the standard tool to fix the problem of overspending. The sustained and successful use of a budget will produce sustained savings (or at least breaking even if that’s the goal). Budgets work, and we recommend them to anyone.
The framework provided by a budget drives action and/or inaction producing the desired result. It’s very much an action journey. Sustainable as long as the budgeter’s willpower and social environment allow, it can provide financial stability for quite a long time. However, the real magic happens in the background.
Every month we come in on (or under) budget is a wonderful thing. Every successful month with this extra breathing room instills or reinforces new patterns of thought.
- I do make enough to survive
- Everything I need is affordable
- I’m getting the hang of this
- I might actually be able to retire someday
The action journey can drive the vibrational journey in a desirable direction. This is the most productive use of action there is in trying to solve a problem.
Budgets provide temporary relief
It’s very hard to successfully alter your vibration on an empty stomach. If you can’t make ends meet, and you’re sitting there hungry, and the debt collectors won’t stop calling, then how are you supposed to make effective vibrational changes?
It’s much easier to put the fire out first! Budgeting does exactly this; it stabilizes the situation. Once we’re on a stable platform, it’s much easier to change attitudes.
Someone suffering from a heart attack should accept whatever help the doctor offers. Once they’re stable enough, they can begin the diet and lifestyle modifications for sustainable improvement. Budgets are the stent, and utilizing the law of attraction for longer-term improvements is the diet and lifestyle changes.
Changing behavior can lead to changing attitudes
Thought, attitude, belief, and knowing are all the same thing but differ in the degree of certainty and permanence. You can briefly think a thought and be done with it. Think that same thought somewhat regularly in certain contexts (like the gym), and it’s an attitude. Over time, if an attitude begins to spill over into multiple facets of your life, then it’s a belief. When a belief is demonstrated or proven day in and day out, it’s then something you know.
Briefly considering using a budget is a fleeting thought.
Choosing to adopt a budget is an attitude. You (hopefully) give it regular thought throughout the day and month.
Halfway through the first year, it’s a belief. You may have had a little trouble over the first couple of months while you canceled subscriptions, changed cell providers, and waited for existing commitments to expire. The next couple of months, you managed to even save a little!
After the first year or so, it’s knowledge. You know how it works. You know how to spend less than you make, but also you know how to make more than you spend. You’ve been doing it, and you can point to your bank account as proof.
LOA and the proper use of budgets
Budgeting and the law of attraction can be used in contradictory ways if we don’t know any better. If the budget is an accidental but constant reminder that the law of attraction “isn’t working” or that “we don’t make enough money so we have to deprive ourselves,” then we’re in trouble. Nothing much is going to change in the long term.
On the other hand, if budgeting is utilized as a tool to provide a stable financial platform for later vibrational work, then we’re in a good place. Not only does it provide a stable platform, but if allowed it also begins to productively alter our attitudes about money management, career, and building wealth.
