Have you ever been overwhelmed with the desire to possess something the first time you laid eyes on it? Have you ever been tempted to get it because you had the money? If not, how soon were you able to get it? And how did you eventually get it? These questions point to the simple goal-setting methods we employ helps us stabilize our budget.

Money should never control you; it should be the other way around. When money controls you, you tend to live a one-day-millionaire-s life characterized by extravagance and orientation to the present. Because money tells you that you earn it to spend it, you commonly find yourself stressed, wondering where your money went to, and in debt.

On the contrary, if you control your money, you won’t be living the kind of life reminiscent of a millionaire, but you save yourself from stress, worry, and debt. Financial control means that before you even touch your money, you know where it’s supposed to go, how you’re supposed to spend it, and when you’ll spend it. This is where budget comes in.

Count how many times you’ve thought about not knowing where your money went. Count the number of times when you got shocked that your money’s almost gone. Count the number of times when that money supposedly for your savings account was used anyway. During those times, you probably have felt as though you still have enough in your account.

When it comes to money, it is easy to commit calculation errors, and sometimes, these errors can be fatal. If you miss a payment, you’ll get hit with fees; and when that happens, you’ll find it difficult to recover. Budgeting helps you track how you spend your money, and as it gets depleted, you’ll know how to strategize your spending.

In contrast to what most people believe, we are establishing a goal when create a budget. And because the amount of money we wish to spend on something becomes the goal, we make compromises. For example, we might opt to forego buying a new smartphone so we can finally take home an HD television.

Budget not only tells us how much money we have. It also tells us how much money we need to raise. In ordinary conversations, we call this the act of “making ends meet”. What if we don’t have enough to make those ends meet? This is where the power of budgeting benefits us.

Just like compromising, budgeting tells us whether or not we need to work more, or whether or not we need to look for other sources of income. Because we know that budgeting is goal-setting in itself, we can see how our long-term financial plans are coming along. We can also see how we can make adjustments to our short-term goals to make our money just enough to make such ends meet.

Budget reveals three things: How much money we have, how much money we need, and how much money we can still save. By looking at these aspects, we’re able to analyze how we our finances are. We also come to know how good we are at making money, at spending money, and at saving money. Financial health doesn’t mean financial freedom. In fact, financial freedom is a myth because even billionaires benefit more if they live on a budget.

Financial health then refers to how we generally appraise our financial condition hence, it is highly subjective. Some of us might say that our budget adequately reflects our financial wellness while other may say that they need to do more in order for their budget to be effective.

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