Comments on: Ten Reasons Why Budgets Fail

By: $300 Challenge – Budgeting Woes & Budgeting “Whoa!”s

$300 Challenge – Budgeting Woes & Budgeting “Whoa!”s — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:08:25 +0000

[...] Wojciech at Fiscal Fizzle writes a great list of 10 Reasons Why Budgets Fail. [...]

By: Festival of Frugality - The “Hey I’m Hosting” Edition | I've Paid For This Twice Already...

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:16:07 +0000

[...] Kulicki presents Ten Reasons Why Budgets Fail posted at Fiscal [...]

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:14:14 +0000

Good point, Jason. I think we’re on our 4th or 5th budget model at this point, but we finally have something that works with us and not against us. I guess the experience is an inevitable part of life.

By: Jason @ MyMoneyMinute

Jason @ MyMoneyMinute — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:07:08 +0000

Fantastic list, Fizzle. The odds only double with a spouse involved too. It takes a lot of communication!

The only other item to add to the list might be “Up-Front Time”, or something to that effect. Creating a budget that works for your situation is simply trial & error, and is an on-going learning process about trends in your spending habits. It takes a couple months of screwing it up before you hit your stride. Often, those first few months require more man-hours and acts as a deterrent for those initially on-board to get on a budget.

By: sam @ moneypenny

sam @ moneypenny — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:52:27 +0000

Fabulous post! One of the reasons I tried and failed to successfully budget so many times was tied to #2 in your list… except that I didn’t bother to track against it at all

I can recommend tools like http://www.mint.com, http://www.wesabe.com and http://www.anzmoneymanager.com to help with tracking against a budget by automating a good part of it.

By: Kate Kashman

Kate Kashman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:34:35 +0000

So true! I’m sure it fits in here somewhere, but one of my downfalls is a budget that takes too much time to track. It works beautifully when I take the time, then life gets out of hand and the whole thing falls apart.