Diets and Budgets get the same reaction from many of us.  We ate that chocolate chip cookie now we have to deprive ourselves and go on a diet because we have been bad.  We overspent and now we have to deprive ourselves again.

Budgets are not a punishment they are a roadmap which will help us achieve our goals.  For example, if we want to get more education to advance our career we need money set aside to achieve that goal.  It is the budget that helps us monitor the use of our money so we can create the life we want.

So when you think of a budget think of it as a tool to free you to make the choices you want for your life.