Let's get loud (budgeting)!

In this week's Video I talk about the tic toc sensation: Loud Budgeting. How it's really just practicing self love with great boundaries and how it can radically help your finances.

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Transcript

Hey, welcome to Mel's Money Musings. Today, I want to talk about something called loud budgeting. Now, loud budgeting is something that's taken TikTok by storm. And essentially what it is is it's you prioritising your financial goals and putting boundaries around what you will and won't do and being really vocal with your friends and family around why that is.

So I'll give you a few examples. It might be that you're invited to a friend's birthday weekend away that's going to cost you a few thousand dollars, but you're saving for a house. So instead of you going, “Oh, we’re too busy” or going along and being resentful, it's actually saying to your friend, “Look, I love that you want to do this for a birthday and I want to celebrate you.

But we're saving for a house and we simply can't afford to do that. And to to reach our house goal. So we'd love to take you out for dinner instead. Or maybe it's. You've been invited out for a boozy lunch and saying to your friends, “Look, this year is the year of getting rid of my credit cards. And because that's so important to me, I simply can't afford boozy lunches at the moment.

So can I meet you afterwards for coffee instead? Could we do somewhere cheaper? Can we do a picnic in the park” it’s telling the reasons why and giving options. Or maybe it's as simple as you have been invited to be a bridesmaid with the cost that goes along with that and saying, “Look, I would love to be your bride's bridesmaid, but we're all in the same expensive stage of life. 

We actually are saving for a baby or we're saving for our own wedding or whatever it is. So just wanted to let you know or to talk about budgets for the wedding and how much it will cost, because $1,000 for everything, would be all that I would be able to manage. Is that going to work?” And what you're doing is you're saying your relationship's important to me. 

But these goals are also important to me. And then what can the compromise be? It's essentially boundaries. And I love this concept of loud budgeting, because what it is doing is it is saying that you are important, that your goals are important, but that the relationship is also important. So you're trying to find a compromise. It's not just making excuses.

It's not just saying you're too busy or your time poor or you can't. Which could piss people off. Yes, you could still annoy people by prioritising your financial goals. But I want to suggest to you that if you do it respectfully and if they're truly your friends, then they will respect the goals that you have. Will you miss out on a few things?

Sure, maybe. But again, it's asking the question Are my goals important enough that I'm willing to suffer in the short term and maybe miss out on a few things? Plus, once your friends were aware of that, if they really friends, they’ll then, yes you might miss out on a few things, but that also create things that you can be included on. 

Of course, some of the trickier things to navigate is with family. But again, it's sitting down with your family and saying, “Hey, this, this is the goals this year for me that are really important. These financial goals. I want to be a part of this family. I want to engage and do all these things. But I need you to understand that I can only do it with these financial limits.  

So for example, you might be someone where the whole family comes to you every Sunday and it's really putting a strain on your finances. So you might go to them and say, “Hey, I'd love you to bring a plate. In future,” I believe that things like boundaries are a such an important part of having great finances, whether it's creating boundaries online by unsubscribing, unfollowing and unsubscribing, or creating boundaries offline, in which loud budgeting is a form of boundaries.

Now, I've been doing this without knowing that it was a trend for decades. What about you? I want to suggest that, just like the advertisement said many years ago, you're worth it. And to give loud budgeting a shot and let me know how you go.