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Budgeting

Perhaps you seek assistance in creating a workable budget? If you’ve tried to build a budget only to find it’s impossible to follow, you’re in good company. Most people build a budget beginning with their income and fitting in the expenses starting with established bills like rent or mortgage, then utilities and insurance, finally adding in estimates of what funds may be allocated to groceries, and other necessities. While this may sound quite logical, this approach is virtually doomed from the start. Life hands us too many surprises for a rigid approach to budgeting.

Just mention the word budget and eyes glaze over, body language changes and audible groans are uttered. We think that’s because most of us have attempted budgeting only to be disappointed in the experience. The repeated negative feedback can have a cumulative affect diminishing efforts and our expectation of a positive outcome with each successive try. Who wants that?

What’s worse is that we are usually inspired to create a budget when we are at a financial low or anticipating a large expense. Enter more emotion, and another reason to rationalize, deny and push the numbers around until they work neatly, at least on paper. Whew! That’s done. Now we can get back to life.

Unfortunately, life is what happens while we’re busy making plans and soon, another month in the rear view mirror, more financial surprises and voila another less than successful budget month.

If this sounds familiar, take a deep breath and try our system. We know a thing or two about budgeting and can tell you from the start most of us are taught budgeting the wrong way. That is, if we acquire taught budget skills at all. At HUG, we’ll not only teach you how to make a workable budget, but how to use it to see where to cut back if necessary, and how to plan for future purchases, vacations, retirement contributions and more. We have a simple, yet effective approach, time-tested over more than 20 years.

"There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt."
– P. T. Barnum
"Bankruptcy laws allow companies to smoothly reorganize, but not college graduates burdened by student loans."
– Robert Reich
“What I would like to do... once I take care of all my kids' student loans, is buy a red 1965 Mustang and fully restore it.”
– Mike Quigley
“This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”
– Earl Wilson
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
– Irwin "Professor" Corey
The road to success is always under construction
– Lily Tomlin
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
– Marie Curie