88 | Do Budgets Bore You? 3 Ways to Make Them FUN

Do you avoid budgeting because it feels tedious, restrictive, or even triggering? Budgeting doesn’t have to be a soul-sucking task. In this episode, I’m sharing 3 creative ways to make budgeting actually fun so you can feel more excited, empowered, and in control of your money—without the stress.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✅ How to reframe your mindset around budgeting so it feels freeing, not restrictive 
✅ The simple tool I use to track my finances effortlessly 
✅ Why celebrating small wins is the key to staying consistent 

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If you found this helpful, please send it to another female entrepreneur who might be avoiding her money.  And if you have a moment, I’d love a review—it helps this show grow & I love hearing from you. 

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Step 3: Ready to transform your relationship with money and build true financial confidence?

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Money doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Let's create a strategy that feels nurturing and custom to you.

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Transcript

Erin Gray: 0:00

Do you avoid budgeting because it feels tedious, restrictive and possibly even triggering? I want to let you know that you are not alone. This is something that I have had to work through myself and clients also. What if I told you that budgeting doesn't have to be this dull, almost soul-sucking task? In today's episode, I'm going to share with you three creative ways to make budgeting actually fun, so that you can feel more excited, empowered and in control of your money without the stress. So let's dive in. Do you want to create a system to stop avoiding your money? Maybe you're feeling guilt and shame when it comes to finances. Welcome to your Money, your Rules.

Erin Gray: 0:47

I'm Erin, a former certified financial planner and CFO, and yet I used to avoid my money and had fear, no matter how much we had. I can't wait to teach you how I overcame my money avoidance and started consistently managing my finances in a really simple way. It's time to get comfortable with money. Before we jump in to the three ways to making budgeting more fun, I want to offer that, if you're ready to transform your relationship with money beyond just budgeting, let's work together one-on-one. We can create a money plan that actually works specifically for you and feels good for you, not forced, not what someone else says, not by minimizing your lattes, by honoring what feels good for you and your values. You can head over to my website at generatealifeallivecom Click on the link work with me and then click on support and mentoring and you can schedule a call.

Erin Gray: 1:45

Okay, so let's talk about three ways to make budgeting more fun. I think, first and foremost, we really have to start with reframing your mindset around budgeting. For me, budgeting that word was so triggering I know that has been the case for some of my clients and women that I talk to. It feels like a very restrictive activity. And then you combine that with, like the Dave Ramsey's of the world, when they're telling you that you can't go out to eat or you can't have a latte or, you know, pay off debt first, which I don't necessarily agree with that and I'll explain a little bit here in a second but it feels very restrictive. And why are we even going through life if everything we're doing feels like it's not fun and it feels like drudgery? So I always start with reframing the word budgeting and maybe in the beginning, maybe you don't even say budget, maybe you just say I'm looking at where my money goes and flows. I'm looking at where my money comes from and I'm looking at how it circulates. Because if budgeting makes you just want to crawl in a ball, avoid it and bury your head in the sand, that that's not going to get you to budget more, right? So think of it if you can get there.

Erin Gray: 3:04

Think of budgeting as more freedom versus restriction, right? Most people associate budgeting with limit deprivation. I think budgeting is so closely related to diets with the food right. We restrict, restrict, restrict. And then we're just so sick of restricting ourselves that we just like eat all of the chocolate, all of the cake, all of the donuts, all the things, because we've told ourselves we can't have it for so long. And immediately when you tell yourself you can't have something, your mind it's called the RAS, reticular activating system your mind will focus on that. Your subconscious doesn't hear don't, can't. It only hears what you're saying, right? So when you say can't have cookies, it hears have cookies. When it hears stop overspending, it hears overspending.

Erin Gray: 4:00

So I think of a budget now as a tool that simply helps you direct your money towards what truly matters to you, what you value. Right, and that might change over time. I know for our family. We have changed how we spend our money, how we circulate our money, because our values have changed and it's okay that maybe six months, a year ago, you were spending money on, let's just say, eating out a lot, but now maybe you have recognized this is what has been true for us. We've recognized the value that we've received on eating out hasn't necessarily been the same as what it used to be, and so really redirecting those funds to where do we want to spend our money and what feels good in an alignment with our family and our values, versus we can't go do X, y, z. So instead of saying I can't spend money on X, try saying I'm choosing to spend money on Y because that aligns with our family values. That's what's important to us. You know, travel has always been something that's important to us. Eating really good food has always been really important to us. So spending like we choose to spend our money on groceries and travel because that is an alignment with our family values. I'm not really a big brand name clothing person Maybe you are, and that's okay, but my spending reflects how I actually what I value, and I think the first thing that we can always do is start with the awareness to like really just look at where are you spending your money and get some awareness around where it's actually going and is that in alignment with your values. So if travel is important to you, budgeting or putting money towards those trips means that you're being intentional about setting aside money for them because that is important to you. So I would suggest write down one financial goal that really excites you and use your budget to prioritize that, instead of using budgeting to be more restrictive and of a can't have energy and holding you back.

Erin Gray: 6:31

The second way that you could make budgeting more fun is I mean, I use a tool called Empower, which, ironically, isn't that so funny Cause I talk about empowering ourselves with money, but Empower is a budgeting tool that I use. I really like it, I always go back to. Is it simple? Is it intuitive? Can I link all of my accounts, which all of those answers are yes, so I'm able to bring in all of our investments and assets? I will say we recently purchased some silver inside my husband's IRA and that account doesn't like when I search it in empower. I can't just link it, but that I'm okay with it. I could either suggest and ask them to add it, which I didn't really want to go through. I just know that that amount of money is over there and so when I look at our total net worth, I just add that number to it. But making it simple, it's you know, I'm able to create a budget, I'm able to pull in my transactions, I'm able to allocate them to the different areas. Like it's super simple. Everything's all in one place. It's very easy to use and it's very intuitive.

Erin Gray: 7:40

Empower is the budget system, so if you don't want to use spreadsheets, you could look at, you know, using something like empower. I used to use mint, but that got sold out, or so we changed over to empower. Um, and make it fun, right, like I think so often we look at budgets as this boring thing, versus now this is, I'm doing our budget because I care about where my money goes and I want to grow my money or our money, and I like seeing where our money comes from and where it's going and think of it as that energetic component, versus like a checking the box. So sit down with, you know, your favorite beverage, make it fun, Make it an enjoyable experience, and I know that maybe in the beginning it doesn't feel like that because you've had so many years of it being this. What am I doing wrong? Beating yourself up? You know we we tend to look at money as such, this bad thing, boring thing, this necessary evil, and I really want you to start flipping the switch on that and thinking about how does money support me, how, how can I use budgeting to help me create the life that I want?

Erin Gray: 9:09

I think I've mentioned this on another episode. I think we're so much like little kids right, like we want the sticker, and how often do we give ourselves the sticker or the pat on the back or the good job? You know I don't think we do that a lot. So celebrating, you know, every time you hit a goal right, every single month or every single week, like how often I suggest in the beginning, look at your money every week. But every week, if you're on track, like how do you want to reward yourself? And doing that Because you're building up those neural pathways of number one, sitting down with your money to when you hit your goal, you're you're associating some positive behavior and experience with it versus negative.

Erin Gray: 9:55

You know, a client of mine wasn't consistently sitting down and looking at her numbers and I suggested to her you know what do you like to do as a reward? And she named a couple of things and I'm like why aren't you giving yourself that every time you sit down and you look at the books and you balance the accounts and you do that? Why aren't you rewarding yourself, like I think so often we can just get in this habit of just going through the motions, versus I sat down when I said I was going to, I did X, y, z, what I said I was going to, and now I'm going to get to reward myself, play whatever it might be, that joy that I did what I said I would do. Like what is the sticker for you? What is the pat on the back for you? And start doing that and making it more fun and engaging versus this drag that we feel like we have to do. Right, so maybe it's going and sitting in a different place in your house. Maybe it's bringing your favorite beverage I've talked about. You know I sit down with my favorite tea and like being in the energy of, like someone who enjoys having money. How do they interact with their money and sitting down and being that person? When you look at your numbers.

Erin Gray: 11:09

I think so often we look at budgets as restriction or we look at it just as expenses right, the bills, the necessities, and that can feel draining versus looking at its budget as this whole holistic view. Right, when I started to do that, that really changed. So I would look at our investment accounts and it's like, oh well, look at how much that has increased. And oh, we had some money in money market account and like, look at how much money we're making every single month there, like, where's that income coming from? That? I'm not even having to do anything and my money is making money.

Erin Gray: 11:42

So the law of focus you know what we focus on we get more of. So if we're constantly thinking about how to cut corners or how to cut expenses and we're always just looking at our expenses, then we get more expenses versus looking at it as an entire whole of okay, where is my money already making money? Where are the assets that I have? What are my total assets? Like, look at how fun that has been to watch it grow. Versus every month. All we're just looking at and focusing on is the amount of money that's going out. Like, also, look at where are your, where is your money invested and how has that been performing Like that's fun to look at. Where is your money invested and how has that been performing that's fun to look at.

Erin Gray: 12:32

And I always say having a fun money category. I think this is really important because if we are always focused on where we're spending and it's just on, like those basic necessities, we're not giving ourselves a sticker. So having a fun category, having a fun money category, allows you to spend guilt-free, right On things that bring you joy, that are just for yourself. And I don't know about you, but as a mom, one of the things I've really had to work through is this money is for me, not my kid. For me. What do I want to do for myself? That I'm not thinking about anybody else in my family, this is just specifically for me. And I think it's so important to get in the habit of that because as you grow, as your money grows, you know the amount that you will be able to spend on yourself will get bigger, and I think it's really important to develop that habit of like taking care of yourself first, doing things and celebrating all of the work that you've done and allowing yourself to just have fun just because you have it.

Erin Gray: 13:40

A lot of my clients, including myself, you know, when they come to me, many of them feel like that they have to work hard for their money or they feel like myself. You know, when they come to me, many of them feel like that they have to work hard for their money or they feel like that. You know you have to earn it. You know our parents taught, like you have to earn your money, which we do right Like we give value and then in exchange for the value, we receive money. But the that earning of like you're just not allowed to just go have fun. That has been a mindset shift that I've had to work for with myself and my clients. So, really just having a fun money category, that's just for you and I I suggest having that for everyone in your family. Like, even if it in the beginning, you know, 10, 15, 20 bucks a month, whatever, it is really just starting somewhere that you get to spend it on however you want to and that's like something you get to look forward to.

Erin Gray: 14:29

I think you know having some type of reward system and I think this is really important if you have a partner or spouse, because a lot of my clients in the beginning. They aren't necessarily speaking to their spouse about their money personal finances on a consistent basis, necessarily speaking to their spouse about their money personal finances on a consistent basis. So I think it's important to figure out, like, what is the? What is the reward that we want to do for ourselves when we sit down and we look at our money on a consistent basis? And it can be something as simple as going and getting a latte together and talking about your money, something that you're receiving because you're doing what you said you would do, because really, what you're building here is self-trust. When you say you're going to sit down and you're going to look at your money or you're going to spend in accordance with your values, that's what you're doing.

Erin Gray: 15:19

And I think it's so important and I think it's something that we as adults get away from I don't know at what age 12, 14, that we stop rewarding ourselves. Right, we think we have to do all of the things that aren't so fun first before we actually get to enjoy ourselves and have fun. Switch on that and start thinking about how can I make budgeting fun, how can I make it be supportive to me and my family's lifestyle. How can I reward myself for doing what I said I would do? So the key takeaways, you know, to way to make budgeting more fun is, first and foremost, I think of if budgeting if even that word is triggering to you start to play with what is a word I want to use that sitting down with my money and being with my money, you know, looking at where my income and expenses go, just noticing how you're feeling in your body when you say budgeting. So really reframing that mindset that budgeting is not a restrictive event or experience that you have to have. It can be a source of freedom for you and your family, right? It's empowering to know where does your money go. It's empowering to know how much money you have. It's empowering to know what is your net worth Like. Those are important things. I mean. If you think about whatever number you want to have ultimately in a net worth or in your bank account or investments, whatever it might be, how does that woman think about her money? Does she avoid it or does she care for it? Does she nurture it? Does she find value in knowing about the money? Find value in knowing about the money.

Erin Gray: 17:04

The second takeaway is just making it playful, right, making it simple, making it fun, enjoyable and playful, and then incorporate some type of reward for yourself, like give yourself a sticker. I remember one of my coaches she had. It was considered a she called it an urge jar, which every time we felt like the urge to eat or overeat, I should say, then we put a little pebble in the jar, and so we got to see how we built up this jar of pebbles, because and it's literally like a sticker for us, and it's literally like a sticker for us, right? So what is the? What is the reward that you're going to give yourself? Because you sit down with your money every week and making sure you spend that on something that you truly enjoy and you value.

Erin Gray: 17:58

And if you've been struggling with budgeting because it feels so boring and restrictive, I totally get you, but let's change that. I help women like you build a money plan that actually feels good. I totally get you, but let's change that. I help women like you build a money plan that actually feels good, one that supports you, your goals, your family values and your happiness. To schedule a call with me, you can head over to my website at generatealifewelllivedcom, click on the link, work with me and then support one-on-one mentoring and we can schedule a time that works well for you. Okay, I'll see you in the next episode. Did you learn something today? Do you know another female entrepreneur who might be avoiding her money? Will you send this episode over to her for me and, if you have it in you, please leave me a review for this podcast. It helps the show grow and I love hearing from you. See you next week.