How to save without a budget?

I’ll just show you the last method. It keeps you from running a budget, but puts you in control of your own finances. At least in a minimal sense.

Who doesn’t have to keep a household budget?

A household budget is conscious control over one’s finances. It’s always good to keep an eye on your money, because as we all know, the master’s eye fattens the horse. However, if you don’t want to keep a budget because what’s out of sight is out of mind, make sure you meet the following conditions and you’ll be fine:

• Secure earnings – earnings constancy is a clear situation. A steady stream of cash gives you much more predictability (don’t confuse that with security) than a seasonal job or a salary based on commissions or bonuses.
• High earnings – not necessarily the national or market rates in the industry. Your income is supposed to be high enough for you and easily cover all your expenses. Optimally, you should still have at least a little savings left at the end of the month.
• No debt – you finance everything on an ongoing basis through your account, not consumer loans. You cover the mortgage installment, if any, without any problems.
• Costs in check – since you’re not being wasteful and caught up in lifestyle inflation, you just know what you’re doing. And so to some extent you already have your finances under control.

Half-budget

Out of chronicler’s duty, I will present you with a half-way solution. It appears on the Internet and in books under various names, as the “jar system” or the “model budget”. It looks like this:

• Fixed obligations 60% – basic expenses like bills, rent, food, etc. The foundations necessary for daily existence.
• Non-recurring expenses 10% – expenses you incur over a period of several months.
• Whims 10% – the amount you set aside to enjoy life.
• Short-term savings 10% – building wealth.
• Retirement investments 10% – when you retire and make your last mortgage payment at the same time, these investments will ensure that no matter how much (if any) you receive from ZUS (Social Security Institution), you’ll at least have something to eat.

Basic expenses always appear, the rest – depending on the publication, but you can also find here categories like big purchases, pleasure, education, financial freedom, charity and many others.

I absolutely do not recommend, and in fact advise you not to use this method for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s a solution promoted by authors from the States. Most of them became financial experts the moment they needed to sell a book about it. On top of that, ours and theirs are very different realities. Another issue is that the percentages will not match. Not so much by their proportions, because these can be adjusted, but simply month after month they will diverge. And finally, perhaps the biggest obvious: since you’re already supposed to control 5 categories and juggle their weights each month, you’re simply keeping a budget. Just poorly. Either do it right or don’t do it at all – and don’t waste your time with half-measures.

How do you control money without a budget?

In this case, the control is trivially simple. You need two bank accounts or a main account with a sub-account. It is important that you see the amount separated. Now put the equivalent of your monthly salary in the sub-account and start using it from the beginning to the end of the month. Pay only from this one account. All-natural, with no diligence or special saving. Live your life as it is and don’t change any financial decisions. Just remember that you are only supposed to have the value of 1 salary available in your account.

How it works in practice:

Your account balance: 25,000 zlotys – main account.
Your monthly salary: 4,000 zlotys – additional account or sub-account.

When you pay from an account where you have access to all your funds, you don’t feel the difference and basically have no idea what’s going on. Sometimes you spend less and sometimes you spend more. You even happen to save something, but you generally don’t have the faintest idea about it. I know that’s the case. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this material.

I have a simple test for you to see if you can control your finances without keeping a budget. It will last a month and only requires you to make a transfer and check your account balance.

1. Transfer the equivalent of your salary to a separate account or sub-account. During the month, spend money only from it. Regardless of whether you pay by card or cash. It doesn’t make any difference, but you will find it more convenient to always stick to one payment method. At least for the purposes of the first month of testing.
2. Spend money normally. Forget about any form of budgeting. Don’t hold back on spending. Just live your life the way you’ve lived it so far. If you start changing anything, you will disrupt the outcome.
3. Check your account balance. At the end of the month, check to see if you have anything left in your account. If so, bravo! You don’t have to run a budget and keep track of all those tables that are as boring as company meetings.
4. Complete the monthly amount for expenses. Restore your account balance to the amount necessary for you. In the test it turned out that 3,700 zlotys is enough? Transfer just enough, let the rest stay in your main account. It turns out that you are saving 300 zlotys per month.

That’s all you need to do. Transfer the appropriate amount to yourself once a month. Simple, isn’t it? Now, the only thing you should care about is not exceeding that value. Not everyone needs to be interested in finance or budgeting. Maintain your carefree lifestyle while building savings. I hope that’s completely sufficient and you don’t have to bother picking holes in it.

I’ll just show you the last method. It keeps you from running a budget, but puts you in control of your own finances. At least in a minimal sense.

Who doesn’t have to keep a household budget?

A household budget is conscious control over one’s finances. It’s always good to keep an eye on your money, because as we all know, the master’s eye fattens the horse. However, if you don’t want to keep a budget because what’s out of sight is out of mind, make sure you meet the following conditions and you’ll be fine:

• Secure earnings – earnings constancy is a clear situation. A steady stream of cash gives you much more predictability (don’t confuse that with security) than a seasonal job or a salary based on commissions or bonuses.
• High earnings – not necessarily the national or market rates in the industry. Your income is supposed to be high enough for you and easily cover all your expenses. Optimally, you should still have at least a little savings left at the end of the month.
• No debt – you finance everything on an ongoing basis through your account, not consumer loans. You cover the mortgage installment, if any, without any problems.
• Costs in check – since you’re not being wasteful and caught up in lifestyle inflation, you just know what you’re doing. And so to some extent you already have your finances under control.

Half-budget

Out of chronicler’s duty, I will present you with a half-way solution. It appears on the Internet and in books under various names, as the “jar system” or the “model budget”. It looks like this:

• Fixed obligations 60% – basic expenses like bills, rent, food, etc. The foundations necessary for daily existence.
• Non-recurring expenses 10% – expenses you incur over a period of several months.
• Whims 10% – the amount you set aside to enjoy life.
• Short-term savings 10% – building wealth.
• Retirement investments 10% – when you retire and make your last mortgage payment at the same time, these investments will ensure that no matter how much (if any) you receive from ZUS (Social Security Institution), you’ll at least have something to eat.

Basic expenses always appear, the rest – depending on the publication, but you can also find here categories like big purchases, pleasure, education, financial freedom, charity and many others.

I absolutely do not recommend, and in fact advise you not to use this method for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s a solution promoted by authors from the States. Most of them became financial experts the moment they needed to sell a book about it. On top of that, ours and theirs are very different realities. Another issue is that the percentages will not match. Not so much by their proportions, because these can be adjusted, but simply month after month they will diverge. And finally, perhaps the biggest obvious: since you’re already supposed to control 5 categories and juggle their weights each month, you’re simply keeping a budget. Just poorly. Either do it right or don’t do it at all – and don’t waste your time with half-measures.

How do you control money without a budget?

In this case, the control is trivially simple. You need two bank accounts or a main account with a sub-account. It is important that you see the amount separated. Now put the equivalent of your monthly salary in the sub-account and start using it from the beginning to the end of the month. Pay only from this one account. All-natural, with no diligence or special saving. Live your life as it is and don’t change any financial decisions. Just remember that you are only supposed to have the value of 1 salary available in your account.

How it works in practice:

Your account balance: 25,000 zlotys – main account.
Your monthly salary: 4,000 zlotys – additional account or sub-account.

When you pay from an account where you have access to all your funds, you don’t feel the difference and basically have no idea what’s going on. Sometimes you spend less and sometimes you spend more. You even happen to save something, but you generally don’t have the faintest idea about it. I know that’s the case. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this material.

I have a simple test for you to see if you can control your finances without keeping a budget. It will last a month and only requires you to make a transfer and check your account balance.

1. Transfer the equivalent of your salary to a separate account or sub-account. During the month, spend money only from it. Regardless of whether you pay by card or cash. It doesn’t make any difference, but you will find it more convenient to always stick to one payment method. At least for the purposes of the first month of testing.
2. Spend money normally. Forget about any form of budgeting. Don’t hold back on spending. Just live your life the way you’ve lived it so far. If you start changing anything, you will disrupt the outcome.
3. Check your account balance. At the end of the month, check to see if you have anything left in your account. If so, bravo! You don’t have to run a budget and keep track of all those tables that are as boring as company meetings.
4. Complete the monthly amount for expenses. Restore your account balance to the amount necessary for you. In the test it turned out that 3,700 zlotys is enough? Transfer just enough, let the rest stay in your main account. It turns out that you are saving 300 zlotys per month.

That’s all you need to do. Transfer the appropriate amount to yourself once a month. Simple, isn’t it? Now, the only thing you should care about is not exceeding that value. Not everyone needs to be interested in finance or budgeting. Maintain your carefree lifestyle while building savings. I hope that’s completely sufficient and you don’t have to bother picking holes in it.