Managing Money Without a Traditional Budget: Options for Those Who Hate Conventional Budgeting Techniques

If you’ve tried sticking to a budget, over and over again, but mostly failed, then maybe traditional budgeting techniques just aren’t for you.

You don’t have to use your grandmother’s budgeting options, carefully assigning money to each spending category each month, then rigidly sticking to it. Delve into these alternatives to see if any of them might work for you.

Behavior Based Finances

The trouble with budgets is they’re all about controlling (and often restricting) your spending, not about how you’re actually supposed to do that. Mostly it’s assumed you’ll rely on sheer willpower, which is kind of exhausting.

But it’s possible to come at things from the opposite direction, and reduce spending by changing behaviors rather than using willpower. Many people find that changing behavior and habits works better than obsessively trying to control spending.

By changing what you do you can change (and restrict) how much you spend. This can look different for different people. But it could include:

• Delving into cheaper (or free) hobbies and activities
• Listing 50 free things to do around you and crossing one off each weekend
• Organizing fun, social, clothing swap events instead of shopping
• Planning most of your friend dates around walking in nature, perhaps with a home brewed coffee
• Volunteering as a social activity
• Having a weekly or monthly library day if you’re a bit of a book addict
• Joining local ‘no buy’ groups or community sharing schemes
• Trying out creative hobbies (from jewelry making to wood working) that leave you with a product to give as gifts when birthdays crop up
• Automating saving, investing and bill paying at the beginning of each pay cycle so you don’t have to think about it

Which of these work for you and which don’t will depend on personal preferences, and what works for you may not be on the list. Take half an hour to sit down and brainstorm what would.

Cash Stuffing

I’ve written about the art of cash stuffing before. It’s a budgeting technique much loved by Gen Z that has become a bit of a trend on TikTok and other social platforms.

It basically involves using real cash for discretionary purchases whenever possible, and literally stuffing it into different envelopes (or other physical containers) marked with the category that the cash is to be spent on, such as food, gas, or entertainment.

You don’t even have to use cash to follow the cash stuffing philosophy. Many people split their money into digital pots using banking apps, often calling it the ‘bucket method’ where there’s a certain amount of funds in each ‘bucket’ that can only be spent on what it’s allocated for.

The digital method works well for some, but using cash seems to bring a little more awareness and a certain amount of gamification into the process, and our brains just love that. Cash stuffing is similar to traditional budgeting but with a twist. And that twist seems to actually make budgeting more fun for some people.

Paycheck Budgeting

An issue many have with traditional budgeting is that it’s just so inflexible, assuming you’ll spend the same amount on the same category indefinitely, and that your income will never vary. And life’s just not like that. Many find it’s easier to adopt a continuous budgeting program that means you budget each paycheck as it comes in.

This simply means that you’ll be engaging with your budgeting process each month or each pay cycle, looking at exactly what you want to achieve in that time period and what it will cost, and planning your life around what you have to spend right now.

This can be particularly useful for those working on commissions or tips, freelancers and small business owners, those with a varying work schedule, or anyone whose income fluctuates for any reason.

If that’s you, you’ve probably had a few ‘ramen months’ when the money just isn’t there. But paycheck budgeting can actually include paying into a ‘lean month’ fund (separate from your general emergency fund or any other savings you have). A fund that’s there for the sole purpose of seeing you through the months where income drops more than you expected it to. Then you can dip into it without guilt when your paycheck takes a hit due to circumstances beyond your control.

Paycheck budgeting may seem like more work — because it is — but for some it just works better. It helps you keep on top of your money situation, especially if it varies, and some people report that it actually motivates them to keep increasing their income opportunities as it keeps them engaged with and aware of their financial reality on a more regular schedule.

Budgeting helps us stay on top of our finances, but it can look a little different for everyone, depending on what suits your current lifestyle and goals. It’s okay to try a little experimenting until you find exactly what works for you.

About the Author

Karen Banes is a freelance writer specializing in entrepreneurship, parenting and lifestyle. She writes articles, website content, ebooks and the occasional award winning short story. Her work has appeared in a range of publications both online and off, including The Washington Post, Life Info Magazine, Transitions Abroad, Brave New Traveler, Natural Parenting Group, and Copia Magazine. Learn More About Karen