Budgeting Is Like Dieting: Only Backwards
If you read this blog you probably budget; and there’s probably at least one person in the household who’s on a diet.
Money and weight are two of the biggest obsessions in Western culture.  Almost everyone wants more money and less weight– though they may not always get either. Luckily, a lot of the same approaches can work for both goals.
It’s all about controlling income and expenditure to reach a desired goal: one counts cash and the other calories but it all works the same way. The only difference is that the key to successful dieting is a recipe for failure when it comes to budgeting. Dieters want to make sure their expenditure exceeds their income (in calories), while budgeters want the opposite.
So, what do they have in common?
Value and Control
Successful dieters, like successful budgeters, avoid fast food. Why? Because it’s a terrible value. Most of the food energy comes from empty calories like fat– and you could often feed twice as many people a better meal for half the price if you went to the grocery store.
Dieters can’t afford to eat this way because the fewer calories one takes in, the more each has to do. They need to make sure all their nutritional needs are met on smaller portions. That means succumbing to the tyranny of “eating a balanced diet.” In other words, eating fresh food that actually has taste and texture rather than unappetizing gobs of unknown substances that can only be swallowed thanks to the lubricating power of too much grease: which also helps it pass through your system before most of the, admittedly limited, supply of nutrients can be extracted.
Dieters need to get value from their food because they can’t just eat more to make up for it.
Then there’s Control (All that stands between us and KAOS)
One of the keys to managing your money is knowing where it goes: tracking it so you can see how a couple of comic books here, a coffee there, and one or two other little things you bought without thinking can add up to a hundred dollars a month before you notice. That’s why so many people keep records of their expenses. It’s a lot easier to not buy that little treat if you see what it’s doing to your budget.
Dieters are the same way: one of the first steps in many diets is keeping track of what you eat. After all, how can you change what you’re doing if you don’t know what you’re doing?
The good news here is that if you’re mentally ready to diet, you’re ready to budget too– Good habits apply everywhere. So do bad ones but that’s going to have to wait for another post.
In other notes:
As Carolyn pointed out , Michael Jackson died in terrible financial shape.  I don’t know who was in control of his money but it’s clear he wasn’t.
Ed McMahon, who also died very recently wasn’t in good financial shape either.
If you’re wondering why I’m bringing this up now, the answer is simple: it doesn’t matter how much money you might have, you still have to control your spending. It’s all about value and control whether you’re spending a dollar or a million.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them in the box below.
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I never thought of it that way before! These two really are similar. It takes a lot of discipline to do one, let alone both at once. I’m trying to budget my finances and I’ve always been a healthy eater, so I’m trying to tackle both at once.
You’re right about getting mentally prepared: once you make up your mind, then the actual practice of saving or losing weight isn’t as daunting as it first seems. Tracking a budget and a diet definitely helps. I love looking at the numbers in my bank account grow (or the numbers on my bathroom scale shrink).