We Debunk Your Top Excuses for Not Budgeting

If you’d rather do literally anything else besides sit down and make a budget (including watching Frozen with your kids for the 10th time), then this one’s for you. In this episode, George and Rachel are responding to the most common excuses for not budgeting.

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• 📱 Submit a Guilty as Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it.

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Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Blackberry Lime Mule Mocktail

• 4 blackberries
• Lime juice (1 lime)
• 2 cups crushed ice
• 6.8 ounces (1 bottle) ginger beer

Instructions: Pour lime juice and muddle blackberries in a glass. Fill the glass with ice and strain blackberry lime juice into a separate glass. Top with ginger beer. Enjoy!

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[alexpotter]

Yes! Absolutely please create and share a SMHO mocktail/cocktail recipe book! Make all of your listeners' dreams come true.

[donnahampton]

George: "Rachel, your info wasn't stolen. You freely gave it to them." I am coughing-laughing!

[donnahampton]

I have a vehicle fund that money goes into monthly. I use this for oil changes, tires, repairs, and to save up for my next vehicle. Vehicle expenses are not miscellaneous. They are expected.

[cabellacreations]

OMG!! YES, PLEASE make a Smart Money Happy Hour Cocktail/Mocktail recipe book!!! You could always add your best money tip from the show that corresponds to that drink recipe! And, fill it full of all the links and tips to save money on vacations, pseudo debit card numbers, removing your info from the internet, etc…
LOVE your show!! Thanks to you both!!

[Joesixfour]

YES to the drink recipe book and please include your scores!

[denisemckinney]

We have had a sinking fund for 9 years and what a life saver. Water heater went out and we paid our plumber with cash. When you are really budgeting you have to consider your yearly expenses too. And my husband and I have a monthly budget meeting every month and yes, we use every dollar. And if my husband were to pass away, I could handle it because he has educated me well and I thank him for that. Be willing to learn and be disciplined and you can win with money. ❤

[lydiahearts]

I have an irregular income (my husband doesn't) and I freely admit this isn't for everyone, but a long time ago we got ahead a month on my income so when we budget we know exactly how much we have. At the end of September, I have all the money I made piled up and that's what we'll live on in October. Another way to debunk the excuse!

[julievosheva]

To the editors: whoever added the sad violin at 9:09, I spat my coffee out. Thank you 😂

[matthewlind]

I’m a first time commenter just to say… my wife and I bought the Kirkland stainless steel pots and pans a few years ago. One of the best purchases we’ve ever made!

[DonaldMark-nese]

I plan to retire at the end of 2025 at 62 after 36 years in Telecom as a sales engineer. My wife will retire in May 2026 and she's loving life! But walking away from a good income stream and building the nest egg to living from the nest egg is a scary proposition couple with the alarming recession and CPI report

[theHousetop]

Gotta be honest. Even though I budget every month I saw the episode title and thought “boring.” But I absolutely loved this episode! I pray anyone who thinks it might be boring or doesn’t budget will listen to it. It’s so good and super helpful for leading FPU or having family and friends we wish would take care of their finances to have good words to encourage them. Thank you so much!

[CHSwildcats]

I vote for the recipe book! But I have a request: please please include your ratings and what you each said about it because that helped me so much in deciding if it was a drink I wanted to try. (I like more sour drinks, not sweet, and your comments helped me a lot) 😊

[blandlinda]

We have a car repair/ replacement fund in our monthly budget. We know we are going to have to pay for oil changes, random repairs, and replacement eventually. We put it in a money market account so we can use it when we need it. Just this last week the tire sensor on one of tires went out. It was not a big deal to pay $62.00 for the repair. My husband drives a 20 year old truck. He plans to drive it until it dies.

[pattyatwood]

Yes, make the cocktail book. Don't forget to include your bartender.❤

[MikeDalton-pq]

I know this is crazy-talk, but if you and your spouse are both paid based on commission, maybe it would be beneficial to not have (the spending portion of) your budget be based on what you hope to make in the coming month, but rather get ahead of your income and budget to spend the money you made last month, or 2 months ago (i.e., not live paycheck to paycheck). Like I said, crazy.

[t-]

I was trying to convince a friend who struggles financially with money to start a budget. I even offered to help him create one. But his response was “I don’t want to budget my life away”…
And that was the last time I respected him as a person. My offer wasn’t un-prompted either; he constantly complained about his finances

[evijade]

This is such a fun show. Listen while I work and it’s always a good time.

[shelleyfields]

Yes to a cocktail/moctail book!
We made the same pot/pan purchase when my firstborn was young. 😄

[laundrygoddess]

Sinking funds for medical, home repairs, car maintenance including tires and saving money for your next car, gifts, vacation... All these things can keep you on track. Sinking funds have saved me too many times to mention in the last three decades

[noahduncan]

We don't budget rn and we probably should, but my wife and I are careful about lifestyle creep. I got a couple pay increases this year so we set up a regular automatic extra payment to principle on the mortgage that covers most of the extra money we're seeing from each paycheck. We didn't need the extra, so better to put it somewhere that'll help us get ahead than to take the opportunity to eat out more or something