Watched a lady at the Denver library fix my whole budget system in 15 minutes

I was at the Denver Public Library last Saturday trying to figure out why my spreadsheet kept showing I was broke by the 15th of every month. This older woman saw me staring at my laptop and just walked over. She showed me how I was counting my savings as an expense instead of as money that's already gone. Turns out I was double counting my rent too because I had it both in my bills column and my spending tracker. She drew a simple diagram on a napkin showing income at the top and only three buckets underneath: bills, savings, and everything else. I've been tracking 12 categories and she got me down to 3 with zero stress. Has anyone else had a random stranger show them a trick that completely changed their money system? I'm curious if I'm the only one who was massively overcomplicating this.

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_lopez9815d agoMost Upvoted

Sounds like she saved you from drowning in a sea of spreadsheets just to find out you're still broke.

mark_chen6214d ago

More spreadsheets equals more control" isn't quite right... it's more like more spreadsheets equals more anxiety disguised as control.

torres.blair15d ago

My uncle did something similar with my budget at a Starbucks once, he crossed out everything except four categories on a napkin and suddenly my money made sense. Idk why we think more spreadsheets equals more control when really it's just more confusion.