Cooking the Books podcast: How to make a budget that isn't about punishing yourself

OPINION:

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to write a budget that doesn't make you miserable. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Listen to the Cooking the Books podcast here or watch the interview above.

Budget.

Did you just get a shiver down your spine? Immediately clutch your takeaway coffee cup a little closer to your chest? Have a vision of yourself sitting on the couch on a Friday night, watching your friends on social media having fun without you?

To say budgeting has an image problem is an understatement.

It's actually the key to feeling happy with our money, and often the key to getting those things in life that really will make us happy.

Far from cutting out what we enjoy, I'm a strong believer that a good budget is about figuring out what you need, what you want, and then stopping all the other little things that could get in the way of that.

But I admit that can be easier said than done.

We're also sometimes our own worst enemies on this. When it comes time to sit down and thrash it out, it can be tempting to write the "perfect" budget for the person we want to be.

But we have to be honest with ourselves or it just won't work.

For the latest podcast, I talked to Jason Leong from PocketSmith.

For the interview, watch the video above or listen to the podcast.

• If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

• Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can find new episodes in the Herald, or subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple podcasts app, or Spotify.