Reader,

A colleague of mine - let’s call her Sara - is a freelancer who’s been helping a friend, Molly, update her website. They’ve worked together for years, and Molly pays Sara the same amount every month to keep things running.

But this past February, Molly’s check bounced. Sara reached out, and Molly assured her she’d send the payment electronically.

Rather than wait for the money to arrive, Sara went ahead and added it to her budget, assigning those dollars to her categories (digital envelopes!) like usual.

Now it’s three weeks later. No payment.

Sara’s in a bind! She needs to spend from envelopes that include money that doesn’t actually exist. She’s stressed about overdrafting and having to pull those dollars back out of her spending plan so that she can trust her numbers.

Things with Molly will get sorted, that’s not the point.

The point is this:

Don’t budget money you don’t yet have.

Not what you’re owed. Not what’s "on the way." Not what someone promised you.

Because until that money is sitting in your account, it’s not real. It’s Monopoly money.

I’m not saying ignore what you expect to come in. Of course, that shapes how you plan.

But you cannot put money into envelopes if the money isn't actually in your hands. You can ever only confidently plan for the cash you actually have today.

That’s what keeps you grounded. That’s what keeps you from accidentally spending money that was never really yours.

It a simple idea. Not necessarily easy if you're used to doing things a different way, but an approach I invite you to consider.

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Allegra

​Reach out when you're ready.

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