I admit I don’t budget. I tried a number of times without a success. It’s not that we go over budget but this is the rigor that seems burdensome. We are good at keeping money aside from my income before we start spending. We just make sure that we do not reverse borrow from savings.

For many of us, budgeting is one of those tasks we always say we’ll get around to doing — after all, we know it’s important to keep tabs on our money and plan for the future. But amid the busy pace of daily life, it can be tough to track and manage the flow of our money without an easy system to help.

While I am not even close to being in the top one percent that we all hear of, I’ve made good financial decisions and am happy with the nest egg my wife and I have been able to build. We are both responsible with our budget and are well on our way to meeting our financial goals.

But for me, it wasn’t always that way. I started my professional life a financial basket case. I worked hard and saved money but just could not seem to keep a budget or hold on to my money for more than a year. Being a financial reporting analyst for a large insurance firm, my lack of financial stability was a big embarrassment and I did everything I could to hide the shame.