Before setting out on any journey, you must understand your current position — only then can you move toward your destination.

Your financial freedom journey is no different - if you don’t know your situation today, you will not reach your goal. This article will provide a roadmap to this journey using the first step about reducing money-related stress – be vigilant.

Tracking finances (know where you are now)
To start, you first need to track finances – not only how much, but from/to where. Expenses. Do you know in detail where your money actually went last year? If you earned 100K and your bank balance went up 5K, that means your total annual spend is 95K (100-5). Most know their big costs - usually house, car, tuition. But what about other expenses like food, clothing, children, entertainment, travel, gifts, etc? How much went to these? You can’t improve going forward if you don’t know what happened now. Doing so can help you discover unnecessary expenses and optimise. This is why it is important to track them regularly (monthly, quarterly, etc.) to be able to compare patterns.

Awareness means knowing:

Where your money is actually going (not where you think it’s going).

What your spending says about your priorities.

Which expenses are supporting your life – and which are draining it.

There is no failure here. Once you approach your finances with curiosity instead of criticism, the entire dynamic changes.

After you know the actual spend, you can start planning your future desired outcome. Many people may argue ‘how can we predict the future’. True, but we can still plan for it. Every entity (companies, government, schools, etc.) do future planning. Why can’t we do this for ourselves and family?

Budgeting (looking forward)
The word budget, however, carries emotional weight. It’s blamed for cancelled dinners, delayed vacations, and that quiet sense of restriction that creeps in when money feels tight. ‘My budget won’t let me.’ ‘I’m bad at budgeting.’ ‘Budgets don’t work for me.’ Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your budget isn’t the problem, your relationship with it is.

We don’t like budgets because they:

Expose misalignment. We say we value freedom, security, or generosity, but our spending may tell a different story. That tension is unpleasant, so we shoot the messenger.

Are treated as rules, not tools. When a budget is framed as “don’t spend” instead of “spend intentionally,” it naturally feels restrictive.

What should be in the budget? This is up to you as this varies from person to person. The budget should contain the key expenses that you want to categorise and track on a detailed basis. These can be as simple or as complicated as you want. There are many software programmes and phone apps to do this, but a spreadsheet works as well.

Be disciplined – break down your spending into as many different categories as you need. Break out specific ones you really need to manage.

Save before you spend – decide a fixed amount you want to save each month. Once the amount is decided, find a way to automate it from your earnings to avoid the temptation of spending it.

Control your credit card – always pay in full, don’t live on ‘monthly credit’. It can easily grow out of control.

Track expenses to compare against your budget to know where your money is going – keeping receipts, log expenses, or some banks do this for you as part of the electronic statement. This will also help identify trends.

It’s OK to adjust the budget as situations change. A budget is not a punishment to take joy out of life but improve it. At its core, a budget is simply information – a mirror reflecting how your money moves. And financial freedom doesn’t come from fighting that mirror.

Instead of saying:

“My budget is too restrictive,” ask: What am I trying to protect or prioritise right now?

“I failed my budget,” ask: What did this month teach me? What do I need to change?

“I’m bad with money,” ask: What systems would make this better?

Good questions turn frustration into insight. Insight leads to better decisions. Better decisions compound over time and financial confidence to help you reach your destination. It is not your salary that makes you rich; it’s your spending habits and money management. The moment you treat your budget as an ally instead of an enemy is the moment you stop fighting your money – and start using it to build the life you want and deserve.

Arvind Garg is a financial expert, former MBA professor, and author based in Dubai