75 Powerful Budgeting Quotes - Money Smart Guides (2024)

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Budgeting is a critical part of personal finance.

The problem is most people look at budgets the wrong way.

They see them as a restrictive thing instead of as a tool to help them reach their financial goals.

Because of this, I am sharing with you 75 powerful budgeting quotes.

The hope is that these quotes will help you to look at budgeting and money management in a different light and start tracking your finances.

Personal Budgeting Quotes

#1. “When you set a budget, you are taking control of your future.” – Unknown

#2. “A budget is more than just a series of numbers on a page. It is an embodiment of our values.” – Barack Obama

• Read now: Learn the basics of budgeting

#3. “Financial freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it.” – Robert Kiyosaki

#4. “If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.” – Billy Graham

#5. “One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, instead of what they have to gain.” – Rick Godwin

#6. “A budget is a financial plan to control future operations and results.” – Jae K. Shim

#7. “Budgets are blueprints and priorities.” – Kevin McCarthy

• Read now: See a complete list of budget categories

#8. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

#9. “It isn’t what you earn but how spend it that fixes your class.” – Sinclair Lewis

#10. “Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.” – Norman Vincent Peale

#11. “A budget doesn’t limit your freedom. It gives you freedom.” – Rachel Cruze

#12. “Never spend your money before you’ve earned it.” – Thomas Jefferson

• Read now: Click here to learn the simplest way to become rich

#13. “The best thing about a budget is you stay in control of your finances.” – Unknown

#14. “Budgeting isn’t about limiting yourself. It’s about making the things that excite you possible.” – Unknown

#15. “They call it a budget so you don’t budge from it.” – Mike Figgis

#16. “A budget isn’t about restricting what you can spend. It gives you permission to spend without guilt or regret.” – Dave Ramsey

#17. “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” – Ayn Rand

#18. “The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.” – Jack Lew

#19. “Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.” – Napolean Hill

#20. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

#21. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

#22. “Used correctly, a budget doesn’t restrict you. It empowers you.” – Tere Stouffer

#23. “The most important factor to growing your financial stability isn’t your income. Rather, your success is much more related to how well you keep your eye on the ball. Organize your finances around the principles of financial stability. Aim for that goal, and over time you will find many unexpected ways to actually put money aside.” – Erik Wecks

• Read now: Learn how to grow your own money tree

#24. “When it comes to money and so many other things in life, understanding your weaknesses and strengths can help you with your future plans.” – Tagene Brown-McBean

#25. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

#26. “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Funny Budgeting Quotes

#27. “Those who don’t manage their money will always work for those who do.” – Moses Tan

#28. “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” – Dave Ramsey

• Read now: Discover the many types of budgeting methods

#29.” If you want creativity, take a zero off your budget. If you want sustainability, take off two zeros.” – Jamie Lerner

#30. “Just because you can afford it doesn’t mean you should buy it.” – Suze Orman

#31. “If you don’t get serious about your money, you will never have serious money.” – Grant Cardone

#32. “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” – Joe Biden

#33. “Budgeting has only one rule. Do not go over budget.” – Leslie Tayne

#34. “Would you rather spend your tomorrow today or save today and spend it tomorrow?” – Ken Monyoncho

• Read now: Click here to learn over 100 ways to save money

#35. “The more your money works for you, the less you have to work for money.” – Idowu Koyenikan

#36. “The quickest way to double your money is to fold in half and put it in your pocket.” – Will Rogers

#37. “There are people who have money and people who are rich.” – Coco Chanel

#38. “It’s not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” – Seneca

#39. “With an understanding of your budget and your true needs, you may start putting away more money than you ever expected.” – Larry Dyson

#40. “A budget tells us what we can’t afford, but it doesn’t keep us from buying it.” – William Feather

#41. “Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.” – Zig Ziglar

#42. “If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.” – Edmund Burke

• Read now: See the difference in the habits of the wealthy vs. poor

#43. “The person who doesn’t know where his next dollar is coming from usually doesn’t know where his last dollar went.” – Unknown

#44. “We must consult our means rather than our wishes.” – George Washington

#45. “It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” – Charles Jaffe

#46. “When you buy a bigger house, another luxury car, or a fancy boat, you are showing people that you used to have money.” – Christopher Manske

#47. “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people that they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

#48. “Save money, and money will save you!” – John Soforic

#49. “The secret to budgeting is that it needs to be honest. Not what you think it should be or wish it could be, but what it really is.” – Lisa Conway-Hughes

• Read now: Find 17 free spreadsheet budget templates to download
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#50. “Balancing the budget is like going to heaven. Everybody wants to do it, but nobody wants to do what you have to do to get there.” – Phil Gramm

Money Management Quotes

#51. “Being in control of your money means being in control of your life.” – Sam Beckbessinger

#52. “Every cent you own and every moment you spend is always an investment.” – Natalie Pace

#53. “Never allow money to control you. You determine how you spend it and where it goes.” – Unknown

#54. “The habit of saving is itself an education. It fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” – T.T. Munger

#55. “When you allow your money to get out of control, you begin to attract other problems too. Manage your money and your life will be easier.” – Unknown

#56. “Don’t save what is left after spending. Spend what is left after saving.” – Warren Buffett

#57. “A simple fact that is hard to learn is that the time to save money is when you have some.” – Joe Moore

#58. “Debt is like any other trap, easy enough to get into, but hard enough to get out of.” – Josh Billing

#59. “It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” – George Lorimer

• Read now: Click here for 23 things money can’t buy

#60. “If you can stay happy and in control of your life, money will be easier to manage.” – J.D. Roth

#61. “Once your money is in balance, you can stop worrying about it. Managing your money becomes automatic.” – Elizabeth Warren

#62. “It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.” – Robert Kiyosaki

#63. “Budgeting is not just for people who do not have enough money. It is for everyone who wants to ensure that their money is enough.” – Rosette Mugidde Wamambe

#64. “Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” – P.T. Barnum

#65. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

#66. “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato

#67. “Money, like emotions, is something you must control to keep your life on the right track.” – Natasha Munson

#68. “Being rich is having money. Being wealthy is having time.” – Margaret Bonanno

#69. “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo

#70. “Wealth is largely the result of habit.” – John Jacob Astor

#71. “The speed of your success is limited only by your dedication and what you’re willing to sacrifice.” – Nathan W. Morris

#72. “The slightest adjustments to your daily routines can dramatically alter the outcomes in your life.” – Darren Hardy

#73. “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin

• Read now: Discover how to cut your monthly bills by $1,000

#74. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” – Epictetus

#75. “Don’t think you need to earn a certain amount of money to become wealthy. It’s how you manage your money that determines how much you have left to live the life you want.” – Unknown

Final Thoughts

There are 75 great budgeting quotes.

Take the time to use them to inspire you to take your finances to the next level.

The sooner you start on the journey, the sooner you can reach your destination.

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