Explore and Inspire with Public Budgets
Budgeting -
In today’s content-rich world, you can find advice from experts on just about every topic under the sun. Whether you’re looking for tips on how to redecorate your home, a recipe for an Argentinian soup, or step-by-step instructions on how to file your income taxes, there is probably a credible, well-written resource for you online. This applies especially to the world of personal finance, where many organizations, apps, and individuals offer actionable advice to thousands of readers. However, one element has always been missing from this content: actual budgets.
When it comes to offering financial advice, there is no substitute for cold, hard numbers. An expert can provide pages and pages of written tips and tricks, but abstract advice is difficult to apply to one’s own financial activities.
Thankfully, this issue has recently been solved with the development of a new tool and content form: public budgets. Don’t panic: you’re not expected to share your intimate financial details with the public. Instead, public budgets give you the chance to create a financial template that you can then share with friends, family, or a larger group of followers. By creating a social budget, you can demonstrate exactly how you planned for a financial scenario and give others the chance to replicate your successful strategies.
Social budgets can be customized to provide as much detail as you’d like; in addition to crucial aspects like the title and amount of a transaction, you can provide location information, comments, and pictures.
Here are some examples of when you can create a social budget:
Travel
Public budgets could be a godsend for travel bloggers who often use their influential platforms to inspire others to plan similar trips and experiences. A public budget allows the blogger to demonstrate exactly how much a trip cost; with added detail, the blogger can show how they saved money with expert tips.
Weddings
The wedding industry turns over millions of dollars each year, with many popular publications providing planning advice to brides around the world. Public budgets can offer a helpful level of detail for wedding planning; no expense will be forgotten if you follow the template of a public budget.
Recipes
How many times have you set out to follow a recipe only to discover that the ingredients cost more than a dinner at a nice restaurant? Including a public budget with a recipe will show the reader exactly how much the meal will cost, including details on where to find a good deal on specific ingredients.
School Supply Lists
Many teachers send home lists of the specific school supplies students will need for their classroom. By including a public budget, parents will know what to expect when they head out to buy supplies. No surprises at the check-out counter!
The Best Part About Public Budgets?
Over time, the combined data in public budgets will serve to create a powerful knowledge base for people with financial questions. Imagine once thousands of people have catalogued the public budgets of their car expenses; users will be able to anticipate the costs of things like repairs, insurance, and purchasing a new or used model. This knowledge base will help to create an easily understood average cost for countless products and services, helping to protect consumers from being gouged by dishonest businesses.
The more public budgets we create, the more they will help the greater population. What are you waiting for?