"I want to give people hope!"
The second part of my interview with Dana Miranda from Healthy Rich
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In my Monday post, I interviewed Dana Miranda of Healthy Rich. In case you missed it, you can read it here:
I found her answers so interesting that I asked a few more questions…
Please note that this interview includes reference to diet culture. If that’s triggering for you, please skip it. If you’d like to read the interview with those references removed, email me and I’ll send it over.
What is “budget culture,” and what does it mean for the way we manage money?
Budget culture is the name I've given to the dominant way we think, teach and talk about money in a capitalist society. It’s a damaging set of beliefs that relies on restriction, shame and greed to keep us striving for more and blaming ourselves for systemic financial challenges. Budget culture parallels diet culture, which is a similar phenomenon in how we think about food and bodies.
Just like diet culture centers on the act of restrictive dieting but encompasses attitudes and behaviors well beyond that, budget culture stems from restrictive budgeting but also exists in a broader way in our shaming of debt, privileging wealth, using consumption as a proxy for health and community, lionizing work ethic, and more. It seeps into our expectations for money management, so we judge ourselves by our ability to earn, keep and grow money; and we dehumanize others who don't do these things by our standards.
Day-to-day, it keeps us constantly worrying about money, because there’s always some way to optimize or maximize, and budget culture makes us feel stupid if we don’t go after those opportunities (e.g. a job promotion, tax efficiency, a balanced investment portfolio, a cheaper price, a lower interest rate).
How can you manage money without a budget?
A budget offers an illusion of control in an economy that’s constantly fighting against your best interests. Conscious spending is a process of relearning to trust yourself.