How to Budget When Everything Keeps Getting More Expensive

Published under The Accounting Hat on HatStacked.com

Eggs? $7. Shipping tape? More than your dignity. If your budget still looks like it did in 2022, it's not just outdated... it's fictional. Here’s how to rewrite it before inflation or tariffs eat your entire business lunch.

First, Accept That You’re Not Crazy

Things really are more expensive.

You’re not bad at math. The numbers are just rude now.

Your software subscriptions went up. Your vendor added a “processing fee” they invented last Tuesday. Your breakroom coffee costs more than your first car.

It's not you. It’s the economy. And no, you can’t fix that with a motivational quote.

Step 1: Find Out Where the Money Is Actually Going

If you haven’t looked at your expense report in a while, brace yourself.

You're probably spending:

• $109 a month on a tool nobody remembers subscribing to
• $200 on shipping because a “rush” order happens every Thursday
• $49.99 on something called “pro tier insights” that you’ve never once opened

This is the business version of cleaning out your fridge and finding three jars of expired salsa.

Step 2: Stop Budgeting Based on Your Best Month Ever

We see you. Your forecast spreadsheet is basically just January on repeat. Problem is, it’s July, and nobody’s buying.

Instead:

• Use your worst month as the floor
• Use your last 6-month average as the baseline
• Stop pretending holiday sales are year-round

Optimism is great. Just not when you're writing checks.

Step 3: Divide Your Expenses Into “Essential” and “Because It Was Cool at the Time”

This is the budgeting equivalent of cleaning out your closet.

Essential:

• Payroll
• Rent
• Tools you’d cry without

Cool at the time:

• That productivity app you used for two weeks
• A subscription to a business guru’s private Slack
• Branded coasters

Cut the fluff. Nobody’s quitting because you canceled the AI-powered note-taking app that never took notes correctly anyway.

Step 4: Add a Buffer for Surprise Stupid Things

There’s always something.

Last month it was your label printer exploding. Next month it’ll be a random $300 “regulatory compliance fee” from a vendor who swears it’s normal.

Build in at least a 10% “chaos fund.” Call it whatever you want, but make sure it’s there when nonsense shows up.

Step 5: Check for Tools That Secretly Do the Same Thing

If you’re using Trello and Asana and Notion and sticky notes, you’re not efficient... you’re building a museum of task managers.

Pick one. Cancel the rest. You’ll save money and actually know what you’re supposed to be working on.

Bonus: Your team will stop pretending they updated five systems when they only used one.

Step 6: Look for Revenue Leaks (AKA Financial Sinkholes)

These are the quiet killers:

• Invoices that were never sent
• Customers who “meant to pay” but never did
• Inventory that shipped but didn’t invoice
• People with your product in their cart since 2023

Plug the holes before you try building anything new. Revenue you already earned is the easiest to recover, if you notice it’s missing.

Step 7: Update the Budget Monthly, Not Just When You’re Panicking

Budgeting once a year is like going to the gym once in January and wondering why you’re still winded in April.

Instead:

• Review actuals monthly
• Adjust for changes like a real person
• Make the spreadsheet work for you, not against you

Your budget should be a living document, not a sad relic from Q1.

Step 8: It Might Be Time to Raise Prices

Yes, even you.

If your margins are getting thinner but your costs keep rising, you’re absorbing the hit. Eventually, that hit will absorb your business.

Test a small price increase. Bundle more value. Be transparent. But don’t keep charging 2020 prices for a 2025 economy.

You’re not greedy. You’re adjusting.

Final Thought

Your budget doesn’t have to be perfect. But it does have to be real.

It has to reflect your actual costs, your actual revenue, and your actual tolerance for watching the price of printer ink go up again.

Start simple. Cut the nonsense. Add a buffer.
And stop pretending you can run your business on vibes.

You can’t.