How to Money · Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Jesse Mecham explains that while the word 'budget' has baggage, his approach focuses on deciding what money is for and living intentionally. He advocates for 'budgeting as spending well,' where your money is perfectly aligned with your goals, contrasting this with the common advice to simply 'spend less than you earn.'
“Budgeting is knowing deeply what your money is for and then watching it do that thing In my mind, budgeting is spending well.”
“But the idea that you just save and save and save and never get to enjoy the fruits of that, I think is just totally off base.”
“So when you go back to this idea of spend less than you earn, if you know that the only thing money can do is be spent, then what you're saying is do the thing, do less of the thing that is the thing's only purpose. And that's where it starts to break down.”