This is NPR's Life Kit and welcome to your very own personal finance tune up.

We are dedicating this whole week of life kit to helping you get your money in order.

Each day we're going to bring you an episode that will get you on the right track to take

ownership of your finances.

I'm Chris Arnold.

I cover personal finance and consumer protection for NPR and I am going to be your coach,

your financial, personal trainer, you're all around biggest fan because I know that you

can do this and I also know that sometimes this stuff can feel like a chore but it's all

in service of letting you do the things that you really want in life.

And of course, look, I mean we're in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic that's hit

the economy really hard and some people have lost work and need to manage every penny

that you have and it'll be good stuff in here for you.

This is an important time for all of us to be thinking about money.

A quick note, this episode was reported before the current pandemic.

Obviously, so you'll hear mentions of travel or going out to eat, which we know it's not

exactly easy or possible or smart to do in a lot of places.

But the basics of budgeting stay the same and let's get started.

Budgeting that word alone, I mean, it sounds awful, right?

Keeping track of everything you spend money on, joyless spreadsheets.

But if it's such a drag though, why are some of you talking about budgeting like this?

I have had such a positive experience budgeting recently.

And I am a budgeting wizard.

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