You Don't Need a Budget

Stop Worrying About Debt, Spend Without Shame, and Manage Money with Ease

By: Dana Miranda

Narrated by: Dana Miranda

A simple, no-stress guide to managing money—free of the toxic messages and shame baked into traditional personal finance advice.

Track every dollar you spend. Check your account balances once a week. Always pay off your credit card bill in full. Make a budget—and stick to it. These are just a few of the edicts you'll find in virtually every personal finance book. But this kind of rigid, one-size-fits-all advice—usually written for and by wealthy white men (and a few women) with little perspective on the money struggles that many people face—is unrealistic, and only creates stress and shame.

As a financial journalist and educator, Dana Miranda is on a mission to liberate listeners from budget culture: the damaging set of beliefs around money that rely on restriction, shame, and greed—much like diet culture does for food and bodies. In this long-overdue alternative to traditional budgeting advice, Miranda offers a new approach that makes money easy for everyone, regardless of the numbers in their bank account.

Full of counterintuitive advice—like how to use debt to support your life goals, how to plan for retirement without a 401K, and how to take advantage of resources that exist to support those left behind by the forces of capitalism—You Don’t Need a Budget will empower listeners to get money off their mind and live the lives they want.

©2024 Dana Miranda (P)2024 Little, Brown Spark

Critic reviews

"Most personal finance books give all the same advice. Dana Miranda does not. In YDNAB, she offers a refreshing alternative unlike anything I've read before. It will make you question everything you've been told about money, and change your relationship with it forever."—Cait Flanders, author of THE YEAR OF LESS and ADVENTURES IN OPTING OUT

“A radical take on managing your money in the modern age. If you've ever felt like traditional personal finance advice just didn't work for you—no matter how hard you tried—this book will help you see your money in a new light. Miranda's sharp storytelling is a comfort that asserts you're not alone in striving to build a life that's more honest and less transactional.”—Lisa Rowan, author of MONEY HACKS

“In today's climate of increased openness about mental health, You Don’t Need a Budget is the personal finance book we need. Dana Miranda challenges the budget culture and debt shaming that's exacerbated the financial anxiety of many Americans and built media empires for some personal finance influencers, while overturning notions about budgeting, credit card debt and financial well-being. If you've ever felt disconnected from mainstream personal finance advice and crave a fresh approach, look no further than You Don't Need a Budget.”—David and John Auten-Schneider, creators of Debt Free Guys and hosts of Queer Money podcast

Helpful antidote to budget culture

While I felt some of the points were fairly radical and not necessarily actionable, I appreciated the author’s approach to capitalism and her presentation of a different way of thinking related to money.