Budgeting can make that manageable by significantly lowering your living standard but small expenses are rarely the root cause.
Paying too much for school? If cutting on those sandwiches means you can suddenly afford the school, would you choose to cut the school just because it's a clear, known large expense?
Earlier in my career I always wondered why people earning a lot more than me would not get lunch from outside or the cafeteria but would spend a lot of effort cooking and prepping the food for their work. Now I fully understand where they're coming from.
The little things do add up.
The point of my comment was that I too believed as you did. Always easy to believe things until you track your spending and see the actual numbers.
It's also how I know getting an 8 year old car without too many miles is the way to go.
Adding all of it together is too much. So you set the thermostat lower by 3 degrees. Pack lunches two to three days a week and cut down the coffee a certain percentage etc.
Cutting any one thing out altogether will significantly reduce quality of life and won't get you there financially. Cutting back a bunch on each category will.
As I said, back of the envelope calculations will get you whatever outcome you desire. Real actual spending data will tell you the real story. There isn't a substitute.
350K in Missouri will give you a vastly different lifestyle than 350K in Denver.
If you have everything you want, no need to track!
Yes, I understand, I'm not stupid. I'm sure you can understand what's implied by my comment. I am saying all of that together is a ridiculous amount for a top 5% earner once summed.
We are not talking scrambling family of four here. At some earning level, difficulty paying the bill is nearly always structural.
It annoys people because it's easier to cut a cup of coffee than to admit you over mortgaged and the solution is obviously far less simple.
I’d say that budgeting allows you to see how far off your ideal standard you are living. Spending too much on the kids school can be a deliberate choice or an afterthought from 4 years ago. Budgeting lets you see that and be deliberate about those choices.