You have twice as much in just discretionary income than most people have for everything including paying the bills. You don't have to budget. You just want to.
You have enough to take 2 trips per month to Disney. There isn't an electronic out there in the world that you couldn't just go and buy. If you make that kind of money, why would you think that you have to budget? Budgeting is a strict outlay of how to spend every penny of your money. If you have $4k+ after saving a ton and paying all bills, what do you have to budget for? I find it would be impossible to budget with that kind of extra money. If you want the latest and greatest iPad, you certainly don't have to set money aside for it when you have 15 times the cost of one sitting around just in 1 month.
Seems to me that people either budget because they are trying to pay off debt, or they have say a $3000 income and are trying to figure out what to do with their $300 extra after bills. $300 extra doesn't allow you to just go out and buy whatever you want, you have to save up that $300 over a period of time to pay for big ticket items.
With all due respect, you've got the concept of "budgeting" all wrong. A "budget" is so often sort of a "bad word"....kind of the way that "diet" gets a bad rap. You're thinking about "money" all wrong.
A budget is simply telling your money where to go based on a set of financial goals. And you have no idea what my financial goals are and why my DH and I set our budget the way that we do.
And really, I *do* understand that we earn more than the average American. I think we're in the top 2% or so of earners. But trust me, there are others who are lurking or participating in this thread who make more than we do....trust me. And yes, many make less. But I don't throw out our annual income to brag....I really don't care what anyone thinks of me. I do so because I think it may enlighten some folks....show them that even some of us who do earn a fair amount are saving like crazy.
And here's why we're doing that.
Right now, the way DH and I work, we manage to get away for one really great 2 week vacation...we try for Europe each year, and we splurge...for sure. This year, we're going to France for two weeks and we'll spend 16K. Keep in mind though, that's only 11,250 Euro....so, our dollar doesn't go as far as it used to across the pond. Other than that, we try for a couple of short weekend trips, but that's it. Besides that....we're working our butts off.
But we have goals...and one of those goals is to retire early, or at least cut back significantly on the amount of hours we work....and to travel more. Ideally, we'd like to be going at about 1/2 speed by our early 50s (we're 43 and 42), and fully retire at age 60.
I've shared that right now we're living quite comfortably on 85K a year. But we have *no* debt. No mortgage, nothing. And so our expenses are likely to go *up* when we retire.
Why? Well, for one, like many others, we won't lose "the mortgage payment" when we retire as many Americans do as they pay off the house close to retirement. That's already done. Commuting costs.....no more work wardrobe? Nope, DH telecommutes and works in shorts and t-shirts. I operate my own business and work in jeans/shorts, t-shirts and sneakers.
If we do cut back on work in our early 50s we're going to need to plan to carry our own health insurance....and I sure as heck don't see those premiums going down....do you? And finally, once we do slow down....we're going to want to travel *more*....because we'll have more free time.
Once we do hit our mid 60s....do you think we're going to get anything close to what we've been promised for Social Security....I don't. And that's not even what really concerns me....what really concerns me is the means testing that will take place for Medicare premiums for people in our tax bracket. We're preparing for that as well.
So, we make 312K, we've trained ourselves to live comfortably on 85K by saving and investing so much, but we're planning on needing more like 120-125K per year in retirement so that we can enjoy ourselves and travel more.
So, what kind of nest egg will we need to support that kind of lifestyle? A *big* one. Consider that for every one million dollars in your nest egg, you can comfortably count on that throwing off about 40-50K per year in income without fear of running out of money.
Also consider that two millions dollars in a nest egg today will *spend* more like *one* million dollars 25 years from now thanks to inflation. So, that's a factor as well. So, the nest egg number goes up.
So, having said all of that....to come close to the kind of retirement that DH and I envision, we'll need 4-5 million dollars (roughly)....by the time we completely stop working. Our goal is to cut back to 1/2 time in our early 50s, travel more and likely save less....but not touch the nest egg until we completely stop working.
So again, with all due respect....a budget is simply a plan where one tells their money where to go based on a set of financial goals.
And so yes, even making a bit over 300K a year, we absolutely live our lives based on a carefully planned and executed budget.
I was looking at some information about college financial aid and noted that your savings is a big factor in what you are expected to contribute. I was venting to a coworker that I really felt it was unfair that someone with identical income, that spent every cent that they made, would be rewarded with aid, and I would be expected to spend my savings. She did not commiserate with me, but instead commented "maybe you should spend more." 
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