diff --git a/programs/budget/src/budget_state.rs b/programs/budget/src/budget_state.rs
index 7622a1f9aa..2a451ed3ab 100644
--- a/programs/budget/src/budget_state.rs
+++ b/programs/budget/src/budget_state.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 //! budget state
-use bincode::{self, deserialize, serialize_into, serialized_size};
-use log::*;
+use bincode::{self, deserialize, serialize_into};
 use serde_derive::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use solana_budget_api::budget_expr::BudgetExpr;
-use std::io;
 
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub enum BudgetError {
@@ -32,46 +30,19 @@ impl BudgetState {
     }
 
     pub fn serialize(&self, output: &mut [u8]) -> Result<(), BudgetError> {
-        let len = serialized_size(self).unwrap() as u64;
-        if output.len() < len as usize {
-            warn!(
-                "{} bytes required to serialize, only have {} bytes",
-                len,
-                output.len()
-            );
-            return Err(BudgetError::UserdataTooSmall);
-        }
-        {
-            let writer = io::BufWriter::new(&mut output[..8]);
-            serialize_into(writer, &len).unwrap();
-        }
-
-        {
-            let writer = io::BufWriter::new(&mut output[8..8 + len as usize]);
-            serialize_into(writer, self).unwrap();
-        }
-        Ok(())
+        serialize_into(output, self).map_err(|err| match *err {
+            _ => BudgetError::UserdataTooSmall,
+        })
     }
 
     pub fn deserialize(input: &[u8]) -> bincode::Result<Self> {
-        if input.len() < 8 {
-            return Err(Box::new(bincode::ErrorKind::SizeLimit));
-        }
-        let len: u64 = deserialize(&input[..8]).unwrap();
-        if len < 2 {
-            return Err(Box::new(bincode::ErrorKind::SizeLimit));
-        }
-        if input.len() < 8 + len as usize {
-            return Err(Box::new(bincode::ErrorKind::SizeLimit));
-        }
-        deserialize(&input[8..8 + len as usize])
+        deserialize(input)
     }
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod test {
     use super::*;
-    use bincode::serialize;
     use solana_budget_api::id;
     use solana_sdk::account::Account;
 
@@ -80,8 +51,6 @@ mod test {
         let mut a = Account::new(0, 512, id());
         let b = BudgetState::default();
         b.serialize(&mut a.userdata).unwrap();
-        let buf = serialize(&b).unwrap();
-        assert_eq!(a.userdata[8..8 + buf.len()], buf[0..]);
         let c = BudgetState::deserialize(&a.userdata).unwrap();
         assert_eq!(b, c);
     }