Budget. The word conjures up visions of austere living and doing without. Budgeting is the art of balancing the available with needs and desires. It is usually associated with purchasing power, but in reality budgeting is about apportioning time. Time is the commodity we exchange for the amount of work needed to provide for ourselves, for pleasure, for rest. Coupled with time is the energy to accomplish desired goals. No amount of planning will create success without a realistic assessment of personal time and energy.
Next in the process of budgeting is determining what is important to you. Where do you want to put the available energy? Where must you put it to continue to function as a human being? Some people can manage well with a simple room and a cot, plain meals. Others need art works about them, books or music. Some are lost without electronic devices. Some people need to have other people. Some need space and loneliness. “Need” is a very fluid concept; it is not possible for one human to determine for others “need”.
Therefore, “budget” is really a series of questions:
- How much sleep/rest/recreation do you need? Of what kind?
- What kind of meals?
- What are your needs for socializing?
- What are your skills?
- What is the cash value of your working hours?
Not until you have answered these questions can you create a meaningful budget. Once answered, those answers will drive the more ordinary budget questions: How much is housing, food, clothing, recreation, etc. cost in cash terms? How much is your personal income? What is the match between your needs and the available assets? What is so valuable to you that you would even sacrifice necessity to have it?
For example, there was a time in my life when every penny I made had a home, and we saw far more beans and rice on the table than meat or fresh fruits and vegetables. In spite of this, I budgeted myself one paperback book per month. These novels kept my sanity (the job was not very exciting), till I was able to return to college and more mentally challenging tasks.
Currently, my priorities are still fairly simple. No one goes hungry in my house. The bills get juggled, work gets done. Oh…and those books I bought? I still read them-even though my children complained about how many boxes of them there are when I move.
