The Budget

What word comes to mind when you hear the word “budget”? Some people would instantly think of words like “restricting”, “restraining”, “tight”, or “nonexistent”. Others may think, “necessary”, “lifesaver”, “beneficial”, “relieving.”

Budget can be frightening or comforting. Depending on how you look at it. 

For me, it is FREEDOM.

How can a budget be freeing?  

Scenario 1: Sylvia finally landed a job after months of applications left and right towards anyone hiring. Money was running low and it would be only a few more weeks before she'd hit that point of despair, adding more debt to the credit cards. As a victory celebration and to “treat herself”, she wheeled into the nearest Starbucks and bought the $7 venti coffee combination her insides were craving that morning. While there, she received a phone call from her new employer. “I'm so sorry to tell you this, but the position we gave you just got axed. We can no longer bring you onto our company...” A shocked Sylvia, hung up the phone in disbelief. What was she going to do? Bills had to be paid. At this moment flashbacks of a vacation to Vegas she took with some friends that year, plagued her. It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities and she needed to “get away and de-stress”, but with poor planning had blown more of her funds than she expected. A friend had mentioned to her earlier that year about budgeting, but she shrugged it off and with a laugh said, “It's all up in here.” as she pointed to her head. It wasn't like she didn't know if she had money or not. If there were numbers in the bank account then everything was ok and she could make those purchases. Right?... Sylvia, grasping her newly bought coffee, stared into the air, sifting through thoughts of an uncertain, unstable future...

Scenario 2: Tyler and his wife, Daria, had just finished cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast while the kids went outside to play. A few years ago they had determined to put a written budget in place in order to help save some money and prepare for future emergencies and now were having a discussion about that month's budget. From the other room, their son, Kyle came rushing in crying and panicked, “Mom! Dad! Lisa fell off the deck! We were playing around and she lost her balance and fell off!” They rushed outside to find a screaming Lisa on the ground, “Aaaahhh it hurts! My leg hurts!!” Rushing her to the hospital, they filled out endless paperwork, and found her leg to be broken. She was casted up and sent on their way.  Months later the hospital bills came in. Daria glanced at their budget's accumulation of what had been put aside for medical emergencies. She smiled and wrote the check. After insurance, everything was covered. She turned to her husband, sitting beside her. “Tyler, if we hadn't been intentionally budgeting our funds so faithfully, we would have been in a bad place over this incident. I'm so thankful and relieved we had the funds to cover this.”

Budgeting gives you the peace of mind and comfort of knowing where your money is. It puts CONTROL back into your hands so money doesn't control YOU. It builds self discipline, focus, and recognition of your wants vs. needs. It prepares you for disasters such as job loss and emergencies that life almost always throws our way. It eliminates that “guilt” feeling and the guessing games of purchases. It keeps you from spending more than your income sources if at all possible. If you don't know where to begin in making a budget, you can contact me for my budget sheet plans, videos, and other resource ideas.        

Blessings and happy budgeting!

Rebekah Samuel                                                                                                  

Independent Financial Advisor

theladygadget@gmail.com

Blog coming soon with financial articles, resources, files and printables, frugal living hacks and tips, and much more!