A New Perspective on Budgeting

Photo by: darinka

Yesterday I had the chance to listen to a great spiritual leader give some advice on finances. Filled with concern for his flock, he gave inspiring faith centered counsel and genuine time-tested advice for those listening.

In the middle of this message he said something that opened my eyes a little. I’m not sure he meant to teach me this lesson, but sometimes that’s how these things are found and I thought about it the rest of the day. Maybe it stood out to me because he was using “budgeting language” when he said it.

Second only to living within your means, I preach budgeting “needs before wants” pretty hard. Once your needs are covered, you can budget the rest towards anything you want – with your needs budgeted, you know you’ll be OK the rest of the month.

What he said that grabbed me so strongly was this:

Make sure your needs, and the needs of others, are taken care of before your wants.

Suddenly, my order-of-operations changed.

After a great conversation with my wife, we agreed to change our perspective on this principle. Fortunately, we’d already been budgeting a small amount to donate monthly, but we decided to try harder to be more sensitive to the needs of those around us, before we budget our own wants.

However you do it, whether it be through a church, charity, within your own family, or random acts of kindness – see if you can squeeze “the needs of others” between your needs and your wants.

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1. 

   Mindi Smith says:

   August 31, 2009 at 12:56 pm

   Thank you for this post Jon. Something we will be adding to our budget too. It’s easy to forget about helping others when you’re wrapped up in your own bills. But this reminded me to be more mindful of the needs of others.
2. 

   Jonathan says:

   August 31, 2009 at 3:44 pm

   Thanks, Mindi. A big part of using a budget is to help you remember what’s important, so it makes it easier to give when you’ve already set it aside.