Photo by: iwona kellie

Is there something you want?

Are your needs being met first?

How much does it cost?

How long would you be willing to save up for it?

Could you pick a specific date as a goal?

How much would you have to set aside every month to have that much by then?

Can you afford that amount? (If not, could you extend your goal date?)

Where would that money come from?

Is there something you value less than your goal that you’re currently spending money on?

It could come from that.

Make it a category on your budget and set that money aside every month.

Prioritize it on your budget between something you value less, and something you value more.

(Crazy idea, I know.)

Stick with it, and it will be yours.

No guilt, no debt.

My Little Family

I’ve written before about how a budget can be a a top-down view of your 95%. With it, you can see what you can afford, what you can’t, and what you can shuffle around if you need to. It’s a lot better than guessing in the middle of a “should I buy it?” moment.

But budgeting also gives you a great map of what you value. After a few months of fine-tuning your budget, you’ll start to see a pretty accurate picture of what you really want. It’s a neat little side-effect of budgeting.

Knowing what you value ,and budgeting for it, can be a huge source of contentment in life. Knowing that you’re putting your hard earned dollars towards what matters most is a comforting feeling.

The opposite – not knowing what you really value – can lead to a lot of leaks in your paychecks and a lot of perpetual and unhappy spending.

Some things we value greatly.

You’ll find yourself budgeting these things first,  making sure they’re covered before anything else.

They’ll align with what’s most important to you in your life. When I had my son, a lot of things I used to value suddenly meant much less (or nothing at all) to me.

We need these things the most, they bring us the most peace, the most fun, or the most satisfaction. They help us reach our goals in life.

Some things we value less.

You’ll find yourself budgeting these things with “what’s left.”  Our paychecks can tend to leak into this less-satisfying realm quite a bit if we’re not watching our budgets. Stay diligent and you’ll see these leaks getting plugged up over time.

Others we do not value at all.

You’ll start to find that you haven’t even included these things in your budgets for a while – a pretty good indicator you don’t really want your money going towards them.

Take some time to review your budget (or start one) and see if you can’t find what you really want your money going towards. Do some adjusting if you need to – it will be worth it.

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.