Living within your means

Living within your means

A fairly simple concept, right? Live within your means...

However, it is surprising to me that this is a fairly alien concept to many people. Ok, so maybe not totally a new concept but something that is routinely ignored.

I know that I've been blessed because both DH and I are fairly conscientious with how we manage our finances. We do have our pitfalls but those are relatively few and far in between.

It is not easy to live within a budget but it is easier if your budget more or less reflects your overall spending pattern. I know many people who create their budgets by looking at their incomes and allocating what they think are appropriate amounts to different expenses. While there is nothing wrong with this at all, it would certainly help if before deciding how much money to allocate for a certain expense, you can see your spending pattern for it. It would make sticking to your budget easier, I believe.

When I was just learning to make a budget, my mom taught me to list all my expenses for 2-3 months to see where I was spending my money on. That was the first step. It did not matter how insignificant the purchase was, I wrote it down. It was very tedious to say the least but also very enlightening. I could literally see where my money was going! I've continued to apply that to this day. And it has helped us be on top of our expenses. Even when DH had to cut back his work hours because of school, we've never had to take a payday loan or anything of the sort.

I've always given credit to God for providing for all our needs but I'd like to think that we've also been really responsible with His generosity by living within our means.