What do you do when there’s more month left at the end of the money?
There’s a lot of attention to budgets these days. Some is in Washington DC and some is at my house. How about you?
The questions are many. What can we give up? What ways can we save? Do we have to liquidate any assets? Should we scrap the disappearing 401K? What charity needs our donation the most this year? How will we afford the Christmas we are accustomed to? Haircut this week or next month?
The decisions are painful. Reduce. Reuse. Relinquish. Reopen. Relive. Repent. Recover. Relieve. Repeat.
Attack what we spend with vigor and reduce it–permanently. Reuse everything we can. Relinquish the “need” for a particular lifestyle and realize you are not in control of the world. Reopen the discussion after the anger and accusations to reason and problem-solving. Relive the old days when you were very young and had nothing but joy. Repent the waste, blame and shame. Recover what is really important–laughing, family, friends, quiet evenings, hot soup, board games and companionship. Relieve the stress with planning, action, evaluation and small forward movement you can see. Repeat it all again and again!
Not pretty, not easy, but healthy. More healthy than trying to pretend it can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t be done. And, it’s REAL. I don’t think that Washington is there yet, but the journey has begun–even politicians have to recognize reality once in a while! We aren’t all the way there, but we are in the middle of the journey. Where are you?
Where are you on the road to balance? What ways are you finding to focus on what really matters? How do you think you can avoid being back here again next month, next year, next decade…..?
Related articles
- Don’t open your checkbook – there might be monsters hiding in there! Great Advice from Dave Ramsey Experts (fieldofdebt.wordpress.com)
- Details, Details (kathleendickleslie.wordpress.com)
- Why your Christmas debts could last until 2023 (telegraph.co.uk)
- How to Create a Sinking Fund (frugaldad.com)
- Winner, ‘Life out of balance’ contest, and more! (joyofspa.com)
- Balance! (aprillaugh.wordpress.com)
madalund 
I really like the concepts behind this post. I hope you keep elaborating and I know I will be back. I am hoping you will let me borrow a piece of this posting if I promise credit and link. I will not change it in anyway. You just have a great way of saying something really succinctly!
You have my permission to use unaltered as you wish. Thank you for the complements!