To Spend is Human, to Budget is Divine
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 1:54PM
From Benjamin Franklin's immortal adage, "time is money," to the Wu-Tang Clan's declaration that "cash rules everything around me," money has been—and will continue to be—one of the most powerful influences in our lives.
Indeed, so powerful is money's influence that it pushes people to extremes, including me. I've often daydreamed about a penniless, ascetic life à la Walden somewhere out in the “country,” where I would subsist by the sweat of my brow and where money couldn't get me; where I could be free!
But then I think of how boring and lonely that would be, so I go out and spend more money than I should shopping or eating and drinking with friends. The most defeating part of this kind of behaviour is that I end up with the worst of the two extremes: penniless in an expensive world!
Does it really have to be this way? The answer, I’ve discovered, is a most emphatic “NO!”
I want to share with you tips and strategies to use in order to prevent money from taking too much control in your life, keeping you from doing the things you really want to do; in short, how to be cheap and have a great life.
However, before sending you out into the world to hunt for bargains and save money with do-it-yourself ideas, we need to look at a couple of less tangible strategies that will apply to all your future adventures in cheapness: spending, earning and budgeting.
Not surprisingly, I hear the most complaining about money from my colleagues, whether it is about insane gas prices or how much they spend at the bar. In every case, the rant ends with a statement like, “If only I had more money,” or “I wish they’d give me more shifts.” This is troublesome to me because it suggests people are thinking about money in a backwards kind of way.
All we need to do to get a handle on our finances is to start thinking about money in a slightly different way: instead of focusing on the amount of money we earn, we need to occupy ourselves with the amount of money we spend.
It seems simple—and it is. The hard part is applying this notion in the form of a budget.
I know you may think “budget” is a swear word, but stay with me! Just think of budgeting in these terms for now: money in, money out. Easy, right?
To get you on the fast track to cheapness, write down the money you spend over the next week. But don't sabotage your efforts! Spend as you normally would; once you have some data you can start tinkering with a budget.
If you're feeling really ambitious, check out the budget templates available from Microsoft Office through the link below:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/templates/CL102207099.aspx?tl=2#ai:TC102347374|
Follow these steps and you will earn the rank of THRIFTY!!
Reader Comments (1)
Hi Ian,
As we were encouraged in class to post comments on other students’ blogs, yours was the one that caught my eye. It’s way too funny to pass up without making a comment or two about (or in this case, I guess it would be putting in my 2 cents worth.)
Your topic is a scream! I thought I was the only one walking around muttering, “If only I had more money, If only….” So you’re the guy I’ve had to elbow out of the way to get to the 5 minute sales special at Zellers! You know, now that I think about it, you kind of look like the guy who whips out his stack of coupon clippings every time I’m in big hurry at the grocery store check- out line. He kind of has the same profile as you do. Hmmmmmmmmm
So is it safe to assume that you might also be lurking the aisles of the Dollar Store like some of us poor folk do? I swear I’m going to stop throwing away my money on lottery tickets, and let go of the pathetic belief that I can one day win BIGTIME at Lotto 649. Instead, I am going try to follow your blog postings and hopefully under your wise tutorialship, become better educated at budgeting my money. By the way, you mention in your blog that you enjoy, "shopping, eating and drinking with friends."What concerns me is the drinking part. I hope you're not hinting at cutting out drinking altogether from your budget. It's one of life's guilty pleasures that would be hard for some of us to let go of.
Cheers,
Linda