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A Balanced Family Budget
29
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Pocket money.
It seems minor, but incidental items can
do more damage
to
a budget than you might expect. You
probably would be surprised if you knew how much money
you spend on small, everyday personal items.
This division of the budget may not need to be large, but
if
you do not include it, this one small point can wreck all
your other efforts.
Begin Now
One last point needs
to
be mentioned.
It
is a little advice
on how
to
get started. Perhaps you feel you are already so far
behind in your finances that you cannot even begin on such
a budget. But it is for just such a person that this has been
written. The very reason
to
start on this budget is
to
over–
come the problem you now think is stopping you!
Such a budget cannot work immediately for anyone near
the financial cliff. Frankly, it may take several months
to
get
fully on the scheme. The more months that pass, however,
the closer you will come to being where you want to be. And
the character developed in this process cannot be valued
monetarily.
So the thing for you to do is begin now. Even if you have
to
run all your accounts in the red for months, you need to
set up the plan immediately.
If
you cannot do what you write
on your list, you will at least be able to develop the habit of
learning what you should be doing.
Frankly, though, if you will set up your ideal budget right
away despite your troubles, realistically including all current
bills, repayments of loans and mortgages, future expenses and
all the other needs, you
will
be surprised just how often you
actually can begin
to
fulfill the amounts you have planned
to
put aside from each check. Even though you can only set
aside half of one bill the first month, you will be half a
month's bill ahead for the next month. And eventually you
will find yourself enjoying the blessings of family financial
stability.