12 Days to a Sensible Budget

Sensible budgets are as easy as defining what "sensible" is for you. If you are like most people, "sensible" means something you can actually DO! Let's be real. We have more month than money because there's some gap in the brain long before there's a gap in our pocketbooks. So here's a very simple and straightforward approach to getting your mind around sensible budget ideas that will have you smiling and your purse bulging.

Day One - No Spending

Decide to try a 24-hour experiment in self-discipline called "no spending for today". Go for a full 24 hours without stopping at your favorite coffee shop, lunch place, gas station, laundromat, or grocery store. You are going to eat from your own refrigerator, curtail extra trips in the car if your gas tank is low, and figure out a million ways to say "no, not today" to the kids and the hubby. And you are going to observe just how many times your thoughts, desires, and urges include buying something.

Are you ready for an eye-popping experience? You will be amazed at how often thoughts of spending come into your mind. And when you consider spending, jot that down. What were you going to buy? What did it cost? Try to figure out how much you were THINKING of spending during this 24 hour period. Sensible budgets start in the mind!

Day Two - How Much Didn't I Spend?

Fresh from the "no shopping" experience of Day One, you may notice that if we had the full purchasing power we think we need and want, the idea of making a sensible budget and correcting our money management mistakes would simply not occur to most of us. We get to the point of "I need a sensible budget" because we feel the lack of funds when we most need it. Sometimes we feel a pinch in our conscience when we are giving less to the needy, or to the church, when we are saving nothing, or when the kids' tuition looms large, or our own skimpy retirement fund scares us silly.

So for Day Two: Add up how much you wanted to spend yesterday, but didn't. Now sneak off to a quiet corner, and meditate for a on what that dollar figure could do for you or your family TODAY.