Sometimes when we’re counseling people we hear phrases like, “I don’t know where that will come from”, and “we don’t make enough to match our budget.” In such cases we have to back up and look at the priorities outlined in the budget.
A priority is something that is given special attention, or something that comes first. It’s important to know what the top priorities are in your budget before you ever sit down to work on it. Make sure you have some form of shelter – a house, an apartment, or other living arrangements. Make sure you have food to eat. Make sure you have transportation to and from work or school. And make sure you have adequate clothing for your work and/or school. Dave Ramsey calls these priorities the “four walls”.
These are constant truths in your budget. You have to make sure that you are covering these things all the time, every month. Perhaps it doesn’t require explaining, but just to be sure, your job is your source of income, so you need to make sure you can get there – transportation – every day in order to earn that income. A budget without any income is not a budget, it’s a wish list. You need shelter to keep from getting sick so you can go to work. Also, you’re not going to do a very good job if you spend much of your day wondering where you’re going to sleep that night. You need clothes for that job, unless you work in a field that doesn’t require clothing. (Seriously, if this is you, please contact my friends at http://www.be-loved.cc/ and get help. You are worth so much more than this.)
Once you get these things down, then what? There are four other priorities we believe you need to consider:
- Give back
- Saving
- Get out of debt
- Do it now
These serve as anchors in your financial life, providing stability so that when the storms of life come and the waves crash into you, you won’t be crushed. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll cover each one in more detail.
~Kevin
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