Spring 2018 - Time to Budget

Sunna brings warmth back to the Northern Hemisphere and we enter springtime. Many of us have been cooped up through the winter months and are ready to strike out on this year's adventures. It is a good time to start making plans and putting them into place. Part of that is figuring out your budget.

Many people remember our ancestors for the more exciting adventures, those fraught with conflict and bodily peril. Some will remember the ones who engaged in trade across vast distances. What is less remembered were all the people doing the day to day work needed to ensure that we could survive the Wold Season of wintertime. Those people kept all the others alive when the ice prevented travel for war.

Not many of us engage in tribal conflict these days, for better or worse. It is more common that we do our part through gainful employment, for ourselves or someone else. This is good because the modern world requires a modern means of amassing resources. If you are an entrepreneur, great. If not, that's great too. The important part is that you are making the effort to take care of yourself and those relying on you.

Part of making sure you are ready for your own Wolf Season is planning ahead. What will happen if you lose your income? What will happen if a very expensive event occurs that uses up what you have? Those are important questions. You can't let them bog you down, but you do need to plan for them.

Even if nothing bad does happen, you can be in a better financial situation if you plan wisely. You should be working for some sort of goal. That goal could simply to be debt free, or it could be buying your own land. Regardless of the actual goal, budgeting can help. There are plenty of websites that can help you make a budget; just be careful of the ones trying to sell you something. You can also check with your bank; they often have many resources to help because better budgeting will make you a better customer.

Don't fear that a budget may lock you down too tightly. Like any plan, you have to adapt to changing circumstances. Even if something comes up, you can deviate from the plan until that event is over, and then go back to the plan. Use your best judgment.

There are plenty of other plans you should make for a new year, but making a budget will always be a good one. Knowing what you have and what you are doing with it gives you better understanding of yourself and your situation. That has to be a good thing.