Is your budget tight? Ours is. It has been for years. It is
getting better, but I have noticed that after doing without for so long, there
is a long list of things that we need or high priority wants that can really
make saving a difficult challenge.
To help us in this endeavor, I created a spreadsheet to allow
us to prioritize those important needs, wants, dreams, and includes blessings,
as well.
I started the spreadsheet with just prioritizing needs and
wants for the family. A priority 10 need was life or death – or close to it and
it went down from there. For example, I prioritized Sweet Pea's swimming
lessons at a 10 and Pumpkin's at an 8 because Sweet Pea had never had swimming
lessons before and loved the water, but Pumpkin had had swimming lessons. It
was important to have Sweet Pea learn to swim for her own safety.
I “had” to add a Blessed item to Wants and Needs after we
were blessed with God's provision through our friends for things we needed. I
highly recommend including this for those times that there is no way you can do
what you need to do on your own, but God comes through for you as a reminder of
God's love and provision. It has certainly been helpful for us. It is
especially helpful to be reminded of these things if you have just encountered
a downturn in your family income. It is so easy to try to fix it or figure it
out on your own and be self-sufficient, but when you realize that your best
efforts cannot do what God can do, it is humbling and ever so helpful to
strengthen you in doing what you are called to do and remain faithful to Him.
Please feel free to use this for your own benefit. I hope it
proves helpful to you. To use most effectively, highlight the active cells,
choose Data, Sort, then sort by Need/Want – ascending; Priority – descending;
and Cost – ascending. It works out nicely this way in that your blessings are
listed first, followed by “done” items, your needs next, wants come third, and
dreams (Zzzz) are last. It is also nice because if you have two competing
priorities, the least expensive one comes first so that you feel that you are
making progress.
How do you prioritize your needs and wants in your family's
budget?
No comments:
Post a Comment