Budgeting: How It All Began…
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details.I’ve been on a budget since I was a teenager. So, when people tell me that being on a budget is hard, I don’t really understand. Being on a budget is simply telling your money where to go, instead of it telling you where it’s going.
Let me start from the beginning. I started working at an early age, not because I had to but because I wanted to. I have three older sisters and they all worked so I was bored being at home without them. Mom and dad agreed that it was ok for me to work so I did.
At the end of my first work year I received my W-2 and was blown away. I had made hundreds of dollars and didn’t have anything to show for it. So, I pondered what I could do if I began a budget. I listened to Dave Ramsey and had heard of a budget so I got out some paper and began the process. The rest is history and I’ve been on a budget since.
After high school I had plans of going to cosmetology school to become a nail technician. I began to save every penny I had to make that happen. My goal was to attend school and not have to work because the school I was attending was an hour commute and I knew I would have homework. Luckily the course was only nine months (otherwise I’m not sure I could have saved that much).
God made my dream a reality and when it was time to start school I had saved enough to pay for it. As I figured out how much I would need for gas and my half of the insurance (mom and dad paid the other half), I had a bit leftover. I was so excited because I would be able to have extra spending money. I divided it up between the timeframe I would be in school. It came up to be $1 a day. (Looking back now it makes me smile.)
I was very diligent while at school. I would take my lunch every day and save my money to treat myself on Fridays. The girls that I went to school with would tease me (in a fun way) because I stuck to my budget. They often said that I would be a millionaire and they would all be poor. Wouldn’t it be neat if their prediction of me being a millionaire came true some day?
Thrifty T
Yes, it sure would be. :)