Budgeting means planning

Te Ao Hou, March 1967, Page 13

Budgeting means planning Budgeting is essentially a matter of planning. A husband and wife concentrating their combined thought-power on obtaining things they need and want most, can find budgeting a saviour and a most agreeable, absorbing exercise in happy home management, to their mutual advantage. A budget does not stifle joy. It builds a man up ten feet tall knowing he owes no one nothing he cannot pay. His ‘put-it-away’ days take care of the future. The tupunas said ‘Eat your treasures care-

fully’. The modern elder exhorts ‘Eat your money carefully’, meaning spend wisely, and look after what is left. Bank it! You may be tempted to say if you have read this far, ‘What did our tupunas know about money budgeting … they never had any! How very true. However, they had the prime factor necessary to make any budget, stone age or modern, work successfully. They had the will to look reality in the face and cope with it. This triumphant quality they left on the winds of change for the seeing eye to snatch, and use! Many, but not enough, have already snatched it and are using it to their great content. This ability in present day terms simply means the courage to look our bills in the face and ask ourselves, ‘are we keeping them in check?’ … ‘or falling foul of them with our creditors?’ This is all any budget plan requires to kick it off to a good start. Budgeting, then, is knowing where your money is going, not wondering where it went. It is planned use of the weekly pay packet to get the most for your money. It is a diligent endeavour to stay debt free, to get the best