When I talk to people about budgeting, it’s interesting to hear all the ways they’re shooting themselves in the foot.
So several folks have no budget at all. They spend freely throughout the month and wonder where all their money went when the well runs dry. The answer is self-explanatory; your money floated right out the window the moment you stopped paying attention to your money flow. This is why I insist on setting an absolute budget for my household. The point is, there’s only so much money to spend, and that’s it. If you mishandle your money throughout the month, you’re going to have an uncomfortable couple of days when you get to the end of the period. This is especially brutal when it comes to managing your utility budget, energy expenditure, and Heating and Air Conditioning system. In my home, my friend and I have to choose which days to use the heating and cooling system. Our boiler and A/C don’t run every afternoon of the year because it’s luxurious, energetically irresponsible, and fancy to rely so heavily on artificial indoor air. My buddy and I can use the boiler when it’s horrifically freezing outside. My buddy and I can turn to the central air conditioner if it’s absolutely boiling moderate inside the house. But when my friend and I run out of money to pay the energy bill budget each month, we’re SOL. At that point, my friend and I have to make due with natural ventilation AKA opening the windows and hoping for the best. I’ve tried to tell my friends and family about budgeting for your energy expenditure each afternoon and making intelligent decisions about using the central temperature control, but most people aren’t interested in the strict Heating and Air Conditioning practice. When they talk about budgeting for apartment expenses and utility bills, it’s absolutely more of an ideal than an absolute.
