Budgeting - The Inns, The Outs & Facing Reality!
Well, we did it, we managed to get a basic spreadsheet together with our costs of life vs income.
It wasn't any fun at all.
I won't be going into the details here, but the end figures that kind of put a :( on a persons face are the following:
For 2018 we have incorporated $2,400 for incidentals.
Which is probably an unrealistically small amount however, it is all that we can afford to put on the side throughout the year and keep our fingers crossed that we don't use it. Because if it does get used that means that Murphy's law has kicked in somewhere.
The amount that we have left over for the family savings and/or expenditure is just over $200 a week.
Again, not a very big amount of money when we take everything into account.
This is reality.
Maybe hard to face, but one has to face reality in order to be able to move forwards without doing any silly stupid mistakes like "not knowing the truth" when the truth is right there in front of us, staring us in the face.
As far as our property owned overseas where we used to live, we can't get 1/4 what we invested into it, as when we built it we made sure we had a quality home and workshop because we never thought that we would be moving. So it was a long term investment at the time. The logic was "invest in quality that shall last" and pay itself off.
Unfortunately the real estate market here is dead, a lot of people have moved to other countries looking for a better quality of life. Which is understandable and the wages here are very low, ranging from $450 USD/month to $1,800 a month. The lower wages being those of labourers, the higher being white collar jobs. So now you can better understand why the real estate market has gone DEAD!
Don't ask how people survive here, they just do, it's a crazy place and the same applies to just about ALL of the former eastern block states. It really is an absurd situation!
So we have two ways of solving our situation as far as ensuring a new home for the family, for us, my wife and I and our four kids.
The eldest might not be a part of the equation as he is over 18. We'll see.
Our options are the following:
a) Wait til we sell our property overseas,
b) Concentrate all our efforts on Steemit and make as much Steem as possible, enough to buy land and then build a home,
or
c) a combination of a&b
Right now, after doing the 2018 family budget and trying our best to be as realistic as possible with all the figures, I would have to say that our goals are also a real challenge. Something I haven't had in a very long time.
Now to some the weekly figure of $200 if all goes well, might sound like a fair amount of money, but in Australia we all know that $200 is not much at all, especially not for a family with four children.
So 2018 is not going to be an easy year at all.
When I look at it as a family man, I have to admit, my heart is thumping, haven't felt this kind of emotion in a long time. It's a kind of emotion that incorporates fear, anger, will power and it border lines with the old saying "walking on the razors edge".
Kind of makes everything in the past seem like it was a breeze, even if now I know better!
Some may be wondering WHY am I sharing this here?
Well, we are a family and this is our family page. We are here as individuals as far as our personal profiles go, but this profile is ours, our family's.
I am sure that many people can understand what I am writing about here.
Likewise, with this post I guess we are entering a topic that many wish to avoid or hide. Personally, I just look at it in the eye and keep marching forwards, or hold my position if possible, until it is safe to make a move.
Life isn't easy, but that just makes it all the more interesting and likewise by admitting the truth and not sweeping it under the rug, I know that we can make it, we are not fooling ourselves.
Just took this moment to share these facts, figures, emotions and thoughts.
The truth just gives me all the more reason to put in 110%.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I am sure that many people out there can relate and likewise see why it may be important to face the facts. Can't keep running from the facts, numbers don't lie!
On behalf of @millers
Jack
It can seem like a hard slog but you're going about it the right way by doing a budget and trying to make ends meet. You're miles ahead of most people.