Monthly Archives: April 2021

Rings of Priority

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My weekend was too short for my plans.  This seems to happen all the time.   But this weekend was particularly bad.  After what seems like 14 years of sitting at my tiny desk in my guest room staring endlessly at a computer screen, I have a very small vacation coming up at the end of this week.  Those of you who have been following my adventures for some time know that I have a tiny teardrop camper that I love to escape in.  This weekend I was working on my little camper in preparation for my first trip of the year.  My goal was to make a few little upgrades to the camper and to clean and prepare the camper and other gear for the upcoming trip.

Armed with my cordless drill, I started in on the upgrades.  And I very quickly got frustrated.  Putting new hinges and a pneumatic lift on the underbed storage looked so easy in the YouTube video I watched.  But that just didn’t translate to my reality.  Eventually I realized that if I kept devoting my time to the project that I wanted to do, I wouldn’t have enough time left to finish the projects that I needed to do.  So I abandoned the upgrades and focused on what was necessary to get the camper ready to roll this next weekend.  I can live without a lift under the bed.  I can’t as easily live without clean bedding and a supply of water in the tank.

There are many times in life that what we hope for and what we actually can achieve are two different things.  But it’s important to keep focus enough to make sure that what we actually do achieve includes those things that are necessary to achieve.

This is one of those concepts that applies in all areas of life, including managing your money.  There will almost never be enough money available to you to fund everything that you dream about.  And you need to make sure that your basic expenses are always covered.  But there is usually room in the budget for you to have more than just what is necessary.  And only you can decide what is important enough for you to include in that second ring of priorities.  One of my favorite nutshell statements is, “You can have anything you want….you just can’t have everything you want.”  This shows you just how true that is.

Returning to “Normal”

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With vaccine now pretty readily available in the U.S., many people (including myself) are starting to think about what it will be like to return to “normal,” with the pandemic in the rear-view mirror.  I’ve already noticed that it is going to have an impact on my budget.

Within the last few weeks, I finally returned to doing some grocery shopping in person, after a year of curbside pick-up.   While it is refreshing to walk through the aisles and browse (browsing is definitely one of the things I’ve been missing!), the chances of making an impulse purchase are greatly increased.  Just yesterday I looked at some really nice pork chops and put them in my cart without regard to price.  That’s something that just doesn’t happen when you order online.  And it’s something I’m going to have to retrain myself to avoid.  The best way to keep the grocery budget in check is to make a list and stick to it.  The order online and pick up curbside process kind of builds that in.  And I’m going to have to be pretty aware of my tendency to stray from the plan now that I’m shopping the aisles of the stores again.

I also returned to eating in a restaurant over the weekend, after a year of takeout and delivery.  Again, it’s really nice to sit in a restaurant and have someone wait on me.  And the cost of the food never really left my budget.  But the thing I didn’t pay for over the last year was restaurant drinks.  Takeout food from my local brewpub (with a hefty tip built in because those working in food service have taken a real financial hit during the pandemic) is always going to be cheaper than food and drinks inside my local brewpub.  That’s another thing that I’m going to have to keep in mind to make sure that I don’t completely blow my budget on drinks.

This fall (maybe even this summer!) I’m hoping to be back in my campus office on a regular basis.  But the return to in-person work also comes with added expenses.  Mostly because of the commute.  My cars have been sitting in the driveway largely unused for more than a year.  Less driving equals less gas and maintenance.  And as things return to a more normal state, I’ll be driving more.  Back and forth to work.  Random trips to the grocery store.  Trips to visit family and friends (because we can do that again!!!!).  More miles equals more gas and more frequent oil changes and tire rotation and brakes and all of the other things that wear and tear on cars.

Things are starting to feel more normal.  And I’m thrilled about that!  But it’s definitely going to affect my budget, so I want to keep these things at the front of my mind to make sure I don’t break the bank.

How will the return to “normal” affect your budget?