Budget Woes

 

The year has just started but the expenses a homemaker has to deal with have gone full swing.

Once again, it’s the season for school field trips and fabulous Prom Nights.

While youngsters are eagerly anticipating these activities, most parents I bet are simply cringing at the mere thought of spending much for these costly endeavors.

Who wouldn’t be?  Expenses just keep on piling up each day.

So what would a “wa-is” mother to do in times like this? How can we make both ends meet despite the economic crunch? For starters, let’s talk about how moms can do well when running errands in a grocery store,

A wise spender will never go to a store with an empty stomach. Shopping while you suffer from hunger pangs will just force you to buy things in haste. Also, dining at a resto nearby so as to satisfy your groaning and complaining stomach might also eat a big pie on your budget. As a result, you will end up scrimping on things you actually need.

Likewise never go shopping when you’re tired to the bones. You’ll end up buying products that first catch your eyes but you don’t necessarily need but you buy them anyway because you just want things done in a jiffy.

Third, always go to the grocery store with a list of things you need to buy so that you will never go beyond your budget. Also, having a list will ensure that you will never have to return to the grocery store for important commodities you failed to buy on your first trip.

Of course there are some women who can just grab and toss anything onto their pushcarts never mind if they are hungry or tired. They are the fortunate few who are not hampered by any budget limits.

But there are moms, who like me, are transformed into math wizards the moment they start rolling their carts or scour the wet markets for commodities.  They form the majority number of moms who always have to stay on budget.

But you know what? The most challenging travail of a parent is not just having the ability to stay within the budget.

By far, the most difficult thing a parent faces each day is knowing she has to pay or buy something for her family yet she doesn’t have a budget to begin with at all.

A mom or a dad will never be able to accomplish anything without any money to spend in the first place.  A parent may have a good vision on how to better the lives of her family, she may very well come up with a good project but if she doesn’t have adequate funds on hand it will be difficult to move and accomplish much.

Sometimes, we can’t just rely on our usual budgets at home. There are times when we have emergency expenses to address such as a leak on the roof, a busted light bulb in the restroom or a leaking faucet that needed to be replaced. That is why, a home manager must always have an emergency fund.

I wish all parents have enough funds to work on. How nice it would be to have enough elbow room so we could fix what needed to be fixed in one’s turf, we could buy what we needed to purchase so that we can provide a more conducive and healthy environment for our children and we can create projects that can improve the lives of people who are important to us.

Hopefully, this issue on having an adequate “budget” will be resolved. May this fervent wish come true  for everyone most especially in Dagupan.