Chapter 3 - Brother can you spare a dime?

The discussion of needs and wants can be boiled down to one word.
Budget.
Does your budget cover the costs of your needs?

• Food, water, basic fuel (for your body) in an fuel (from your body) out needs
• Shelter, transportation, sanitation, education, health care

Does your budget cover the costs of your wants?

• A home with enough space to store your stuff
• Stuff you want in your home
• Stuff you want to give to others
• Basic things that your enjoy but can live without

A homeless person's daily goals are to find food, shelter, and a safe place for their belongings. It was only recently that I realized that a homeless person must stow away their belongings in a safe place or bring everything along on their travels. I knew that they borrow shopping carts and collect large plastic garbage bags but I didn't think about the effort it takes to safe guard their possessions.
I am not homeless but my daily goals are to find food, shelter, and a safe place for my belongings. I just realized that I put as much effort into keeping my belonging safe and secure. It might seem too easy for me to just lock a door and leave my stuff waiting for my return at first glance but not if you think more about it. To keep my stuff safe I need to insure the value of it. To keep my stuff safe I need to pay for a place to keep it. To do this requires that I report to work at a predetermined time and work for a minimum of eight hours a day and at least 40 hours a week. This makes loading up a shopping cart and pushing it along seem like less effort. A homeless person makes their own schedule and doesn't pay a tax for the property they occupy during the day or night.
My intent isn't to suggest that the homeless have it easier. The point is that they budget $0.00 for shelter so they have to transport everything they own with them everywhere they go. We do not have to bring everything with us because we put money in our budgets for shelter. Why I am making this point is a mystery for me at this time so I'll just leave this thought here for now.
There are three possible outcomes at the end of each month for your budget.

1. We have money left over after paying our expenses
2. We break even after paying our expenses
3. We owe more money after paying our expenses

The first outcome means we can save some money, share it with others, or spend it freely as we see fit. The second outcome means that we came out just right (whew!) without any wiggle room. The third outcome means that we had to take money out of savings or borrow money to make our obligations.
We should all try to have our budgets come out to the first outcome as much as possible We are in real danger if the outcome is breaking even every month. We will have to make a plan if we see the third outcome on a regular basis. Hopefully we have the money in savings to cover when we find ourselves in this situation.
That's it for this post. The next discussion will be on setting up a maintainable budget or getting back to one.