BOOMERS & BEYOND: Following budget could make your life easier

Keeping the “butter up on the noodles” ain’t no “piece of cake” anymore.

Where does that money go, anyway? If you’re in debt … join the club!

Just when we think we’re home free – and the fun can begin – we could find ourselves in the same leaky boat with those twenty-somethings, some of whom are struggling to pay off around $20,000 in college expenses. Some of those kids have a killer interest rate of 15 to 20 percent. That’s enough to choke a horse.

Even grandpa is drowning in debt. He, like most of the older generation had always paid his bills on time, but now health problems, soaring gas prices and outrageously high property taxes have him relying on credit cards to meet basic necessities.

“Never spend more than you make,” was the battle cry of all “responsible” folks as recently as 20 years ago. When times got hard, we tightened our belts, cut out all the “fat,” and slimmed down to barebones necessities. Today, easy credit is breaking our back.

Some of us have created considerable debt by pure and simple overspending on things we needed, wanted, but could have easily … yes, easily, have lived without. “Easy payments” (is that an oxymoron?) sounded so … well, easy.

There has never been a better time, nor a time with more compelling reasons, to, dare I say the “B” word … go on a BUDGET.

Though much dreaded, budgets really do help prevent debt, and budgets really do help us pull out of debt we’ve incurred, returning us to the happy state of financial sanity.

More family fights are about money matters than practically any other subject. Money disagreements cause untold misery, creating unnecessary rifts between formerly loving couples, and creating havoc in happy families.

Following a budget, although at first quite time-consuming, is among the most powerful stress relievers of all.

On the Internet, entering “How to Budget,” on the search line will produce a mind-boggling number of results: 56,574,131 sites offering information on budgeting. Helping people learn how to develop a workable budget is obviously more than a niche market – it’s a major industry.

Budget theories range from advocating that we track every penny that comes in and goes out … to experts that say, “Budgets don’t work.”

There are budgets and then there are budgets, but there’s one thing on which all budget gurus agree: Rich or poor, everyone should have a working budget.

Richard Jenkins, a budget guru, says of his own experience, “Twenty years of complicated budget calculations have led me to this one simple conclusion: By limiting all essential spending to 60 percent of total income, savings will soar.” He thinks most budgets have “too much detail and not enough bottom line.”

Most intriguing site of all was entitled: “The B Word,” by Lee Roesner, who replaces the dirty word “budget” with a nice clean word, “cash flow management,” a term from the domain of big business number crunchers.

Roesner has trademarked “The B Word” and developed a whole system which, for $49.95 plus shipping and handling, promises to teach us how to manage our cash flow instead of our “money.” He claims it’s the easiest and most efficient cashflow system in the universe. Well now, that is inticing.

A very popular budget guru, with whom I am familiar, is Dave Ramsey. Ramsey has trained budget advisers all over the country, and those advisors in turn, present courses on cash flow management in their own communities. Ramsey says, “You’ve got to tell your money what to do!” Ramsey himself is a brilliant presenter and great comedian, albeit one with a message.

In Post Falls, there’s a class on The Ramsey Method of personal money management, starting up this month. It will be on Sunday nights from 6 to 8 p.m. The instructor is Michael Anist. If you want more information, give him a call at (208) 659-7407.

The writer was recently dragged screaming and kicking into the rarified realm of budgetdom. I went there willingly at first, but when the going got rough, I had a meltdown right in my budget guru’s office. I was simply overwhelmed. It isn’t easy. But is anything that’s worthwhile, besides eating a chocolate ice cream cone, really easy?

Budgeting is uncomfortable for a while. Any change is uncomfortable until it becomes a habit. Budgeting will become a habit only if you stick with it … and if you stick with it you will succeed.

Budgeting is good for everyone. It can help us recover from a crisis. It can help us climb out of that morass of overwhelming personal debt. It takes the guilt and stress out of bill-paying and buying those necessary items like food and medicines during the month.

Best of all, whether we’re rich or poor, it’s reassuring to know that we’re keeping the butter up on the noodles.