Tag: budgeting

“I can’t understand, where my money went,
Well, I’m not broke, but I’m badly bent.”
— Bluegrass song lyrics by Fred F. Carter Jr. (1933 –2010), American guitarist, singer, producer, and composer.

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It’s January. Christmas is behind us. The new year is well underway, and here I sit reviewing finances. Leftover Christmas bills. Through the roof homeowner insurance that has doubled in the last three years. Car insurance that is accelerating faster than new car prices. And that doesn’t even include those ever-increasing real estate taxes we paid this week.

I know costs increase and prices go up, but it would really help matters if incomes increased as quickly as expenses. What my good friend and mentor in the newspaper business, Jim Chionsini, used to say at budget time is true: “If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall.”

And, none of these financial concerns address the fact that as soon as we’ve hopefully cleared the first-of-the-year major hurdles, April 15 and the IRS will be staring us squarely in the pocketbook.

On a brighter note, there’s a social media reel going around featuring an adorable little guy with an infectious laugh who is apparently reading a math question from a workbook. “Jaden has a one-dollar bill, one quarter and two pennies,” he reads slowly. “How much money does he have?” After a short hesitation, the little guy looks up and laughs loudly, “Jaden broke!”

There have been times when we’ve all probably been broke, but just not saavy enough to know it. You know, those times when we look back on life and wonder, “How did I ever do that?”

In college, I worked full-time for an auto dealership body shop where my employer fortunately allowed flexibility in my 40 give-or-take hours to accommodate a commuting schedule to East Texas State University. Finagling classes scheduled all on A days or B days allowed me to work on the other days in Mount Pleasant, plus some hours when the shop wasn’t open, like nights until 10 p.m. and some Saturdays.

Although earning a four-year degree took me five years, I did it. Graduated with a double-major degree in psychology and art. But that’s not the whole story. During the same five years, I also bought and supported two vehicles, one daily driver and one “weekend warrior” race car that friend and mechanic Oscar Elliott and I campaigned on drag strips from Texas to Oklahoma to Louisiana.

How did I do all that? I have no idea. Good money management? You don’t know me very well, do you? Good economic times? Well, if it was, I had no clue. I didn’t even have a budget — you know, one of those plans that keeps you from having too much month left at the end of your money. Like the story the preacher shared in his sermon last Sunday about a couple enduring hard times, struggling to make ends meet.

Seems that after agreeing on a workable budget, the wife was at the mall shopping when she saw a gorgeous dress and fell in love. Rationalizing her feelings, she thought, “I really need a new dress.” But then she remembered the budget.

“It won’t hurt to just try it on,” she decided. And that’s all it took. The dress went home with her.

Arriving home, she proudly showed it to her husband, who could not believe his eyes. “You bought a new dress,” he asked in disbelief? “After all of our planning and discussion about finances and how to make ends meet, you bought a new dress?”

“I’m really sorry,” she said remorsefully. “I couldn’t help myself. I was in Dillard’s and the devil made me do it.”

“The devil,” her husband couldn’t help but laugh. “Didn’t you remember the scripture in Matthew chapter 16 when the Lord said, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan.'”

“Well, I did that,” she replied sheepishly. “And the devil told me that it looked good on me all the way around.”

So here I sit when I should be writing a column, trying to fine-tune my budget and work my way through finances for the new year. I just want to cry out, “Get thee behind me, checkbook.”

Instead, I’m staring at a stack of bills and recalling that cute youngster joking about Jaden’s money problem. I can just hear him now.   

“Leon, he’s broke, too.”

—Leon Aldridge

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Aldridge columns are featured in these publications: The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche,  the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.