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When you are going through changes in your financial picture, you have to be willing to work with what your budget gives you. If you just had a kid, or bought a house, you need to be able to make those payments. If you get fired, or have to take a pay cut, you have to be able to deal with that as well. When your income level changes, or your bills increase, you have to adjust the amount you spend on wants, and put it toward what you need to spend it on.

How do you determine a need, and how do you determine a want? Well, a need is something that you have to have to survive. You need food, you need clothes, you need shelter. These are things that you have to have in order to live your life every day, and if you don't have these things you will die. OK, you don't need clothes to survive per se, but if it is cold, you need something to protect you from the elements. Also, it might be a little odd to see a naked person walking around during the day, don't you think?

A want is something that you would like to have, but can live without. For example, you need shelter, yet as long as it has four walls and a roof, you are good. It doesn't have to be a mansion, it can just be a one bedroom apartment, and if that is all you can afford, that is all you will have unfortunately. You need food, but you only need cereal, or fruit in a can to survive, you don't need chicken cordon bleu. It certainly is nice to be able to eat out on occasion, but it can be a luxury to put on hold if you need to keep your cash for something else.

You may want an XBox, or some fancy TV, but really all you need is a television, and a regular 27 inch set can be as cheap as a couple hundred bucks. It may not be big screen, or HD, but it will come in handy when you want to watch the game. You might need some furniture, but you can get a cheap couch from Big Lots, or buy one from Goodwill. It might not be fancy, but trust me, it will get the job done. It is actually quite possible to get some good quality items at the Goodwill store, I bought a nice glass table for only twenty dollars.

You need to be able to determine what your costs are, and how you can make ends meet. Pasta, eggs, and tuna fish were my staples for almost a year and a half after I moved out of my parents house. Coupons are so nice to have, and anything that you can buy a single serving of is outstanding. When it comes to clothes, you can always wait for holidays, and even buy clothes out of season. A pair of shorts bought in December is going to be cheaper than a pair bought in July.

You may want to live large, but you need to be able to live day to day. While it certainly is a pain to live in the economy that we have had to survive the past couple years, you have to be prepared. The government won't bail everyone out, so it is up to us to be resourceful, and get the job done. Tightening your belt is not always easy, but when we eventually learn how to manage our lifestyles, we can learn to live our lives a little easier.

Learn more about this author, Cody Hodge.
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