Couple of birthdays, a mini road trip, and two weddings—all within a span of two weeks. These events seemed determined to conspire against our wallet. Well, except that we had anticipated them months in advance and tried to factor them into our budget.
Did we succeed, or did we mess things up?
For the most part, thanks to prior planning and advanced knowledge of these events, we mostly stuck to our budget. We neither had to use a credit card nor dip into other savings. There’s a big difference between knowing events are coming and preparing for them versus knowing they’re coming but not saving ahead of time.
Imagine this: you receive a one-week notice for an upcoming wedding. Not unheard of, but rare. You suddenly need to buy a cash gift, a new suit, shoes, and cover other unexpected expenses. Thankfully, that wasn’t our case—we received the wedding invitation months in advance. The same goes for the two birthdays of dear family members.
Then there was a family trip up north. Again, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. We planned weeks ahead and set aside the money for it. In fact, we paid for the two-night hotel stay using credit card rewards, while covering dining, driving costs, activities, and other expenses out of pocket.
As I mentioned earlier, planning and advanced knowledge are crucial for your budget and finances. The more time you have to plan, the more financially prepared you can be. But this only works if you’re willing to budget and save for upcoming events. Without that, even months of notice won’t help much.
Be ready and plan ahead. Then, no matter what life throws at you, you’ll not only be prepared—you’ll actually enjoy it, because you’re in control, financially and figuratively speaking.