My wife and I manage our finances on what is called a “Zero-Based
Budget”. I’ll call it a ZBB. What does this mean?

A ZBB simply means that the monies that you bring in every month
are planned BEFORE the month and assigned in a manner such that
every dollar is used.

So a ZBB means that your INCOME side will equal your EXPENSE side
of the paper or spreadsheet that you are using. When you subtract
INCOME from EXPENSES, you’ll end up with $0. This is a ZBB.

Every month, my wife and I sit down to plan the upcoming month and
make any necessary adjustments to our monthly budget (I do the same
for my business, too!).

This has led us to an interesting discussion that often arises.

The question that we ask is “what would be the last to go?” I
mean, setting basic essential “needs” aside such as clothing, food,
and shelter, what of your “wants” would be the last thing that you
would get rid of in the event that you HAD to reduce your budget?

Would you hold onto your cable TV? Your gym membership? The daily
Mocha Frapuccino from Starbucks?

You see, I do a ZBB for my business as well. And if you’re like
me, you’ve probably picked up a few monthly memberships over the
years or gathered a couple ebooks or resale rights products on your
computer? ha ha You know what I mean, right!?!?

So I’ve been thinking about WHAT I would NOT want to cut from my
business budget. Again, I’m talking about WANTS not NEEDS. I need
to have a dedicated server, my office, advertising, etc. I WANT to
keep the memberships or other educational tools that I want to
“play” with…….and it turns out that there is one particular
thing that I could not do without…….

……it’s something that I’m going to share with you tomorrow
morning.