These are some interesting questions at the beginning of the year. It reminds us of our financial planning for the year. This week the 2 questions of @LadiesofHive - Contest - 169 are:

1️⃣ I annually work on my home budget every January and my recent walk through of a major shopping center reminds me how our financial goals can get undermined by the temptation to spend. What are your strategies and tactics to stay on track?
~ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 / 𝐎𝐑 ~
2️⃣ Charitable giving is a normal part of my budget. It is not always cash donations but it can be other resources like your time and talents as well. Name your favorite Charity and what makes it special to you?

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I have always been in the habit of working on my excels when it comes to financial planning. Month by month I lay down all the anticipated fixed and other expenses which will consider all the festivals, occasions and other celebrations. I normally do my planning half yearly since doing it for the full year is not very practical for me. On a broad level I do anticipate the big expenses of the year and having a saving fund accordingly. Specially the holiday travel budget. Most of the major expenses for me are towards the later part of the year, so the first half is focused majorly on savings.

Yes, but there are times when there is temptation to spend, which is not a part of the budget, and I know that happens not very often but very occasionally. As such I have a strong will power on my shopping habits. I know what I need and I always include all of that in the budget. But it goes haywire when my son is around, because he always ends up spending more then I anticipate and I like to pamper him, so I never say no. In my budget I always keep some spare funds for such times. Also whatever my regular financial planning is there I add 10% extra to it for everything, which always gives me some window to make adjustments.

Source

I am not a spend drift nor do I get carried away with flashy things, so for me my budgeting works more or less to good success, and then for those few uncertain times, I always have room to make adjustments from the additional 10% assigned to each expenses.

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Charity is not something I like to talk about much, it is a very personal thing for me. I always have a budget for that and make sure that it has the top most priority. Along with cash I do give my time also to different causes. Most of them are centered around Children. In India I was very active in both ways, but after coming to muscat this is one part I miss of my life the most. Here I am able to give money but my time is difficult, not that I do not have time, but there are not many opportunities. Some time back I did work with the Children Cancer ward at the hospital, but after Covid they stopped it and we had to discontinue.

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My favorite one till date has been working with the Children at the Fisherman's colony in Mumbai. We were a group of volunteers who would go over the weekend and spend time with the kids there teaching them life skills, we would also take them for day outings to parks. I cannot express what joy I felt with them, they would see me from far and come running and hug me tight. They called me Didi, it means Sister. There was so much of love and I felt so connected with them. If for any reason I was not able to visit them then they would miss me and I too would. When I would go back they would ask me, why I did not come.

Now those kids are grown up, if I go back to them they probably will not remember me also. But that's fine, it was important for me that I they came into my life even if it was for a brief period.

Thank you for visiting my blog. 👼🏻👼🏻💖💖🌹🌺🌸

"Unlimited Abundance, Blissful Happiness and Unconditional Love"

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