The idiot'sguide to budgeting:Don't buy what you don't need

摘要

Actively thinking about what you need versus what you don't will help you stick to a real-world spending plan. It's deceptively simple.During my senior year of veterinary school, our Veterinary Business professor asked us to outline a personal budget for our first year after graduation. Because I'd mentally checked out a couple of semesters prior to this class, my response to the assignment was that it didn't much matter what my budget was. I'd be earning a measly $24,000 as an intern and would have no time to spend any of it. Whatever was left over after paying my barn rent (yes, I lived in a barn during my internship—it was pretty cozy, thanks) and acquiring bare necessities (beer, hotdogs, toothpaste) would go to our greedy government to at least hold down my ballooning student loan interest.