Shouldn't…but Do

Ah, month’s end. Month’s beginning. Since becoming a single head-of-household, I have struggled to find the right budgeting method to best manage our limited finances.

As seen in the crises of our times, managing money is no small feat. In the same light, lucky are those who have money to “manage” at all. So I’m not complaining.

Now money might be considered a medium of energy exchange in our culture. You got a lot? You can do a lot of things. Not much? You can still do a fair bit, but what energy you do have, has to get creative. Too much for what you need? It can get all bound up – maybe bloat, groundlessness, waste. Too little and the wind dries out whatever tries to grow, burns off too fast.

There’s a balance in there somewhere, like caloric intake, unique to each person and the life they are trying to live.

I balanced out January with exactly $0.02 to spare. I was jubilant.

On Sunday, I related this fact to a lightly-known clerk with whom I occasionally commiserate at my local big-box grocery store. Striding by, a sort of rough looking gentleman overheard my comment and remarked, “better it had been $2.00.” I smiled broadly and replied, “yes, but $0.02 was enough.”

Paucity does not impress me, I am not hoping for long-term residency at the bottom line. But the next time you hear someone say, “that’s just my $0.02,” remember that sometimes that $0.02 makes all the difference.