Fungeting 101 (click to comment)

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Have you noticed with inflation lately that a dollar saved is a penny earned? We’re here to help, my friend. If the word budget send chills up your spine you’ve come to the right place. To take the edge off, our Laugh Again research team has put the fun back in budget by invented the “funget.” But how, you ask, does one go about setting a funget? We have your answer in 10 fun and easy steps.

Step 1: Throw a fungeting party. Before making major decisions, it’s important to party about it first. Buy balloons, cheesecake, a piñata and invite the neighbours. Save money and have them bring the food.
Step 2: When you’ve cleaned up after you neighbours, sit down with a bag of skittles and start listing your expenses. For every expense you write down, eat a skittle and shout “wahoo.” Develop two separate lists, one for essentials, the other for extras. Essentials include things like mortgage or rent payment, groceries and deodorant. Extras include stuff like new furniture, gifts and vibrating abdominal belts.
Step 3: Look through your list of extras and place a star by each item you can afford to cut out. Each time you make a star, put your hand over your heart and sing a mournful dirge. Then eat a handful of skittles.
Step 4: Estimate what you spend. You may need to go through your chequebook, receipts or bank statements from the past few months to figure this out. You also might need to open a new bag of skittles.
Step 5: Take a break, and read a couple chapters from my book Laughing Matters.
Step 6: Add up your two lists separately. Set a timer to go off every 43 seconds. Every time it goes off shout “wahoo” and pop a skittle in your mouth.
Step 7: Subtract the essentials total from your monthly income. If you have money left over, subtract the extras total from that amount. If your extras list takes you into negative numbers, find places to cut back. Sing a mournful dirge, and finish the last of the skittles. If you still have money left over, Vonderbar! Save. Invest. Pay off debt. Give money away. Spoil your children. Or children, spoil your parents.
Step 8: Read the book of Proverbs. It’s loaded with practical financial wisdom. Proverbs 23:4-5 says: “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself. Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies away.”

The money in your bank account is a generous gift from a generous God who gave up the thing that was most precious to Him, His only son, for you. So honour Him with your stuff. And eat some more skittles. Who knew saving money could be this much fun.

Phil Callaway

Phil Callaway, the host of Laugh Again, is an award-winning author and speaker, known worldwide for his humorous yet perceptive look at life.

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