Why is setting a budget so important? Contradictory to what many say, money tends to be the driving force behind many things in the world. Without money, we wouldn’t be able to dream of surviving in today’s society. Money buys us food, housing, clothings, essentially our entire livelihood hinges on monetary income.
为什么管理我们的预算很重要呢？与许多人所说的相反，金钱往往是推动世界运行的驱动力。 没有钱，我们就连在梦中都无法于现今社会里生存。金钱，让我们能拥有食物、房子、衣物等，基本上整个生计都取决于我们的收入。
After toiling in the working world for tens of hours each month, we are able to receive our long awaited salary; the fruits of our labour. It’s finally time to enjoy and spend the money we earnt. To eat expensive foods, buy luxurious products, maybe even go on vacations, all the wonderful things you could do with money. But, what about all our other living expenses?
Once you blow off all your money on these luxuries, who’s gonna pay the bills? This is precisely why we need to manage our budget. We ought to prevent ourselves from crossing the line before it’s too late.
每个月在职场上辛苦工作几十个小时后，我们就能拿到期待已久的工资，即我们的劳动成果。终于到了享受和花费我们赚来的钱的时候了。吃昂贵的美食，购买奢侈品，甚至可能去度假，所有你可以用钱实现的美好唾手可得。然而，我们所有其他生活费用呢？若是把所有的钱都花在这些奢侈品上，那么又由谁来付账呢？ 这正是为什么我们需要管理开销预算，以防止自己越过界限，无法挽回。
The 50/30/20 rule | 预算及其重要性
So, how exactly can we budget our money? Well, there are three key segments to managing our budget, these three being our needs, our wants and our savings. All of these words are pretty self explanatory, needs are things like food and transportation; things that are mandatory to account for in life.
那么，我们究竟该如何进行预算呢？ 嗯，预算其实就包括三个关键部分：需求、愿望和储蓄。这些词都是不言自明的，需求指的就是食品、交通费等。只要生活中必须考虑的必需品，我们都必须要留意。
Wants constitute things that a person desires but are not required to live a normal life, such as expensive foods, luxurious products or a vacation, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Savings are the money we set aside for a rainy day or retirement, it is often the most overlooked as people are naturally more focused on the present rather than the future, leading to many people being put in a tight spot when they desperately need to fork out the extra cash or have no retirement funds.
With so many things to account for, how would a normal person balance their budget?
想要是指一个人想要但不需要过正常生活的东西，比如上一段提到的昂贵的食物、奢侈品或假期。储蓄是指我们为未雨绸缪或退休而留出的钱，它往往是最容易被忽视的，因为人们自然更关注现在而不是未来，导致许多人在迫切需要花钱时陷入困境 多余的现金或没有退休基金。 既然有这么多事情需要考虑，一个正常人会如何分配他们的收入呢？
This is where the 50/30/20 rule comes into play.
The rule is as such, 50% of your salary goes to your needs, 30% of your salary goes towards your wants and the last 20% goes toward savings or debt repayment if any. Over the long term, this rule will allow a person to have manageable debt, room to indulge occasionally and savings to pay for unexpected expenses while also retiring comfortably. What if I need more than 50% of my earnings to accommodate my needs? Then that money would have to unfortunately come out of the 30% dedicated to your wants to avoid cutting into your savings which should strictly be set aside for the future.
这就是 50/30/20 规则发挥作用的地方。
规则是这样的，你工资的 50% 用于满足你的需求，30% 用于满足你的需求，最后 20% 用于储蓄或偿还债务（如果有）。 从长远来看，这条规则将允许一个人拥有可控的债务、偶尔放纵的空间和储蓄来支付意外开支，同时还能舒适地退休。 如果我需要 50% 以上的收入来满足我的需求怎么办？ 那么不幸的是，这笔钱必须从 30% 的资金中拿出来用于您的需求，以避免削减您的储蓄，而这些储蓄应该严格留作以未来使用。
Other ways to budget your money | 其他省钱的妙方
Apart from this fundamental rule of budgeting, there are of course other ways to cut costs in life. Second-hand buying, the act of purchasing items previously used or owned by other people, often means the price of the product would be much cheaper than that of those on the market. Cutting costs on unnecessary expenses can also help to save a great deal of money, this can come in the form of cancelling unused subscriptions or dining out less and cooking at home more.
除了预算这一基本规则之外，我们当然还有其他方法可以削减生活成本。购买二手货品是指购买其他人曾经使用过或拥有的物品的行为，这通常意味着该产品的价格会比市场上的价格便宜得多。 削减不必要的开支也有助于节省大量资金，具体形式可以是取消未使用的订阅或减少外出就餐，多在家做饭。
Impulse buying is another big factor as to why people end up with no savings in their bank account. I see this, I like this, I want this, I need this, that is the progression of impulse buying where a person slowly convinces themselves that they need something although they never actually did, thus leading to them buying it on impulse and regretting after. Refraining from impulse buying and questioning if the purchase is really necessary helps out a ton in the endeavor of saving money.
冲动购买是导致人们银行账户里没有存款的一个重要因素。 我看到这个，我喜欢这个，我想要这个，我需要这个，这就是冲动购买的过程，一个人慢慢地说服自己，他们需要一些东西，尽管他们实际上从未这样做过，从而导致他们冲动地购买它，然后后悔 。 避免冲动购买并质疑购买是否真的有必要，这对省钱有很大帮助。
Conclusion | 结论
Those are just some of the ways to manage and save your money with many other great methods out there for you to explore. Especially with the Lunar New Year festive season sales ongoing, you’ll need to priortise your spendings. While it is hard to resist the urge to buy whatever you may desire, saving money allows you to live a much more fulfilling life as you do not have to walk on a tightrope in the future.
Your efforts of saving now will not go to waste. And trust me, your future self will definitely thank you for what you are doing now.
这些只是管理和省钱的一些方法，还有许多其他好方法供您探索。 虽然很难抗拒购买任何你想要的东西的冲动，但省钱可以让你过上更充实的生活，因为你将来不必走钢丝。 你现在的努力不会白费，相信我，未来的你一定会感谢你现在所做的一切。
