Budgeting with Passion: Part 1

This blog entry is a prelude to what will become series of entries on the subject of budgeting with our life passions in mind.

I don't know about you, but 2012 has so far been the year of throwing all of the proverbial cards in the air and starting over.  It's the year of re-inventing the way things have always been, old habits, dreams, goals, the whole shebang.  While looking at all the facets of my life and cleaning house, some things are re-arranged and assigned a different order in the hierarchy of priorities.  Old forgotten dreams are dusted off and added back into the mix.  The excess is trimmed and cut off.  It feels like being put back on the potter's wheel and formed into a new shape.

This is such a broad and fresh subject for me, I can't possibly cover it all in one blog entry.  So I'll start with what I've been working on today:  budgeting.  But before I get into the nitty gritty of that, I have to give some background info that will lead into where we're at today.

I'm one of those nerdy types who loves looking at all the numbers in detail and making them work for us.  Of course it's a lot more fun when there's an abundance to play with, but that is not often the reality.  Right now Peter works about 2 days a week doing business management.  He also pulls in some small-ish residuals from past entrepreneurial endeavors.  And that's it.  It's tight, but not impossible.  I'm glad he's able to work from home on in his own time schedule, giving him the freedom to process through all that he needs to process in this season. 

While living in Hawaii we sold a business that allowed us to become debt-free (hallelujah!).  Then we were able to buy some things we needed (like a dining room table) and some other things we just wanted (like a kayak and camping gear and my oh-so-lovely wedding ring).  We put the rest in savings and were in a position to coast comfortably for a while.  It was then we were faced with the question:  What do we do with our life when time and money are not holding us back? Did I mention we were living in Hawaii? Ha! Time.  Money.  Hawaii.  Family.  Community.  Bliss.  Right?

This is where our story can get really long, so I'll keep it simple.  Peter, true to form, gave it all up to the Lord.  Together we went on a 21-day fast to seek God's path for us in this dramatically new season of freedom.  And you know what happened? On the last day of our fast, Peter received an unsolicited phone call that opened the doors for him to record his first album.  This was a dream he had been storing up on the shelf since the early- to mid-90's when he originally wrote most of his songs.  He had an interested producer and the timing with the rest of the band, now spread literally around the world, all came together for recording both in Redding and Kansas City.  So that was it.  Peter went downstairs to our garage every morning at 9 a.m. as if he was going to work and pursued the presence of God.  He worked on his songs.  And that was it.  (Oh, there was some surfing and camping and other fun stuff, too, of course.)

Fast forward to October 2011.  We're in Redding (where's the beach, again?).  We still have some money in the bank, enough to get us through another 8-9 months of comfortable living.  We're pretty well-thrashed from life's unexpected and shattering turns.  Our lease is about to expire.  Peter weighs what we should do with our last bit of savings and BOOM we're signing docs on our first home before we knew what had happened.  And POOF there went our money.  Ha! Of course we think we're sitting on a pretty great investment with this house of ours and we just love it, so we have no regrets.  But now the tables have turned and we have a new question:  How do we pursue our passions with limited cash-flow?

That's where I'm at right now.  I'd love to hear how other people answer this question and I'll continue our story very soon...