Budgeting is not The Ten Commandments. It isn’t written in stone nor should it be. (Don’t even think about asking to borrow my chisel.) It has to be flexible enough to meet the needs in your life. One day, you’re a scared freshman asking where Nomanom Hall is, the next you’re bringing the kids to day care. In this crazy life, people are constantly changing. I’m not trying to be your life guru, but when your life changes, your budget needs to change as well.

As much as I would love to be able to write out for you the Golden Budget, the budget to end all budgets, I can’t because every budget needs something different. Conveniently, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) we have personal finance guides that can help you personalize your budget. (Heck, it’s already paid for anyway.) The personal finance guides can help you with budgets for things like heading off to college, hitting the work force, road trips, or buying expensive items. A personal finance guide can help find what applies to you directly.

Let me lay out some basic budget alterations and possibilities to give you some ideas.