Drawing up and maintaining a family or personal budget is not as simple as it seems. On the one hand, everything seems to be simple — I calculated approximately how much is needed for food, utilities, clothing, household needs, and so on. But then you suddenly remember that you wanted to buy yourself new pants, and you had to update the equipment. And after all, you also need to look at the dentist — and rushed! So many things are needed, and the family budget is not rubbery, and money does not grow on a tree. But you also want to postpone, so that there is a reserve just in case.

How to find the perfect budget planning option to make it work for both ours and yours? That is, and take into account everything necessary, and leave yourself for small and medium-sized joys (especially large ones should always be planned in advance)? One of the options is to make a budget based on Maslow's pyramid of human needs. By the way, quite an interesting and practical option!

The pyramid of needs is a commonly used name for a hierarchical model of human needs, which is a simplified presentation of the ideas of the American psychologist A. Maslow. The pyramid of needs reflects one of the most popular and well—known theories of motivation - the theory of the hierarchy of needs. This theory is also known as the theory of needs or the theory of hierarchy.

The idea is to distribute your income so that all needs are met according to their priority: physiological needs, security needs, social needs, prestige needs and spiritual needs.

On the one hand, everything seems to be simple and clear. But on the other hand, sometimes there are doubts about what kind of needs to attribute this or that item of embezzlement. For example, buying a new smartphone or laptop can be interpreted in two ways: at first glance, this is clearly not a physiological need and not a need for security, but if we consider this purchase as a necessary working tool for a new job, its position in the list immediately changes.

The first two steps of the hierarchy can be considered the main ones - physiological needs and security needs. The remaining steps can be attributed to a simple "I want".

Budgeting according to Maslow's pyramid of needs

Physiological needs

Rent or credit payments
Basic means of subsistence: groceries, groceries (without frills) and water.
Clothing: not designer, but exactly what is needed (a warm jacket if winter has begun, etc.).

Security needs

Electricity and gas
Phone fee
Medicine (money for medicines, doctor's call, procedures and hospital) or insurance
The cost of a car (gasoline) or public transport
Maintenance of a house or apartment (suddenly the pipes will burst — there should always be a reserve).
Operational costs associated with your business.

Social needs

Gifts
Charitable contributions
Entertainment
Spending time with family and friends

Prestigious needs

Appropriate work clothes (expensive suits, ties, cufflinks, shoes)
Additional training and professional development (various trainings, seminars and courses)
Money for lunches in restaurants
Sports activities that are not related to the basic biological needs (visiting a sports club, individual classes with a coach, buying expensive sportswear or equipment, and so on).

Spiritual needs or self-realization

Hobby
The cost of the Internet, if it is not necessary for work.
TV
Vacations and travel just like that, not out of necessity.
The costs of luxury goods (here they are different for everyone).

To be honest, drawing up and maintaining a household budget has always been not very easy for my family. But over time, we were able to create our own system, and it more or less coincides with the one I gave in this article: the most necessary things always come first - home, food, work, medicine and study, and only then do the rest of the items that can really be combined into a group "Desires".

And you know what? It really works!

And how do you manage your budget? Do you have your own system and how flawlessly does it work?