| Income | Monthly | Yearly | |
| Salary | 35,329 | ||
| Housing Allowance | 10,000 | ||
| Health Insurance | 12,200 | ||
| Pension | 5200 | ||
| Continuing Ed | |||
| Travel Expenses | |||
| Etc. | |||
| Total Income | 62,729 | ||
| Expenses | Monthly | Yearly | |
| Auto | Fuel | 150 | 1800 |
| Insurance | 63 | 756 | |
| Service | 200 | 2400 | |
| Taxes | 6 | 72 | |
| Saving | 100 | 1200 | |
| Auto Total | 519 | 6228 | |
| Blessings | Tithe | 294 | 3532 |
| Cash | 20 | 240 | |
| Clothing | 42 | 500 | |
| Dates | Weekly | 80 | 1040 |
| Anniversary | 17 | 200 | |
| Birthdays | 8 | 100 | |
| Dates Total | 105 | 1340 | |
| Entertainment | 20 | 240 | |
| Food | Eat-out | 25 | 300 |
| Groceries | 400 | 4800 | |
| Food Total | 425 | 5100 | |
| Household | Haircuts | 15 | 180 |
| Computer | 15 | 180 | |
| Maintenance/Repair | 40 | 480 | |
| Operations | 40 | 480 | |
| Postage | 9 | 108 | |
| Yard | 10 | 120 | |
| Household Total | 129 | 1548 | |
| Insurance | Disability | 13 | 154 |
| Home Owners | 42 | 500 | |
| Life | 38 | 453 | |
| Medical - Church | 1000 | 12,200 | |
| Medical | 167 | 2004 | |
| Insurance Total | 1260 | 15311 | |
| Medical | Dentist | 33 | 400 |
| Doctor | 20 | 240 | |
| Medicine | 30 | 360 | |
| Medical Total | 83 | 1000 | |
| Housing | 833 | 10,000 | |
| Pension | 433 | 5,200 | |
| Savings | |||
| Taxes | |||
| Utilities | Landline | 30 | 360 |
| Cell | 30 | 360 | |
| Electric | 60 | 720 | |
| Gas | 100 | 1200 | |
| Water & Sewer | 30 | 360 | |
| Utilities Total | 250 | 3000 | |
| Vacation | 83 | 1000 | |
| Loans/Debt | |||
| Grand Total | 4496 | 54,239 | |
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
A Theoretical Budget Proposal
Here is a draft budget proposal for what it might look like to live with the guidelines from the Order of St. James. Its not perfect and some of it is not even filled in. But there is $8000 left unallocated in the end. So there's plenty of wiggle room.
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7 comments:
I notice how the loan/debt column is blank. What might this look like for a person who has an inordinate amount of student debt (cough.... me...cough).
Wouldnt it be more financially responsible to pay off interest-accumulating debt before one disperses of such a high percentage of money to those in need?
Just something I have been wondering, thinking about.
Brandy,
We had some good conversation about this today. Here's where the conversation is heading:
1. Debt would be a major priority. It might even be a requirement to get rid of all debt to fully join the order.
2. The first priority for anyone in debt would be to get rid of the debt; thus, the excess would be spent entirely on debt.
3. The community of the Order would help individuals continue to make wise decisions about money so that the debt is not kept. One individual said today, "If I don't have a group like this, I'll always be in debt and never pay it all off. I'll just keep buying more and more stuff." In other words, a group like this is a major source of support to help individuals get out of debt. Thus, when one is out of debt, they would then have the opportunity to begin giving that excess money to something else. What that something else is, is still way up in the air (is it something determined by the order, by the church, or by the individual?).
Peace,
Tom
After receiving the initial email for this Order, I wondered why the salary would be set at the minimum for pastors. Why not go with the living wage in each specific region? There are probably a lot of places online that will tell you the living wage for your area, but here is one calculated for Durham: http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/results.php?location=20700
I would assume that you could figure out additional kids by looking at the difference between "Two Adults, One Child" and "Two Adults, Two Children." You could also check this site's numbers against other sources.
Nick,
Nice website. I was looking for something like this but couldn't find anything. Thanks for passing it on.
Connecting the salary to the minimum conference salary had a couple of reasons behind it:
1. It was a simple easy way to set a number. You've shown us another simple easy way to do that too.
2. It was regionally based.
3. It presents a potential renewal movement toward a more British Methodist way of doing salaries.
4. It was never meant to be a proposal for poverty, but rather a proposal for simplicity (or at least more simplicity than we UMC pastors are used to living). As your website points out, this proposal is way above a living wage. It will be good food for thought. The proposal was just that, a proposal. Those interested will be determining what this order might do next year within the spirit of this proposal.
Thanks for the input, Nick. Come join us.
Peace,
Tom
So far this year, my family's out-of-pocket medical bills have been more than $4,000.
When my son was in an auto accident, it cost us $1,500 out-of-pocket to fix the car. We could have gone without a car, but that would have made working difficult.
I'm the first to acknowledge that my family could simplify and scale down, but the proposed budget does not appear to account for the kinds of financial emergencies that make the life of people on low incomes so tenuous.
John
Dear John,
Thanks for the thoughtful questions. First, they're good questions and questions that our group is aware of and is reflecting on.
Second, the theoretical budget here has $8000 in it that isn't allocated to anything. It also has $1000 allocated to vacation. Thus, take out vacation and you've got $9000 to move around as any particular family sees fit. One of those line items is "savings." There's nothing inherent in the proposal that says a family can't save a cushion of some sort.
Third, those who are currently discussing this have reflected on whether the Order itself might help with these kind of emergencies.
Fourth, the main thrust of this proposal is a community of individuals who are gathering together to hold one another accountable to living simply, giving and receive hospitality, and evangelism. Thus, the "mark" of simplicity is couched within a discerning community that could discern that one's emergency situations this year warrant spending more than the "anchor" minimum conference salary.
Fifth, we don't know what to do about college for kids. We've got some serious work to do with that one but some initial thoughts can be found under the post on college: http://orderofstjames.blogspot.com/2008/04/kids-college.html.
What do you think?
Tom,
I appreciate your thoughtful effort to develop these ideas and respond to questions.
I'll be watching from time to time, although likely not as a full participant.
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