Budgeting Process

     The budgeting process is something that made me feel like real life is harder than it seems. Many people say that once you become an adult you take on a lot of responsibility and have to make your own decisions, and the budgeting examples that we did in class helped me realize all of this firsthand(ish).
     We did a game in class where we had to act like we were adults who made 27,000$ a year and then we had to budget that money and basically try to survive how we normally would go about surviving with that much money. For me, this made me realize how hard it would be to live on that much money. When you are you and don't have a job 27,000 sounds like a ton of money that you could only dream of making. In reality it really isn't that much, money goes quick. This game also brought to life all the money that you make that doesn't go directly to you. Almost 1000$ every month were going to taxes. Even though technically that money is going to you by funding the country that you are a part of, it still doesn't feel good to see all that money out of your reach.
     I think that my budgeting choices in the game were fairly realistic. We had to factor out taxes first and then find a house and car to rent and buy. Then we added all other day to day expenses like groceries and gas. In the end I was left with about 20$ a month. I found a reasonable house that I would enjoy renting and also a car that was cheap but not exceedingly cheap. I also put 30% of my profit into savings, which some people would say is a lot however they would only say that because they are, in fact, correct, it is a lot. Other classmates made financial decisions that I couldn't see myself making realistically, like buying a 400$ car or living in a 600$ house with 3 other people. These nonrealistic decisions are things that I tried to avoid, however making a lifestyle out of 27000$ is harder than expected and I can see why people tried to do insane things to pull it off.
     This game has given me what I think to be a better view on the world as an adult. Making decisions is something I know will be crucial in later life but I feel after having practice with real life situations it might be easier now that I am the slightest bit more knowledgeable. The scary part is that almost everybody seems to go into adulthood unprepared and not expecting what is to come. Maybe everybody doesn't feel this way but I am sure that there are a fair amount of people who do and practice with finances could be the small amount of knowledge one needs to have confidence making their own decisions farther down the line.