From childhood, there was one thing I always knew in my family: we knew our budget. At the very least, I never heard phrases like “can I borrow until payday” from my mom or my grandparents. I only became familiar with that concept much later, retroactively, through stories from other people.
Later on, I discovered that some of my colleagues live the same way — including those whose salaries were higher than mine.
Recently, for the first time in my life, I found myself in a remotely similar situation: I spent the remainder of last year living off the money left from previous salaries, because dividends from a KFT (a Hungarian LLC) can only be paid out after the end of 2025.
For example, I had to postpone buying some furniture, thinking, “I’ll do it after I receive income.” It’s SUCH a mundane, trivial thing — something you can easily live without — and yet I felt uncomfortable. Because never in my life had the quality of my life depended on the date when money arrived. I simply never bought things I couldn’t afford — but knowing that I can afford something, just not right now — that was a first for me.
And I honestly don’t understand how people live in a world where they don’t build any savings even for the next month. And yes, examples from my friends, my family at different points in time, and myself show me that this is a question of control, a question of priorities. I don’t panic at the thought of “saving for a computer for a year,” or at the idea of saving for something in general — everyone’s income is different.
But the idea of living in a way where one day you buy yourself everything you want, and the next month you’re cutting costs everywhere — that scares me. Regardless of what “everything you want” means (from a pair of shoes you can’t really afford to a brand-new Lamborghini), and regardless of what “cutting costs everywhere” means (from riding public transport without a ticket to flying economy instead of business).