Till Debt Do Us Part Does Not Always Apply

Ok so I am a BIG fan of the show Till Debt Do Us Part, Kyle said it is a sick fascination with looking down on others far worse off than me, I on the other hand think it is like a preventative measure. See how bad it really is on the other side of the fence so you stay on your own side, I am sure that if you seen someone struggle with an illness (let's say aids), you would think twice about getting yourself into that kind of predicament, right? Ok so on with the post.

The host Gail Vaz Oxlade has this pie chart she shows couples in order to help them better stay in their budget. Pretty easy stuff right? WRONG. It just doesn't work all the time. I shall tell you why.

Gail's Break Down
Housing - 35%
Transportation - 15%
Life - 25%
Debt - 15%
Savings - 10%

Once again pretty simple stuff, not rocket science. I started using this pie chart this year, to see if I could do what Gail wants her participants to do. I can't. I am a master budgeter, I use coupons and sales to the best of my ability and cannot fit into this pie chart. Life is too big a thing to be left at 25%. The trouble I have is that tithing goes into this category, at 10% of my income that leaves 15% for life. Life in my budget has groceries, rogers bills, Sugar's bills, gifts, laundry, and my own list of personal items I may buy in a month (meds/clothes/etc). How can anyone live on 15% of their income?

Now this isn't so much a problem for me as I don't have debt so I have an extra 15% to play with on top of saving in the housing and transportation categories (so I end up with an extra 42% to play with each month). Now should I eventually have debt (say when I buy a house) and the other categories go up how would Gail propose I pay tithing? Anyways that's my thought for the day, just thought that I would share as I sit here once again doing my budget (being the end of the month and all).