Budgets: They Are What You Make Them

One of the biggest money savers that I have found, is honestly pretty simple.   A budget.

Budgets can sometimes be perceived as something bad, horrible and confining.  Not so.

It is what you make it.

Quite frankly, when we first decided we needed to have a budget in order to get our finances back on track, I was not looking forward to it.  Today, I cannot imagine my life without one.

Here are some tips to help you create a budget that works for you, instead of you working to keep it!
 

• Be sure to write down every single expense. Everything that you have going out in a month’s time. Groceries, gas, cell phones, cable, house payment/rent, insurance, the list goes on. Do not forget those things that creep up only a couple times a year like Christmas, birthdays, and other holidays.

•  Remember the inevitable expenses. These are things such as clothing (we all need it!), vehicle repairs and haircuts. They may not happen every single month, but clothing can sometimes be a big ticket item. If you set aside money monthly, it won’t break your budget when Little Susie has grown out of all of her clothes. Same goes for vehicle repairs and maintenance. Hopefully you won’t need a major repair on your vehicle, but it happens. Be prepared!

• Don’t forget to give yourself (and your spouse) money, too. If you do not go ahead and allocate money for you and your spouse to use as you wish, you are almost bound to break your budget. Even if you are on a mission to pay off your debt, leave money for you to play with, even if it is minimal.

• Realize that your first budget (and second, and possibly third) may fail. That’s right. I said it. If this is the first budget that you have ever created for you and your family, it may take some getting used to. After your first month, go back and see if there is a certain area that you need to tweak. Maybe you need more money in a certain area, but less in others. Don’t get discouraged!

• Do not leave money unassigned. Make sure that every dollar has a place to go. This is very important.  You need to know where your money goes in order for budget to work for you.

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Phoebe is a stay at home mother of three and wife to an amazing husband.  She blogs daily at Cents to Get Debt Free where she shares her family’s journey of cutting costs and getting freedom from debt.