First Things First
Photo: blogs.phillyburbs.com
The first thing to do is get a piece of paper or program on the computer such as Microsoft Office. There will be categories that you must then make to divide your money into. Miscellaneous categories are bad for budgets. These categories should have a payment for rent or for house loans. Electricity, water, cable, and other similar things should all be in the utilities category. Kids should have their own category. The food category should be split into restaurants and a groceries to keep them separate. If you can afford to do so, you should have two separate categories for you and your spouse. All of your car expenses should be in a category with all the personal items in a separate category. These should show you where your money is going every month.
Next Thing
Go through and make sure you know what amount is going to go to bills that can’t be altered in any way. Phone bills and rent might be listed in this category. Make sure they are at unchangeable rates in order to keep your budget intact. This will help you to see what money goes to which things. After finishing you need to place amounts into each category that you would normally spend there. For a month you should live and carefully record your spending to find out what you normally spend on things. Some people are full of shock after realizing how much they spend in each category.
Last Thing on the List
The Last thing you have to do is make sure the budget balances out with the amount of money you are going to be making. Other funds may suffer if you have to subtract from them. Saving money is a great thing to do with the extra money at the end of every month. You must always stick to the budget for it to be effective. The budget may show you that you can’t go out to eat anymore, and you must then stop going out. It will be worth it when you save money rather than spending it on everything you want to.
My experience
When I was in college, I struggled just like everyone else. There was no way I could pay for everything. Somehow I managed to fit in all of my monthly payments such as health insurance, car insurance, or even the phone bill. I thought I might go hungry after having to pay for all that. To pay for everything I had to put as little money as possible into each category. I looked and found a new program to try. My family learned to love this program. Somehow I was able to pay all of my debts with a small paycheck. This program is still beneficial and used often in my family.
