Household Budgeting: How to Make A Budget
Household budgeting can help you manage your financial affairs. How do you make a good budget that you can follow and keep up with? Read our tips. Or, if you want to manage your money without budgeting, read our article on how to NOT make a budget.
A budget is a document that lists what your income is every month, and what you spend your money on each month.
Once you have your budget ready, you can use it to balance your personal finances.
There are many books you can buy on household budgeting, but we recommend keeping it simple.
- First, at the top of the page write down what you bring home each month. Try our free sample budget that you can use with excel 4.0 or higher as a guide.
- Then, write down everything you spend money on each month. Start by going through your bank statements credit card bills. Most people remember their rent payment, but often forget the newspaper they buy on their way to work each morning. We recommend that you carry a small notepad with you every day, and write down everything you spend money on, including newspapers, lunch, magazines, and your morning coffee. By doing this you will have a complete list of all of your expenses, which will make it easier to create your budget. For yearly expenses like insurance or property taxes, divide the annual cost by 12 to include a monthly cost for these items.
- Once you have your budget in writing, make it work for you by either cutting down your expenses or by increasing your income. Our Personal Finance & Budgeting: Tips on Budgeting page addresses this subject in greater detail.
For more ideas on how to improve your household budgeting, and for more tips on budgeting, please visit our article about Tips on Saving Money.
For a totally different approach to budgeting, read our article on how to NOT make a budget. It's simple, and it works!
Online Budgeting
Not everyone likes to keep a budget on paper or on a spreadsheet. You can prepare your budget on-line using Calendar Budget. Track and forecast your spending in an easy-to-use calendar format. Plan ahead for major purchases, financial goals and debt reductions with account balance forecasts.
Keeping track of your budget can help you reduce your expenses, pay off debt sooner and save for the future. Get a free, one-month trial of Calendar Budget now!
