How to Not Make a Budget

Household budgeting can help you manage your money, but it's difficult. You need to keep track of every dollar you spend, and you need to know how to work a computer. Is there an easier way to budget? Yes.

Don't budget!

Manage your money without a budget

So how can you manage your money without a budget? Here's the secret: Pay your bills every payday.

That's it.

1. First, make a list of every bill you pay every month, with amounts. Your list will include hydro, gas, telephone, cable, and so on.
2. Next, divide each bill by the number of pays you get in a month. If your hydro bill is $100 per month, and you get paid every week, you need to pay $25 to hydro every week.
3. Then, go to internet banking at your bank, and program in your bill payments for each payday. Do it for the next six months, so you don't have to worry about it.
4. You're done. Every pay day your bills are automatically paid. No more worries about which bill is due on which day, because on payday, everything gets paid!

Watch Videos on How Not to Make a Budget

To find out more, watch these two videos on how not to budget.

Here's part 2 of the Secret to Budgeting:

But I still want to make a budget

You can program your bills to get paid every payday, and still keep a budget. For a free sample budget, please right click on the image below and save the file to disk. Then open the file in Microsoft Excel 4.0 or higher.

You can then change the budget template to suit your situation by adding or removing income and expense items as needed.

You can also prepare your budget on-line! Get a free, one-month trial of Calendar Budget now!

For more ideas on how to improve your household budgeting, and for more tips on budgeting, please visit our Tips on Saving Money section.