How do you start budgeting?

Answer 1

How To Make A Good Budget EASY!

How To Make a Good Budget… I end the title of this section with "…" for a reason. The concept of "How To Make a Good Budget" varies from person to person. What may be a good budget to one person may not be the right solution for another person. Because of this, I have created my budget template that can be customized to your needs. Therefore, if you want to make a good budget easily, I recommend starting there! Budget Template Must Haves First, your budget needs to track all financial transactions. This includes:

• Income
• Expenses
• Debt
• Withholdings
• Etc.

When all is said and done, you should be able to see what came in, and what went out. Then finally you can see exactly how much over or under you ended each period. Most people budget on a monthly basis, but you can budget however you would like! Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, it really doesn't matter. In order to put a recap on this section, I will state the budget template must haves simply.

1. Your budget must track incoming and outgoing financial transactions.
2. Your budget must tell you if you spent more or less than what you earned during a period.

For some people searching "How to make a good budget" the answer might be as simple as three numbers. I've seen some people work on a budget that they write down, "I made $1000", "I spent $957", "I saved $43". That really is all it takes to meet the must haves. Budget Template Nice To Haves When I put together a budget template and I ponder what it means to make a good budget, I realize there are a few additional things that make a bad budget good, and then a good budget great! In my templates I feel like these are the nice to haves:

1. The ability to custom label transactions.
2. Tracking individual income and expenses.
3. Dividing up money for it's future intended use.
4. The function of using inputs to analyze possible changes/trends.

What this would mean is if we take the previous example and map it out it would look like this: Income: $1000 Expenses: $957 Difference: $43 Once you add some of the nice to haves, you would start to see something like this: Quincy's Income: $800 Investment Income: $200 Total Income: $1000 Nice To Have #1 and #2 Now, I can see that I didn't just make $1000, but that I earned some of that from working and some from investing. This shows both number 1 and 2 of the nice to haves. I have individual labels that are customized for me, and I am able to break them out as deep as I need to. Maybe I would want to break Quincy's Income into two paychecks, so that I can see I made $350 one time, and $450 another time totaling the $800 I earned. Nice To Have #3 To meet nice to have point three, I would track some expenses in what I call buckets. I could have an expense of $50 that goes into a bucket labeled "Vacation". I didn't actually spend $50, but I am setting it aside for a vacation later. The next month when I put another $50 into that bucket, I would want to see that my vacation fund was currently at $100. Nice To Have #4 Lastly, number four is a huge help in your budget. I see this often when it comes to my internet bills, and it use to happen when I had cable TV. (I do not subscribe to TV anymore, I have been a cord cutter for the last 8 years!) However, when you sign up with internet, you are usually on an introductory promotion. Normally the cost is $60, but you get it for $30 for the first 6 months. That means for 6 months you track your budget and see that it comes in at $30, then on month 7 you notice that your budget changes from saving $43 each month to only saving $13. By having access to nice to have #4, you can now look at your monthly expenses and instantly see that your internet bill has doubled! Now your budget template isn't just telling you how you are doing in the end, but it is showing you what you can improve as you go. Start From Scratch or Use a Template When building your budget, you should make it the way you want to make it! If that means you open Microsoft Excel and start making your own budget, then go right ahead. However, I have built an amazing customized template that is ready to go. It is ready for you to take it and make your own. So, when people ask me my opinion on "How to make a good budget template" I tell them, "Go download mine!"