Budgeting 101 part 1

As part of becoming a goddess you must be able to manage yourself in many situations. This includes your money. Unfortunately we really can't live without money. Don't we wish we could!!!! There are so many ways to budget your money. I have found some things that work for me so I want to share them with others to help them to manage their money smoothly.

First off you must set up your budget. To do this you have to first sit down and be very honest with yourself. You have to really analyze your needs and your wants. This can be the hardest thing when it comes to setting up a budget. Many times we think that we need something, but it is really a luxury of life. The way we decided to draw the line for needs and wants was that the needs were things we needed to live. for instance, a car. Definitely needed for my husband to get to work as he works nights and we don't have public transportation that runs that late. now 2 cars would be wonderful, but is it REALLY a need. Can we plan our time around 1 car or get rides to go places? Yes, we absolutely can. So a second car is something on our wants list for when we have extra money to save for a few months until we have enough to buy it with cash. Another example is food. Definitely needed to live so that is something we have to honestly look at and see if we are overspending or not.

So once you have gone through all your spending and seen where your money is going you categorize them under needs and wants. Make a list literally if you need to so you can honestly evaluate. This list that you make will be the beginning of your budget. It will be the way you see how much you can spend and how much you need to cut out of your life.

The next step is to actually set up your budget. I was given an excel spreadsheet form a friend of mine that has a top and bottom section to it that are formulated to work with each other. The top portion is for your income and the bottom for the expenses. This way all of your budgeting information is on one page and right there for you to compare. There are also may other pre- made budgets out there for you to use. A couple I found are HERE on the microsoft office website, HERE on the all about website, and HERE on the LDS provident living website. Many of these would also be helpful with another part of budgeting down the line also. So all you need to do is find one that will work for you. Find a budget set up or make your own so that it works in the way you need it to in the terms that you personally understand. If you don't understand your budget or the purpose of having a budget, you will never live it, so it is so important to get the budget in a format that works for you.

Once you have picked one of the budgets, fill in the needs first and see what if left over for the wants. Sometimes if you have extra you can fill in a few of your wants in the order of importance for you. This includes any savings you are trying to have. It should all be written into your budget so you know how much you are spending and how much you have to work with.

Your budget may end up looking like this:

Income:
$2,5000 a month

Expenses:
Rent:$500.00
Gas and Electric:$30.00
Phone:$25.00
Groceries:$300.00
Household Items ( toiletries, soaps, toothpaste, ect.):$100.00
Savings: $25.00
...

Total Expenses: $2,425

Difference:$75.00

It is ok to have a difference with no category. In the future you may want to put the excess towards savings in an investment plan, but for now, just let it be an excess on your budget. This creates a cushion for you financially until you are better at living your budget you a T. I would suggest if you are going to have a cushion, to make it less and less each month until it disappears. this way you don't always think, "it's ok, we have such and such amount that I can go over." This will not change your way of thinking and pay off any debt you have or help you to live within your means.

So now you know how to make your budget so figure out where your money is going and get to it! You have nothing to loose!

~Melissa~