Personal Budgeting Strategies
When you are coming up with a budget, you are going to have to specify it to yourself. Don't think that there is a budget that someone out there came up with that you must follow. Your needs are different than the needs of everyone else. A single person might only spend $200 on food every month. This doesn't mean you have to feed your family of 6 on $200 a month.
First, start by writing down all your income. Include everything you make. For most people, this will just be a salary, but you should also include any tips, interest, investment income, and anything else you make each month.
Take every opportunity that comes your way to make extra money. Any career probably has some opportunity to make a little extra money. If you're a teacher, you can tutor on the side. If you're an accounting at a big firm, you can do taxes during tax season. Even if you don't think you're current job lends itself to anything extra, you can get any kind of part time job or just think outside the box.
Next, write down all your expenses. Include everything you spend money on, no matter what. Even that $2 pack of gum you buy every week can add up fast. Add them up for an entire month. This will help you whittle down the expenses you don't really need when you start planning your budget.
Try to cut back as much as you can on expenses. If you are spending money on things you don't need and don't really want, you are passing up a lot of savings. You need to get in the mindset that life isn't about stuff.
Design a plan you can stick with. Don't be so outrageous with your budget cutting out expenses that severely impede how you live. For example, if you think you can save $200 a month by not driving anywhere, but you have a 30 minute commute to work, well, you can figure it out. Its not going to work.
If you are in debt, especially heavy debt, you might have to be somewhat stingy until you pay off your debt. Downgrade wherever you can and only spend when you absolutely have to. The more you cut out, the faster you'll pay off your debt.
Finally, stick with it. This is the most important part of keeping a budget. You have to stick with it! If something seems impossible to do, than modify it, but this doesn't mean giving up entirely on the whole budget. Nobody said keeping to a budget would be easy. You just need to do it!
First, start by writing down all your income. Include everything you make. For most people, this will just be a salary, but you should also include any tips, interest, investment income, and anything else you make each month.
Take every opportunity that comes your way to make extra money. Any career probably has some opportunity to make a little extra money. If you're a teacher, you can tutor on the side. If you're an accounting at a big firm, you can do taxes during tax season. Even if you don't think you're current job lends itself to anything extra, you can get any kind of part time job or just think outside the box.
Next, write down all your expenses. Include everything you spend money on, no matter what. Even that $2 pack of gum you buy every week can add up fast. Add them up for an entire month. This will help you whittle down the expenses you don't really need when you start planning your budget.
Try to cut back as much as you can on expenses. If you are spending money on things you don't need and don't really want, you are passing up a lot of savings. You need to get in the mindset that life isn't about stuff.
Design a plan you can stick with. Don't be so outrageous with your budget cutting out expenses that severely impede how you live. For example, if you think you can save $200 a month by not driving anywhere, but you have a 30 minute commute to work, well, you can figure it out. Its not going to work.
If you are in debt, especially heavy debt, you might have to be somewhat stingy until you pay off your debt. Downgrade wherever you can and only spend when you absolutely have to. The more you cut out, the faster you'll pay off your debt.
Finally, stick with it. This is the most important part of keeping a budget. You have to stick with it! If something seems impossible to do, than modify it, but this doesn't mean giving up entirely on the whole budget. Nobody said keeping to a budget would be easy. You just need to do it!
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Want to find out more on budgeting money? Find the best personal budgeting strategies and find out how you can make a budget work best for you.
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