How to Make a Budget

Cash Budget | Envelope Budget

Join us for tips on how to make a budget and stick to it.

This is your page to brag about your budgeting prowess. Do you use an envelope budget/cash budget? Have you made your own household budget worksheet?

Or have you found a free budget planner you can recommend?

How to create a budget: some tips.

Write down everything you spend in a notebook (you can transfer it to a spreadsheet later). This will show you if you're wasting money on unnecessary cash and debit purchases. Coffee and chocolate bar purchases may not seem like much at the time, but they do add up.
Set up a simple personal budget worksheet/spreadsheet with your income and fixed expenses like mortgage/rent, utilities, insurance, etc. You can use a computer spreadsheet like Excel, or a paper version.
Work out how much you want to spend on debt repayment each month.
Think about how you can cut down. Do you really need the movie channel when basic cable will do? Or do you need cable at all? Do you really need a car if you live in a city?
If you haven't already, set up a savings plan, whether it be coins in a jar, or an automatic saving set up by your bank. You'll need an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
Try using cash only for a month. Use an envelope budget (or put cash in jars), and allocate a certain amount to each envelope for housing, food, transport, utilities, etc
Budget in some fun - if you're too strict and don't allow for some entertainment, you'll have trouble sticking to it.

How to Create a Budget and Stick to it - Your Stories

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What Other Visitors Have Said

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The Needs Based Prioritization Budget I use needs-based prioritization to budget. What is needs-based prioritization?

It is a system of budgeting based upon the actual needs, as opposed ...

The Free Tools I Use I use a number of free tools to handle my budgeting.

My first tool is the check register that came with my checkbook. I keep this in my wallet and ...

Don't Go to the Mall - Avoid Temptation I used to be a person whose motto was: “a dollar earned is a dollar spent”.

Somehow, no matter what I did, I always ended up broke by the end of the ...

Use a Spreadsheet and Cut Out Unnecessary Spending 1.Budget should be fixed according to your income and expenditure.

2. The budget system I use is a simple spread sheet. It's easy to fill it out and ...

Recognise the Difference Between Want and Need In today's economy, it can be very difficult to save money, especially considering how the recession has driven up prices on most everything.

It's ...

Know Your Fixed Expenses First and foremost, before attempting to set up a budget, it is essential to know the amount of your fixed expenses, i.e. mortgage and car payments, property ...

Make a Budget and Stick to It A majority of us end up spending more than we intend to while shopping in a supermarket.

There are always things that you feel are needed, when they ...

Making a Budget: Proactive and Reactive Approaches There are a couple of different basic approaches to budgeting and living-frugally, well-within your means:

Making a Budget: Reactive Approach

The ...

Leave Wiggle Room for Treats and Incidentals By far, the hardest part of sticking to a budget for me (and my boyfriend) are all the incidentals that come up in the course of a month.

It's easy ...

No Mobile Calls, Cutting Out Crisps, and Biscuits... I have been affected quite badly by the recession being a single mum with 4 children but I have saved money by growing my own vegetables inside the house ...