Keep a record of your expenditures. Record and review monthly income and expenses. Determine how to reduce what you spend for nonessentials. Use this information to establish a family budget. Plan what you will give as Church donations, how much you will save, and what you will spend for food, housing, utilities, transportation, clothing, insurance, and so on. Discipline yourself to live within your budget plan. A budget worksheet is a useful tool to help you with your plan. (All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances)There are so many ways to create a budget. It is a personal choice as to which method you will use. One recommendation that I want to make is that you manage your finances together if you are married. Communication is essential in staying within a budget. Be kind and respectful to each other as you discuss money. Try to understand the other's priorities, needs, and wants before you judge the other's thoughts on budgeting. By making decisions together, both of you will be committed to and more likely to stay within your budget.
I personally use a computer-based budget program. My husband and I discuss and agree to the budget allocations together. By keeping a financial reserve, we've been able to weather several unexpected expenses.
Do you have any budgeting tips that you'd like to share?
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3 comments:
Great post. What budget system do you use? I use Quicken. I recently heard about a program (possibly lds-based) involving virtual "envelopes" which seems to fall in line a lot with church thoughts on setting aside money for unexpected expenses (car repairs, etc).
Thanks PreparednessBug! I do use Quicken. I'd like to hear more about this new program. I know that my brother doesn't like Quicken because he can't carry money over from month to month in his categories. He uses a spreadsheet instead. I have created "fake" accounts in Quicken in order to carry money in my categories.
Dh and I are also in agreement about expenditures. Dh takes the same amount of cash each pay period, so I can easily keep track where the money goes. I do most of the shopping and budgeting, so it works for us not to have differing amounts of money coming out of our accounts each month.
For me, the biggest help for our budget is for me not to shop as "recreation". I don't shop for something to do. I plan the shopping trips and get only what I have planned for. Of course, this doesn't mean that I am not open to great bargains. I have extra money set aside for unexpected deals that shouldn't be passed up.:)
Thanks a lot for your blog. I check it every day.:0
Joyce
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