Please help me learn how to create a personal financial budget?
Tryna-Hyde asked:
I have finally gotten my husband to agree to put our money together and live consistently from a budget. Trouble is - I don’t know how to work Excel (which I have at home). I hear it’s easy but I’m not having much luck. Does anyone know of any resources available where I can get help to create my budget in a hurry? I don’t have money to pay, thus the need for the budget in the first place, but I’m not sure where I could look for free information.
I have finally gotten my husband to agree to put our money together and live consistently from a budget. Trouble is - I don’t know how to work Excel (which I have at home). I hear it’s easy but I’m not having much luck. Does anyone know of any resources available where I can get help to create my budget in a hurry? I don’t have money to pay, thus the need for the budget in the first place, but I’m not sure where I could look for free information.
Anyone got any ideas?
January 31st, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I’m not sure if you’re a church going person, but a lot of times there are people there that specialize in helping people set up their budgets, I think for free.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:16 am
don’t worry about putting on the computer or software right now, because your first few months of a budget are going to be trial and error.
First find out how much money you make a month and then place into to categories as to where it will all go: house payment,car payment, utilities, food, gas, savings, blow money.
At the end of each month you should have no money left that is not going anywhere. If there is money left say 20$ or so put it into a category too like savings, or clothing
make sure you have all things covered and each and every $ accounted for.
After a few months of living on your new budget you should be close to getting the correct $ amounts into the right place.
Right now don’t worry about new software or how to put it on the computer just worry about getting it started and working for you.
Budgeting is hard, and takes discipline, good luck
February 4th, 2009 at 2:34 am
Hi - your best two sources IMO are Personal Finance for Dummies, by Eric Tyson, and The Only Investing Guide You’ll Ever Need, by Andrew Tobias. These books are not free, in total about $30, but well well worth the money and make what you’re trying to do crystal clear.
If you can only have one, go for the Dummies book, more nuts and bolts and Tyson takes you by the hand. Tobias does a great job of actually showing you how to cut your spending and identify where your money is going, however, which is critical to your task.
If you want completely free budget tools from the web there are loads, but I highly recommend these books, and a bit of time to do things thoughtfully and with a real, workable plan.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:14 am
here are some good tips
I don’t personally use a budget sheet. What we do is pay
at least $25.00 (since thats the average of the monthly bill) toward each bill every week. Thats about $100.00 month
(Regardless of the balance it gets $25.00 each week, for example lets say the water bill is $35.00…I still pay 25.00 week and have a credit of $65.00 next month…now next month IF and ONLY IF I need to pay X-tra on the light bill to get that one ahead I do. I try to keep the bills with at least a $25.00 credit at all times(if not more) just in case.
This helps ME alot…But we all have our own system.
(I’ve been doing it this way since I was about 16- that was when I’d help my MOM with bills and such and now I’m now in my mid 30’s and it still works for me)
February 6th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Try . It’s a simple and free budgeting tool. If you want to save your budget all you have to do is register an account (they don’t spam or give away your email).
The first step to creating a budget is a bit tedious, but not difficult. Start with your current situation. List all of your income sources and when you receive them (weekly paychecks, monthly bonuses, etc.). Then do the same for all of your expenses, including when you make those payments.
If you use the finfo budget tool you’ll see a graph of your budget showing you if you’re spending more than you’re making, and if so, how long it will be until you run out of cash and go into debt.
By creating this current view of your finances you’ll be able to discuss with your husband how much you have left over to save for retirement, college fund for kids, etc.
After creating your current financial budget, work together with your husband to set limits on all of your expenses. Also, you may want to add “savings”, “college fund”, and other items you’d like to save for in your expenses.
A good rule of thumb is to allocate 10%-15% of your income to savings. Try to work towards that goal.
Here’s the most important part, in my opinion. In the future, when your income increases, it is absolutely CRITICAL that you do not use it as a chance to spend more. The reason most people struggle, even with pay increases/job promotions is that they continually spend all of their income. It doesn’t matter whether they make $35,000 or $75,000… they spend it all when they upgrade from a corolla to a 3 series bmw.
It will be difficult, but the two of you need to come up with a set percentage for spending increases. For example, for any increases in income, 50% will go towards spending increases and 50% will go to savings. Basically, the more that you allocate to savings, the quicker you’ll be in a much better financial situation.
Best of luck!