Knowing how to stay within your budget can be difficult, especially if you adhere to the idea that MoneyMoney is something that just magically comes in without a plan. It’s no surprise that so many people struggle with MoneyMoney daily. Where they go wrong is not planning and giving themselves enough time to learn the ropes. They should have started small, tracking their spending over time and building up savings. Yet, a great budget leaves nothing to your will and is more of a path you set out for yourself than a response you can’t control. If you’re looking for more significant ways to save money, this article will show you how to create a budget that works how you want it to.
Table of Contents
Steps To Budget for Dummies
1. Budget plan
Budget plan: This step is what it sounds like. Create a plan or map of your budgeting adventures. Keep in mind that this should not be a master plan. It’s more of a guideline. Each month or week, you will move through the plan, starting with resources immediately and then moving on to expenses. However, you should always refer to the overall plan and make adjustments along the way, e.g., if your income varies monthly.
2. Evaluate
Most people don’t spend every last cent they have on each purchase. So, you will want to evaluate your plans. If you can afford only $100 a month on food, you might get by on less if you plan to put away a certain amount of money at the end of the year. There are many ways to do this. You could create a budget table in Excel or a simple budget planner on paper with sticky notes for each category and what it costs you per month.
3. Optimizing your Money
This step is about giving yourself a little fun while sticking close to your plan. If you start crumpling up your budget every time you feel like it, it will end up being nothing but a piece of useless paper. Instead, create a new category called Optimizing MoneyMoney. It would help if you treated this section like a treat, perhaps even placing it at the bottom of the list where you see everything else.
4. Cut out what you don’t need
The first thing to do is see if you can cut out anything unnecessary in the budget. It could be something as simple as a coffee drink or snack every other day or something expensive. Perhaps your friend has overstayed her welcome and should make her way home. Instead of bringing her home and costing you both MoneyMoney, you should ask if she needs a ride home before starting down the road of cutting things from your budget.
5. Track your expenses
The first step to a reasonable budget is knowing where your MoneyMoney goes. It’s not like you have to go through every transaction in your head, but you should be tracking all of your spendings daily. You could use an Excel spreadsheet, or if you have a smartphone, plenty of apps are dedicated to the task. The trick is making it happen for you, which often means putting in a few minutes each day or week after your spending spree to enter the new information into your budget.
The most important part of a budget is sticking to it and accounting for your spending. You may spend more than you thought or less, but it’s this knowledge that will help you make educated decisions. You should always know where your MoneyMoney is being spent and how much you have to spend along the way. A budget allows you to stay on track even when things get tough.
