I need to make a budget. So I know what I am spending and where. Just what do I do?

Answer 1

Having a budget is very important to monitor your spending since reports state that most people spend 10% more than they earn, which leads to increased debt over time without we notice it.
see this interesting short report about money management techniques : http://downint.googlepages.com/manageyourmoney.html
it contains very useful information, and they also have an offer for one free month trial of a budgeting software.

Answer 2

A budget is a proposed plan for spending. A purchase journal will tell you what you have been spending. As for the budget, you want a list of all payments that you have to make: rent, heat, electric, phone, cable, cell phone, food, insurance, credit card payments, etc., etc., etc. Some items are fixed and some are variable. The difference between those expenses and your income is your discretionary income... the amount you can use for spending or saving. If you have a checkbook, you can look back at what you have been spending money on. You should for the next month or two, keep a record of every dime you spend and record what the money was spent on. Was it spent on a want or need? Did you get value from it? That will help shape your future to avoid unneccesary purchases. Don't forget any seasonal or quarterly expenses so you have the money in the budget to cover them. Examples are quarterly taxes or quarterly insurance payments. Don't forget to list them. Once you have your list of expenses written down, keep track of your proposed budget and your actual expenses to know that you are on target. Hope this helps!!!

Answer 3

A good place to start is your check book. It's a good reference source to see where all your money is going. Make a list of all fixed monthly expenses, such as rent or mortgage, auto loans, electric bills, telephone, cable TV, internet service, and all credit card payments, even state and federal income tax payments. From this you get a monthly total of what might be called fixed expenses. To this add that other set of necessary expenses such as food, clothes, commuting expense, auto repairs; all of which can vary quite a bit and would need tracking for a year to come up with a reasonably accurate monthly average. Create a set of envelopes, one for each month, and into them put receipts for everything you buy. Save all the receipts for a year and sort them by month, then sort out each month by type and list them all. Average out all these types of expenses to find a monthly figure.

The point of all this is to come up with a monthly average and a total for everything. The numbers will not be the same each month: if you have air conditioning your electric bill will be higher in summer, and if you have natural gas for heat then youir gas bill will be higher in winter. So there will be fluctuations from month to month.

The beginning point of all this is to collect information by saving receipts and listing out all fixed expenses month by month. When you are done you will have a real good idea what is going on and know how much you have to set aside each month (on average) to end the year even.

By the way, one of the expense items should be an amount for savings; all too many people ignore this one, and as a matter of fact, it should be right at the top of your list just after income taxes.

To do this entire exercise should take you a year. It's the only way to arrive at an average monthly expense number. I have actually done the bit about saving all the receipts for a year and the results can be quite interesting.

Answer 4

Source a fair bit of information from the net like budgeting and debt management techniques. Write it all down and then apply this to your income and spending.

Answer 5

On a piece of paper write down your weekl expenses such as food, rent, entertainment, loans, car insurance (yearly amount divided by 52)......add up the total of all of your expenses and subtract this from your weekly wage...if the amount is more than your weekly wage then you need to reassess your situation and decide where you can cut dwn on spending....if it is less I suggest you open a savings account that will earn you high interest and save it up for a rainy day

Answer 6

Get a reciept from EVERY place you go for a month....keep them in a bag or shoe box...when you get bored add it up then seperate needs/wants then build a budget according to that, cut out stupid things....it's amazing what we spend on!

Answer 7

ok i got a great book for you its by a guy named dave ramsey
i learned a ton out of it it'll teach you how to do everything from balancing a check book to investments retirement morgages managing your finances he lists other financhal programs and give softwear with his program its pretty tight you should check him out

Answer 8

i think you should save your recipts then at the end of the week add it up