Your 1st Step Toward Creating a Budget

       So you want to gain control of your finances. One of the best ways to start is by creating a budget! In our first book, Personal Finance Under One Hour, we show you exactly how to create a budget from ground 0 and what philosophy works for most people who have mastered their finances. 

       The below is an excerpt direct from the Banking and Budgeting (Second 10 Minutes) section of our book. Please enjoy.

       A good first step when creating a budget is to list your regular income streams and monthly expenses. This might include employment income, rent or loan repayments, food, and gas. Then, look at your current bank and credit card statements to help fill out each section in the budget template. These can help you list your estimated monthly expenses such as food, clothing, and entertainment.

       Next, look through a year-long calendar for large planned expenses like vacations, holidays, birthdays, insurance, taxes, etc. Once the sections are accurately filled out, you can calculate the difference between your income and expenses to show your cash flow (positive or negative) and track how you are doing on a monthly basis.

       After you have a complete picture of what your current budget is, you can fine tune it to increase your cash flow. You can start by keeping a money journal, with your budget goals in mind, and write down everything you spend and earn over the next couple months. This allows you to catch yourself spending money on unnecessary items and keeps you honest to your financial goals. It is a great way to identify certain buckets where you are spending too much and saving too little.

       Using the money journal and budget template, look for ways to make more money and cut expenses. Income and rent are usually fixed amounts and hardest to change; however, you might be able to ask for a raise, change jobs, or move. Food, clothing, and entertainment are usually variable and the quickest things to change since they are directly controlled by your spending habits.

The chart below shows some guidelines for recommended maximums per spending bucket:

       While the picture above is a general guideline, you should strive for smaller expense buckets and larger savings bucket. 

       Was that excert helpful? Of course, that was only part of the Second 10 Minutes section, so it didn't explain everything about budgeting. The Income and Spending (First 10 Minutes) section goes deeper into those parts of the budget. Best of all, this section is available for FREE here. Talk about good budgeting...

        Please let us know how you are using this information to help create your budget! What else would you like to know about? What was the hardest part in creating your budget? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to submit your e-mail to follow our blog and share the posts you like! We have a new blog post every 1st and 3rd wednesday of the month about success in one of these topics: finance, health, relationships, lifestyle. If you would like to write a blog post for us sharing your experience or a review on your product, contact us for more details.

-Andrew and Brendan, 8-5-15