For years I have revised our budget, changing it to accommodate our needs but still closely following what Dave Ramsey had to say and also incorporating the debt snowball. I think now I finally found what is going to help us stay on track!!
So here is what I do.....maybe it can help ya'll with your budgeting experience....
Month________________________________
Income: $________________
Renter’s payment: $______________
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BILLS
|
|
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1st Half of
Month
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2nd Half of
Month
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Spending (Withdraw) $_______
Grocery $_______
Mortgage $_______
Car
Insurance $_______
Internet $_______
Virgin
Mobile $_______
Rooms 2
Go $_______
Netflix $_______
Renter’s $_______
Gas $_______
|
Spending
(Withdraw) $_______
Grocery $_______
Mortgage $_______
Car
Insurance $_______
Car
Loan $_______
Gymnastics $_______
Life
Insurance $_______
Virgin
Mobile $_______
USAA CC $_______
Gas $_______
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Total: $
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Total: $
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Since we get paid twice a month, I split up our bills and also our spending money....as you can see, right now we don't have a savings slot because everything that we have left over we put into the credit card to pay it off quickly.....Now for our spending money, you can either withdraw it or do what I did, just write down what you spent because I always forget to go to the bank at the beginning of the month before spending anything....or if you don't feel comfortable carrying so much cash in your wallet, this is something you can do.
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October Allowance $____
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October Allowance $____
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I have these little allowance sheets that I print out and cut and put in my wallet and when I spend money, I just write -$20 or however much you just spent and it helps me keep track of how much money I have left over to spend....this allowance sheet is also split up like my bills....An allowance for the first two weeks of the month and another allowance for the last 2 weeks of the month.
Now I know that when you are at the store it is sometimes really hard to write down what you just spent, especially if you have kids pulling you every which way! So save your receipts in your wallet or special spot in your purse and write it down when you get a chance....I save Monday's to look at my bank account and write down what I spent so that I don't go over on accident, so pick a day where you are going to sit and make sure everything is going according to plan.
I know it sucks looking at your bank account when you don't have much money but this will save you lots of headache and overdraft fees if you look at your account at least once a week!! It will get easier and easier looking at your bank account if you start being conscience of where your money is going!
One last thing....if you do have money left over each month, you need to write it in your bill section of where you want that money going! If you want it to go to savings then treat that savings account as if it is a bill! All your income needs to have a place to go so you should have a 0 balance at the end of each month!
Well I hope that this blog post wasn't too boring, I am still new at all this and I promise I'll get better! So if you have any questions or would like help with creating your budget just for you let me know and I'll be more than happy to help!
Thanks for reading!!!!!
