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A personal budget is simply a spending plan. Before you work on personal budget planning you need to have a good idea of where and how your money is being spent. It can be a tedious process, but it can also be a true eye opener if you are not already well aware of how and where you are spending your income. Many people tend to spend their money with no real idea of where it is going. The first step to making a budget that you can live with is to come up with an accurate and easy to follow system for accounting for your expenses.

Track your spending! One simple and inexpensive method for tracking your spending is to purchase a small notebook from a grocery store. Keep this notebook with you at all times, and every time you spend money, write it down. You need to be able to keep track of ATM withdrawals, debit transactions and credit card expenses. You may also consider using a simple spreadsheet software program or a paper system in order to record and track your expenses from day to day.

Budgeting doesn't mean hoarding your pennies.

Create a budget! Having a budget does not mean that you have to squirrel away every penny, doing without important things that you need in your life. What it does mean however is that you are making sure that your most basic needs are being taken care of first and foremost, and that you are keeping yourself aware of how much money you have for splurging purposes. After you track your expenses, the next step is personal budget planning. Here are some things that will better simplify the personal budget planning process.

Income –

Make sure to include all sources of income and revenue, including gross income paychecks, child support, alimony, bonus checks, government checks, investments, retirement and personal business income as well.

Recurring Expenses –

Here are some of the usual monthly recurring expenses that you may find yourself dealing with. Along with your record of spending, this list will help to make sure that you are remembering everything that you need to account for: Food, home insurance, childcare, health insurance, gas, automobile insurance, electric, cell phone, home phone, internet access, cable, satellite television, water and sewer, prescriptions, dining out, garbage service, school lunches, entertainment, work lunches and charitable giving as well. You are also going to want to include monthly savings account goals, dining out, movies and other activities that you will spend money on regularly.

Variable Expenses –

This is a list of expenses that come regularly but not on a monthly basis. Some examples are spending for holidays like Christmas, Thanks giving, birthdays, personal care, income and property taxes, household repairs, prescriptions, doctor visits, clothing, shoes, school tuition, book costs, school supplies, school expenses, home equity, mortgage expenses and automobile expenses.

Unsecured Debts –

Here you should make sure to track any credit card debt, loans, school loans and other types of unsecured debt that needs to be paid off.

In order to put together all of these personal budget planning elements, you need to track your income and expenses on a month by month basis. Take the net amount you earn from each income source and figure out how much is earned in a year following this plan, then divide by twelve for a monthly average. Do the same with your expenses to come up with an average monthly amount. This is the best way to budget. It may not be exact, but it does allow you to more effectively and efficiently plan both for incomes and expenditures.

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Originally posted 2008-12-03 05:02:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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