Budgeting 101

Before you begin to budget, it is wise to track your spending over three or four months.  It is easy to underestimate the amount we spend on various things, such as groceries, eating out, entertainment, and "random purchases", even when we feel as though we're being frugal!  Until we understand where our money is going, and see clearly where we need to cut spending, we cannot create an accurate budget! 

Here is a picture of the spreadsheet that I created to track our spending.   If you are interested in using this, please feel free to leave your email address in a comment and I will email you as soon as possible with the worksheet!  {I can't for the life of me figure out how to add a usable version to the blog, sorry!}

To utilize the spreadsheet, go through the last three months of your bank statements, itemizing each and every expense/withdrawal in the appropriate category.  

*Nope, those first couple numbers aren't real, just examples for your benefit  :P   I'm not sure my husband would be happy with me sharing too many details about our personal finances!

 

After figuring out where your money has been going, where you need to cut down on spending, and re-establishing your priorities, it's time to budget!

We recommend budgeting in order of priority {for obvious reasons!}

Here is an example of a budget:

Again, this is not our personal budget {we can't afford all of that!}.  

This is just an example of what a budget looks like.  If you would like a copy of this spreadsheet to customize and use, please leave your email address in a comment below and I will email you the file as soon as possible!