Without doing some family budgeting, you’ll never quite know where you’re money is going.
Budgeting can seem like a daunting task. You have a father, mother, and kids, all of them needing money for different things, often at irregular intervals.
"Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them,
but none are fun when you set about retiring them."
- Ogden Nash, American Writer |
There are unexpected or unpredictable expenses. How can anyone keep it straight?
It’s no wonder that most people are completely baffled about their money. They have no idea where it’s going, why they never seem to have enough of it, or why they can barely make ends meet.
What happened to that raise you got? Where did your tax refund go? Why can’t you keep your head above water?
To get a handle on family budgeting, you need to develop some new habits. First, spend the next 30 days writing down every penny you spend, as well as every penny that comes in. Why? Because you probably don’t know how much you actually spend in an average month.
If you were to sit down right now and write a list of all your monthly expenses, you’d get some of them exactly right. Your mortgage is the same every month; your utilities are fairly consistent, and so on. But when it comes to things like “entertainment” or “eating out,” you’d have to estimate.
And guess what: You’d probably be way off in your cost estimate.
That’s why you should take some time to track your ACTUAL expenses. Then you’ll see just how much those “occasional” trips to Burger King are costing, or how much you actually spend on makeup in a month.
There are so many small, forgettable things involved in family budgeting that you’d never know how much they add up to without carefully keeping track.
Once you know your actual expenses, you can work on reducing or eliminating them. You can say, for example, “OK, we’ve been spending $100 a month on restaurant dining; let’s cut it down to $50 this month.”
The way to control your family budgeting is decide at the beginning of the month where all your income over the next 30 days will go. Then you STICK TO IT. By spending all your money on paper first, you exert total control over it.
Now, there will still be some surprises. When it comes to family budgeting, you need to leave some room for unexpected doctor visits, school trips, and new shoes when Junior suddenly outgrows his old pair. But by planning everything in advance as much as possible, you’ll be better able to deal with the unforeseen costs when they arise.
Once you have paid off your debt, the total amount you have available to work with each month will be increased considerably.
Imagine the feeling when you actually get to keep all that money that you are currently paying to your creditors. Stick to your budget and you’ll get to experience the joy of living debt free.
"Money and success don't change people;
they merely amplify what is already there."
- Will Smith, Actor |
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Debt is NOT your friend. It's not a wonderful "tool" for building wealth. That's a myth.
