“If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.”
Brigham Young

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Personal Budgeting

Have you ever made a budget for your expenses? If not, then start it from today because in today’s unpredictable world, you never know what unexpected expenses may come where you may have to cut your gas, food or any other expenses  to cover that expense, That expense may be home repair, healthcare etc. You must have or ever had money saving mom who always saves money by negotiating or by cutting general expenses. I don’t want to you to be like that because it’s very difficult for young generation to negotiate or cut their expenses. But one thing that we all can do is make a budget. It may be weekly, monthly or yearly. It depends on how frequently you get paid.

The first step of budgeting is to track your all incomes and expenses. Gather all your bills, bank statements, paychecks etc. Everything that shows money going in and out. If you wing without a budget, you spend money on unnecessary expenses and you pass the opportunity to save money.  You should have a financial goal for what you are saving money. It may be for a vacation or new car because you are saving money every month and it’s for a long term that is sometimes hard to reach. Your personal may look like:



There are various types of budgeting method. You may use simple budgeting method, jar method or pay yourself first method.

·         Simple budgeting method: In this method, you just keep track on each expense and try to reduce expenses in the next budget. Expenses may be Food, gas, travel, electricity, water, entertainment etc. and whatever is left with you is your saving. In this way, you keep track on all of your expenses and incomes.

·         Jar method: In this method, you keep a jar or an envelope for each expense and put money in each jar or envelope accordingly. And you use that money over the period. And the money you are left with is your saving. How cool is that but sometimes it’s very hard to follow this method because prices may go up. Then you have to take out money from your saving.

·         Pay yourself first method: in this method, you take a part of money from your income as a saving and use the rest of the money to cover your routine expenses. This method is a very good method as it teaches youngsters how to spend money wisely.

     Here is a reason why we should follow a budget:

     
       Believe me you can't do this to save money. Must watch this-->


I know it’s little hard to follow a budget. Okay, let’s take a poll, how many of you can strictly follow a budget. If not many, then I have a couple of another way to help you yo reduce your expenses or increase your saving. It’s on you, how you take it?

·         You can save money on your food by taking a ready-made shopping list at a grocery store and buy according to your list. This will save you a lot of money if you look at figures over a long period because you won’t realize much saving on a single grocery bill.

·         If you go to vacations every year, then plan that in advance by saving money for that and by making a booking in advance. Don’t be dumb by going on vacations on a debt and by making an immediate booking.

·         If you have some debt and at the same time you have money in your saving account or any other investment because I may sure that you will be paying more interest than you are earning.
·         Do you have a mommy who collects coupons in a box and saves a huge amount of money. Get in a habit of collecting coupons because they save a lot of money.

·         Prepare to minimize your bills. Cut your expenses where you think it’s unnecessary. Start by looking at your bills and see where are you wasting your money. For example, you may be paying an annual fee on your credit card or your saving account and then you may switch to other bank where there is no fee.



 Resources:
http://stayathomemoms.about.com/od/moneymatters/tp/living-on-a-budget.htm
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/11/prepare-for-a-financial-crisis.asp
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/budgeting.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v09bbQIk0rQ

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