Budget
“Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.”― Joe Biden
“A Debt Problem Is, At Its Core, a Budgeting Problem.”― Natalie Pace
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”― Dave Ramsey
BUDGETING BASICS:
You can start a budget anytime even if you are behind in your bills. A budget is telling your income were it's going to go. What are you going to do with the money. Give all those dollars an assignment starting with the basic elements for your survival as a family: food, clothing, shelter and utility. If you are behind , your first goal is to pay the minimum on the rest. If you are using the envelope system... just put money in checking account for different items like food and cash a check and put this cash in the food envelope.
: 3 Reasons Budgets Fail and the Key to Budgeting Success
Monthly Expenses to Include in Your Budget
Why Creating a Budget Is So Important (for Most People)
How to Create a Budget: Budgeting 101
A Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting Success
5 Simple Budget Cuts That Can Save $200 a Month
Budgeting Basics for Wealth, Health and Happiness
11 Recommended Budget Percentages By Category: How Much Should You Spend?
3 Reasons Budgets Fail and the Key to Budgeting Success
Small Splurges That Won't Break Your Budget
Living on a Tight Budget Simply and Successfully
9 Radical Cost Cutting Tips to Reduce the Tightest Budget
When Your Food Budget Is Critical
Why You May Need a Spending Plan Instead of a Budget
5 Tips Guaranteed to Grow Your Savings
5 Ways to Organize Your Budget
9 Life Events that Require You to Revise Your Budget
Guidelines for Creating a Spending Plan
The Simple Way To Budget Without Sharing Your Bank Passwords
How Many Bank Accounts Should You Have?
Tricks for Budgeting Your Variable Income
Can't stick to a budget? Try these tweaks instead (TED TALK)
5 Common Budget Leaks and How To Fix Them
How to Budget For Unexpected Home Repairs
Budgeting Basics: What You Need to Know to Get Started
Should You Use Budget Billing for Your Utilities?
Simple Budget Cuts That Can Save $200 a Month
Living on a Tight Budget Simply and Successfully (+ Tips)
How to Successfully Manage Multiple Financial Priorities
21 Items to Cut From Your Budget That You Won't Even Miss
How to Stick to a Budget and Still Use Credit Cards
When There's No Money Left for Extras
How to Successfully Budget and Win the Mental Battle of Saving
9 Radical Cost Cutting Tips to Reduce the Tightest Budget
Living on a Tight Budget Successfully
9 Radical Cost Cutting Tips to Reduce the Tightest Budget
How To Budget Your Money When You Don't Know How
How to Track Your Spending So It Actually Makes a Difference
11 Practical Tips on How to Budget Better - Just Start Investing
How to Free Up Cash in Your Budget Each Month
How to Hold Monthly Budget Planning Meetings
Budget, so that you don't have to
How to Calculate Deductions From Your Hourly Paycheck
10 Ways to Take the Pain Out of Penny Pinching | The Dollar Stretcher
What I Learned from Tracking Every Penny I Spent for a Month
QUOTES:
The Budget Expander: My budget never seemed to work. There was always something that I would forget. Things like membership fees, oil changes for our cars, or the A/C inspection each year. The answer was simple. I added a category called "anything else" and put a few dollars into it each month. It's been a year. I still have unexpected expenses, but at least they don't blow up my budget when they happen. Kimmy from Dollar Stretcher Tips
TYPES OF BUDGETING:
TIPS:
Use the envelope method to divide your money and keep within a budget. Simply take envelopes and write on them what to use them for like "groceries" "utilities" "walking around money" whatever you use money for and on each payday take out the dollar amount you need until next pay period and split it amount the envelopes. When one envelope is empty either take money from the other envelopes or do without until next payday.
how to budget with a cash envelope system.
6 of the Best Budgeting Apps in 2023
The Envelope Budgeting System in a Cashless Society
When a Bare Bones Budget Is Not Enough to Make Ends Meet
seven of the best alternatives to Personal Capital
Bare Bones Budgeting to Make It on Little Income
How the Cash Envelope System Helps You Spend Less
A Variable Income Budgeting Strategy for the Seasonal Worker
A Feast or Famine Budgeting Plan
Tricks for Budgeting Your Variable Income
Value-Based Spending: A Mindful Budgeting Method
How to Budget With a Cash Envelope System
Zero-Based Budgeting: A Key to Financial Empowerment - Clark Howard
4 Ways to Budget With Inconsistent Income
Which Budgeting Methods are Right for You?
How to Make a Zero-Based Budget | DaveRamsey.com
A 10 Minute Budget That Actually Works
How to Track Expenses in 5 Steps
How to Budget With a Cash Envelope System - Clark Howard
Budgets Don't Work for Everyone—Try This System Instead • Bitches Get Riches
My Story: A Basic Spending Plan
Easy Budgeting for People Who Hate Math
How to Budget Without Regular Paychecks
Budgeting and Saving Guide from Consumer Reports
EveryDollar Review: A Look at the Features of Dave Ramsey’s Budgeting App
Zero-Based Budget Worksheet for Excel, Sheets, PDF https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/zero-based-budget-worksheet.html What is a Zero-Based Budget? It is a saving and spending plan where you assign every dollar of your income to some specific purpose. At the end of the worksheet, if your budget is fully balanced, you should have ZERO budget left over. Some of your income will be going into savings, some will be going towards expenses, some might even be invested.
How to Make a Zero-Based Budget | DaveRamsey.com https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/how-to-make-a-zero-based-budget Zero-based budgeting is a way of budgeting where your income minus your expenses equals zero. With a zero-based budget, you have to make sure your expenses match your income during the month. That way you're giving every dollar that's coming in a job to do. Now, that doesn't mean you have zero dollars in your bank account.
A bare-bones budget is a budget that consists solely of your financial obligations (debt repayments) and essential living expenses. All of the wants (like streaming services and going out to eat) that typically bulk up our spending are eliminated. With the wants eliminated, you will be able to see exactly how much your basic needs cost.” Bare-Bones Budget: Why You Need to Create Yours Today
QUOTES:
A System for Tracking Finances: I was finding that I would pay my bills each month, and by the end of the month, I couldn't really say what had happened to all my money. Did I pay more for gas? Did I actually pay less for food? I felt that I needed a visual record and a better way of organizing my finances. I tried buying a ledger with pre-written lists, but the lists didn't track with my specific situation. Then I tried keeping a binder with a record of all my bills, but this created a paper nightmare. So, I decided to come up with my own chart. I wrote down all of my regular bills (mortgage, insurance, phone, water, etc.) and created a chart with each bill running down the side and each month running across the top. I also created a slot for groceries, gas, savings, charitable giving and contingencies. I also have a spot that shows how much money I earned that month, how much I spent, and allows me to calculate the difference. This allows me to see each month where my money is going and to catch fluctuations should there be errors. I fill my chart out before I start paying my monthly bills and I see at a glance where I will be spending my money each month. Nothing gets spent or paid until the chart is filled out. This chart has saved my life. It allows me to control my finances and figure out how I will spend my money before I do, but it also lets me see my financial month and year at a glance. The best part is that it was created on my laptop, can be accessed on my phone, and it can be adjusted whenever needed. Ana B. in San Diego, CA from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Budgeting With an Unpredictable Income: My husband has an unpredictable income and I've been a stay-at-home mom. The budgeting part is really difficult. I found that if you know approximately what you will make in a year, you can figure pretty accurately. For instance, if he typically makes around $36,000 per year, you know you have $3,000 a month to work with. In the months that he brings in more than that, you put away the rest for following months. I've been able to do this by paying my bills ahead. If I have a car payment for $200, and I have an extra $1,000 that month, I make 3 or 4 car payments ahead. (Make sure you don't have a loan that penalizes pre-payments.) You could also put the money into a separate account for future bills and keep a list of what the money is to be used for. Once I'm a little ahead on one bill, I start working on others. Eventually I was able to get about 3 months ahead and then the lack of money one month no longer affected my budget and the abundance another month was not a temptation since it was used to pay future bills immediately. The one other trick that worked for me was putting at least 5 to 10 percent of every check in an emergency account until I had enough funds to cover myself for three months. I know it seems tough to do this now, but if you can cut back for a while, you will have the security of an emergency fund, and you'll be several months ahead in your payments. JG from Dollar Stretcher Tips
An Easy Way to Budget: I have never been good about keeping a traditional budget, but I found a great way to make sure I always have plenty of money to pay the bills when they come due. I opened another checking account. I add up what my bills usually are each month (there are only two that vary in amount from month to month) and then divide by four (I get paid weekly so usually have four paydays per month). Each week I transfer one fourth of the amount of my total monthly from my primary checking account to my secondary one. Then, when my bills come due, I always have the money to pay them! Also, since there are four "extra" paydays a year when you get paid weekly (meaning five paydays in one month instead of four), I end up with an extra month's worth of "bill" money at the end of the year! What could be better than that? I never have late bills, and I have nearly two thousand dollars to put toward vacation, retirement, or whatever every year. Sarah from Dollar Stretcher Tips
BUDGETING TOOLS:
How To Stick to a Budget and Still Use Credit Cards
'Loud budgeting': What to know about the latest TikTok trend
How a Sinking Fund Can Help You Avoid Debt
How Money-Free Days Can Benefit Your Budget
How To Manage Your Monthly Subscriptions To Save Money
Popular Budgeting App Mint Is Shutting Down
Financial Encouragement for Sticking to a Tight Budget
Best Budgeting Apps For 2023 | The College Investor
10 Reasons To Use a Cash-Only Spending Plan
How Money-Free Days Can Benefit Your Budget
Financial Encouragement for Sticking to a Tight Budget
How To Decide if Mint Is the Right Budgeting App for You
Affordable Little Luxuries for the Tightest Budget
5 Common Budget Leaks and How To Fix Them
Tricks for Budgeting Your Variable Income
A bunch of great (free) budgeting spreadsheets
How to Create a Spending Plan for Frugal Living
Living on a Tight Budget Simply and Successfully
5 Common Budget Leaks and How To Fix Them
How to Find Your Budgeting Personality
Budget for Big Expenses With a Sinking Fund
10 Mint.com Alternatives: Top Picks to Manage Your Money
You Need A Budget Review here.
Should You Try Envelope Budgeting?
YNAB Review: 5 Things To Know About the Budgeting Tool
10 Best Free Budget Software Tools
Best Budgeting Tools: 3 Apps to Manage Your Money
Google Sheets: The Free Budgeting Tool You Probably Haven't Tried
9 Best Mint.com Alternatives: Top Picks to Manage Your Money
list of the best free printable budget worksheets
EveryDollar vs. Mint – Which Wins the Battle of the Free Budgeting Apps
9 Best Free Budget Software Tools
The Free Budgeting Tool You Probably Haven’t Tried
11 Best Online Budgeting Tools
A budgeting app for people who hate budgeting
Best Budgeting Tools: 3 Apps to Manage Your Money - Clark Howard
An Automated Budget Spreadsheet in Excel
Free "Mindful Budgeting" Templates! | Budgets Are Sexy
Get free money management software at www.myspendingplan.com.
Best budgeting tools: 3 apps to manage your money
Google Sheets: The Free Budgeting Tool You Probably Haven’t Tried
If you don’t like putting your information online buy Quicken Deluxe which stores your data on your own computer http://quicksof.com/quicken-products
Free budget worksheet: The CLARK Method to create a monthly budget
10 Best Free Budgeting Software Tools
How to Make a Budget – 3 Personal Budgeting Methods
Revisiting the 50/20/30 Budgeting Rule
Mvelopes: Award Winning Budgeting App takes the idea of physically allocating funds into paper envelopes to the digital world with its online budgeting software. Ideal tool if you are a shopaholic.
If you prefer not to put your information on the Internet then try using an Excel Spreadsheet: Budgets - Office.com
EveryDollar Budget EveryDollar is based on a proven plan that’s helped millions of people take control of their money, get out of debt, and save so they can live and give like never before! Whatever your life goals may be, EveryDollar will help you get there.
QUOTES:
An Easy Method of Tracking Expenses: My tip for saving money is to use one major credit card for all my essential expenses and another for all my non-essentials. Charges such as groceries, gasoline, electric, cell phones and internet are just some of my essentials that go on card one. Retail purchases, dinners out, and clothing go on card two. This monthly accumulation really puts my budget in perspective and lets me easily see just how fast these non-essentials rack up. I know the maximum on can put on my non-essentials card each month and stop spending each month once I reach it. Then I pay off both cards in full every single month and avoid any interest. M. from Dollar Stretcher Tips