Creating A Simple Budget For Your Family

With today's economy, we could all use some financial help. Many of us suffer from the same financial woes and feel that we never have enough money or that the money runs out before the month does. So, how do we help ourselves and be able to manage our money better?

One way is to create a simple budget plan for your family and your money. Telling your money where it will go before it is gone is the best way to know where your money goes, and how much you have to spend, and if you can make it all stretch far enough to pay all your bills and keep food on the table and electricity on it the house.

It is important when beginning a budget that you and your spouse, or significant other is on the same page. You will both want to be involved in the budget planning if you share expenses and pay your bills together.

You will need to begin by gathering all of your household bills together so that you can see what you owe. Then you will need to create a list of other things that you must have money for each month including groceries, entertainment, school tuition, dry cleaning, and other possible expenses that you incur.

Start by listing all your bills and all of your expenses, then, list your income and do the math to see if you will have enough income to pay all your bills and household expenses. If you do not and end up in the red you will have to find an area of your budget where you can trim back. You might find that you cannot afford to eat out every day for lunch or see a movie every weekend.

Doing a budget will help reveal to you where you spend most of your money. IF you are unsure of where you have spent money in the past, you can do a simple task that will reveal to you where your money goes. Purchase a small notebook that you can carry with you, and then record every transaction that you make throughout a solid week. This is a very eye opening experiment that will show you that a large portion of your money is going to Starbucks or to the local convenient store where you grab a coffee every morning.

You will then be able to see where your money is going and then be able to cut back according to what is most important. Most financial planners will tell you that you want to cover your four walls first. Those four walls being: Food, Shelter, Transportation and Clothing.

Now that you realize your financial status, the most important thing is to plan and then try to be consistent and stick to the plan.

Do you have a personal budget? Visit Ourfamilybudget.com for more information on the benefits of creating a family budget and how you can start to save more, spent less and get out of debt faster than you thought possible.