Household Budgeting Basics

Creating a household budget will help you to stay on track and make sure you have enough money each month to pay your bills, plus have money for anything extra that may come up. Here are some household budgeting basics to help you get started.

Use the computer to create a spreadsheet that will hold all of your information. You’ll need to include your income, your monthly expenses, yearly expenses, and room for anything else that may come up. These would include vehicle repairs, school costs, going out to the movies, and other things along those lines.

1. Income

The first thing on your spreadsheet should be your income. You’ll want to include everything you may have such as paychecks, secondary income, child support, bonuses, and other forms that may only come once a year, like tax refunds or gifts.

2. Monthly Expenses

Monthly expenses are the next thing to add to your spreadsheet. These would include credit card payments, utility payments, loan payments, and anything else that comes up every month. You’ll want to have monthly amounts and due dates so you can place these under your income where it comes in each month.

3. Yearly Expenses

Yearly expenses may be a bit of a challenge to include, but it’s a good idea to do it. This will help you avoid the stress of coming up with the money when they come due each year. This will mean you’ll need to create a spreadsheet for each month for the entire year so you can include these types of expenses.

4. Extras

Extras are hard to budget for, which is why you should try to plan on them each month. Putting money into a savings account will help you to have the money when the time comes. It’s nearly impossible to plan for vehicle repairs or emergencies, so a savings account will help to ease the burden when these types of things come up. You can plan on maintenance to your vehicle or yearly checkups with your doctor, but there are times when even these things don’t help, so planning ahead can be of great benefit.

5. Vacations

Planning a vacation is hard to do, but when you plan your budget correctly, you’ll be able to include this in your month to month budget. Your savings account will help with this plan as well. You’ll be able to see where you have a little extra money and you’ll have the ability to set some money back so you have the ability to take a vacation when you’re ready.

Creating a budget will help you spend your money wisely. It’s nearly impossible to remember every little expense, so creating a spreadsheet will help you to maintain your budget. You’ll have the ability to see the big picture, which will help you to see what you can do to increase your income and lower your expenses so you have more money at the end of the month.