As we mentioned when looking at 11 Remarkable Benefits of Budgeting, there are many reasons to organizing your finances and planning ahead. Among other things, it helps you detect and prevent overspending.
While also reducing stress over how you’re going to fulfill financial obligations. Preparing a budget, however, is not necessarily a simple task. So in this post, we have prepared a few tips that might help you come up with a reliable plan.
Involve Everyone
In order to prepare a solid budget, you need to get your data right. And with certain elements of the budget, that’s easy enough. For instance, you can look at bills or energy monitoring systems to see what you’re spending each month on utilities like heating and air conditioning.
When it comes to more day-to-day expenses though, you may not be able to get all the information on your own.
If you share living expenses with roommates, friends, or family members, you’ll need input from everyone to break down what you spend on. Such as, groceries, cleaning materials, new items for the home, and so on.
Use an Eisenhower Matrix
When you start analyzing where your money goes, you might find that you’ll have to cut some expenses. Figuring out which ones to focus on, though, is difficult.
Superficial spending is not always evident, so you may have to use tools to figure out your plan. As Inc explains, The Eisenhower Matrix is one such tool that can be very helpful.
A simple chart made of four quadrants formed by drawing two columns labeled “urgent” and “not urgent,” and two rows marked “important” and “not important.”
Placing specific expense items in the appropriate quadrants will help you decide what can and cannot be excluded from the budget moving forward.
Consider Your Lowest Month’s Income
The amount of money you make every month can vary considerably, especially if you have multiple sources of income. This can lead to some confusion in your budget if, say, you make a plan based on one month’s income only to find that the next month’s is diverse.
In order to prevent this kind of issue, an AskMoney feature on budgeting recommends using your lowest month’s income to calculate your budget. This considerably reduces the chances of overestimating your savings.
And if everything goes well, you will even wind up with additional funds on hand when you stick to your budget.
Pay Your Debt, Not Just Your Interest
While making your budget, you might feel tempted to plan to pay the lowest amount necessary with regard to any debts owed.
According to CS Monitor though, this approach usually allows your debt to increase. Because if you’re only paying minimums, you’re making more payments, and giving interest a chance to increase.
So instead, try to come up with a reasonable amount to pay above the minimum, and factor it into your budget if at all possible.
Include a Calendar
A budget usually includes plans for multiple payments that have to be paid at different times. But sometimes it can be difficult to remember to make every single payment (especially if it’s the first time you’re making a budget!).
Something as simple as making a spreadsheet calendar that includes all days on which payments have to be made can go a long way in preventing you from forgetting one. And potentially having to pay additional charges or suffer a reduced credit score as a result.
Making a budget can sound daunting and look confusing if you’ve never done it before. With a careful approach though, it’s something you can manage with relative ease. And the potential benefits to your financial standing are significant enough that you should give it a try.
This is a collaborative post
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Last Updated on 1st March 2022 by Emma
