10 Tips on Making a Budget
1. Make sure that the budget is reasonable enough so that you follow through with. Don’t make your budget too tight or too loose otherwise you will end up not saving much money. You want a budget that you can deal with without feeling deprived all the time.
2. Always leave a little extra spending money in your budget each month. You need to leave some amount of extra spending for any additional expenses or perhaps enough money for one more movie for the month. You want to budget every cent, but include some money in the budget for entertainment purposes.
3. Don’t get overwhelmed if you don’t follow the budget correctly for the first few months. It will take a few months to get use to having a budget and following through with it.
4. Don’t forget about any extra bills in the budget. Make sure to compare the list with your checking account statement to see if you forgot about any extra bills that you pay each month or once a year.
5. You want to adjust the budget depending upon any extra expenses or an emergency that might happen during the month. It is important to realize that extra expenses happens sometimes.
6. Don’t not follow your budget just because family is visiting or friends want you to go on a vacation with them. It is okay to let them know that your household is on a budget and that you had to follow through it the entire month. They should be understanding since they wouldn’t want you to overspend.
7. Make sure to put away any extra money that you get during the month that isn’t included in your budget. This is a great method to build a little savings amount. Make sure to put a little money aside each month just in case you ever need it.
8. You need to include a space in the budget for extra money during the winter months for heat expenses and during the summer for air conditioner expenses. This is important to remember so that you can plan for the extra expense in advance.
9. Make sure to plan in advance for any extra clothes each year or any extra vehicle repairs that you have each year. You can also include vehicle inspection and registeration costs in there too.
10. Make sure to have save money for automobile insurance and house insurance depending upon how many times you pay it each year. If you pay it once a year then you need to save the entire amount.
