0

Comments

As women we are for most instances responsible for the creation of the family budget to make sure that everything is purchased and the financial viability of the family unit stays intact. So where and how to begin is what we’re here to talk about today.
Beginning the creation of your family will require you to first gather all of the information for your budget and create a folder for each section.
There are three sections that you’re going to need:
• Installment debts
• Fixed monthly expenses
• Income
Installment Debts
These are going to be you’re an installment payments like:
• Credit card payments
• Mortgage
• Car payments
• Other installment loan of any types
Make sure that you know your outstanding balances as well as your interest rates and what your minimum monthly payments are for your credit cards.
Fixed Monthly Expenses
These are going to be your monthly expenses like your utility bills, insurance, cable/internet, phone, etc… Don’t include things like your food, gas, clothes and the like; we’ll go over those later. Although there is going to be some variance from month to month you’re going to be able to know for the most part what these are going to be.
Income
Include of course your main job but if you have any other sources of income you’ll want to include those too. That would include another job, tips, child support, alimony, etc… You’ll need to make sure that you’re including everything in order to get an accurate budget.

Putting It All Together
What you’re going to want to do now is add up the monthly pay that you have from all income. Make sure that you add the net not the gross so you’re able to get an accurate total. Now add up the installment debt and your fixed monthly expenses. Subtract out the total expenses from your income and the difference is what’s called your net margin.
With this net margin in mind you want to now figure out what you’re going to need to cover the other essentials like your gas, food, clothes and what you can take out for your entertainment and recreation.
Make sure that you’re not keeping this figure too low as you’ll just be cheating yourself. You should make sure that you’re allowing for extra room for family things like birthdays, vet bills, emergencies, etc… Take this figure from the net margin and money that is left is your excess money. If you don’t have any money leftover you need to go through all of the money you pay every month and then figure out areas that you can cut.
Using Extra Money
There are three different things that you can look at for spending your excess money:
• Savings/investments
• Spending
• Debt application
The best way to work on this is to take a balanced approach to it. Your priorities should be focused on paying off any high interest debt and put it to the top of your list.
As you continue to eliminate your debt the extra money that you have will go up and you can make some new decisions on investments and other things that you can do with the money. The more money that you save now the more comfortable you’ll be for your retirement or should an emergency come up. Having an emergency fund is something that is very important should you lose your job or another unfortunate happenstance occur.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to make your budgeting difficult. If you have all of your information at hand, keep it organized and record everything it’s going to just take small efforts to organize and plan your monthly budgeting.
Set yourself up for success and be reasonable with your figures and you’ll be well on your way to staying on track for your family budget.