Secrets to budget success!

There are a number of people who live from pay cheque to cheque. Do you fall in that category?

If so, you are setting yourself up for a huge fall.  There are no guarantees in life and it makes sense to  prepare for the inevitable financial issues that you might have to face.

The best way to ensure that there are enough funds to pay for our essentials and put aside somethings for a rainy day is to create a budget.

Successful Budget

For those of us who are not mathematically inclined, adding columns of figures might prove to be  a daunting task.  In fact some persons are so overwhelmed that they don’t even know where to start.

There are however some simple tips to guarantee that you formulate a successful budget!

• Calculate how much money you earn in a month after taxes. This would be your net pay or take home pay. Be sure to include tips, supplementary income, side-jobs and investments.
• Calculate your expenses. It would help to have begun saving  receipts for a couple of weeks or a month in advance. If you know your monthly expenditure on groceries or gas (for example) makes the next step much easier.
• Set goals. If you set goals that you want to achieve then it will help to focus your actions. These goals can be long term (buying a house or completing a college course) or short term (buying an outfit for an event).
• Divide your budget into basic categories (such as bills/rent) and list all your spending for each category. Ensure that there is some allotment for savings.
• Keep an accurate record of the information.

If you record the information you will be able to track how much money is being spent each month.  This will allow you to decide which areas you can save money.

At times seeing how much money you spend can be an eye opener and influence you to make different decisions.

The best secret about being successful is to start! Simply talking about creating a budget is not enough, you must start putting it into action. A fun way to keep track of your expenses is to create an alarm on your phone to remind you to stick to your budget.

Do you have a budget? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: budget