Budgeting

Are you struggling to make ends meet? Do you need help with your finance? Do you know how to make a budget that you can not only live on, but can also have the discipline to stick to? There are ways to budget that are good and ways that are bad. Here are some tips to help you set up your budget.

First, you need to know what to include in your budget. You should have sections for daily expenses, weekly expenses, monthly expenses, quarterly expenses, bi annual expenses, and annual expenses. You should also include sections for savings, entertainment, clothing, emergency savings, tithing (charity giving), Christmas savings, and anything else that you spend money on.

Second, you cannot figure in tax returns or any extras as income unless it is a specific amount that you can count on. The recent stimulus check would not be able to be factored in either. You need to have your budget set up with your job income and only your job income. Treat these extras as extras and save some of them and use some to take your family out.

Third, if you are a married couple or a couple living together, then you cannot count the woman's income at all. What if she becomes pregnant and cannot work. You would have to completely readjust your budget. This is something you can easily avoid by just simply counting her income as savings and extra. Use it as spending money and as savings so that you will have a cushion when an emergency arises.

Last, make sure you follow your budget. Do not stray. Make sure there is enough of a padding in your budget that you can spend a little to reward yourself each week for following your budget. Maybe take the family out for dinner and a movie or go camping at the end of the month if you successfully follow your budget. This needs to be in your budget as well or you will have trouble with how to make a budget.