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Why Is A Budget Necessary?
You hear that you should be making a family budget to
take control of your finances, but why is a budget necessary? Find
out how a budget can help you and why you should spend a little time
creating one.
Do We Need A Family Budget?
You’ve been thinking about making a family budget, but so far you
just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Making a family budget may not be
the most fun thing to do, but it really isn’t all that hard and may help
you save a lot of money.
Spend Less Than You Make
The goal of a family budget is to spend less than you are making. You
don’t want to be living over your means, at least not on a consistent
basis. A family budget will help with this by showing you exactly how
much money you have coming in each month and how much money is going
back out. The money coming in will be your and your spouse’s salaries,
plus any other money you have coming in from investments etc. The money
going out is everything you spent from your rent or mortgage to grocery
money. Your budget should calculate a running balance of where you stand
for the month.
Identify Where You Are Wasting Money
Listing every dollar you spend each month will help you identify you
were you may be wasting money. Spending $4.50 on a Mocha Late in the
morning may not seem like a big deal, until you realize you are spending
it 20 days a month making your Mocha Late total for the month $90.00,
more than your cable bill. Having your monthly expenses on paper or in a
spreadsheet can be a real eye opener when it comes to identifying where
you may be wasting money each month.
Start Saving
Now that you identified where you were wasting money and are spending
less than you are making, you can start saving money. Set some money
aside and pay off your consumer debt such as credit cards. Just imagine
how much you will save each year by not paying interest on that debt.
Once your consumer debt is paid off, start setting up an emergency
savings account. You should have enough money in this savings account to
keep you going for at least 3 months. After that use your savings for a
family vacation, your kid’s college education, and of course your own
retirement.
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: For more information about
making a budget
and taking control of your personal finances visit
www.ourfamilybudget.com and join our free newsletter.
Recommended Frugal Reading
Living On A Dime is known as one of the very best resources of its kind to help you get out of debt without depriving yourself.
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