HOW TO CREATE A FAMILY BUDGET

You Creating Your Own Household Budget.

1) Start with the biggest percentage.

Are there any monthly or yearly bills that you need to pay? Some examples would be car payments, rent or

mortgage, utilities (such as water, electricity, etc), and insurance (medical, dental, etc). Try to round either up or down to the nearest $10 for an average es5mate on how much you spend for each item.

2) Begin calculating for every day essentials.

How much per week do you spend on gas? What is the usual amount that you spend on groceries, or how

many times per week do you go out instead of home cooking? Think of other essential things that you need, not want.You should spend as normal, but take a receipt or note down every time you get your wallet or purse out. At the end of the day, tally this up, either on paper, your computer or your phone. Make sure you note exactly what you spent it on and don't use a generic term such as food or transport.

3) Create an area for your earnings.

 Include all earnings, whether it's properties, "under the table" jobs (money you take home, without taxes being taken out), money you found on the ground, and your salary (or monthly balance if you're paid every other week.

4) Make an area for your "Monthly Income".

This is what you take home after taxes are being taken out, if applicable. This is the amount on your paycheck,not your total earnings for the time period.

5) Put your monthly income and your total expenses number side-by-side. Once you have tallied up about a month's worth of expenses, divide up your expenses into the categories of necessites, sanity savers and luxuries.

6)  Calculate how much your short term, medium term and long term goals are going to cost.

Do you need to replace any household items this year? Do you need a new pair of boots this year? Do you

want to buy a car? Plan for this in advance and you won't need to draw on your long term savings. Another important point to note is that you should aim to only buy these items a;er you have saved for them. Ask yourself, do you really need it right now?

Written by Ebun