So obviously, the categories have been tweaked and altered over the years. My first budget was originally made sometime in the 90's…haha. How Did You Determine the Main Itemized Budget Categories? Believe it or not, this current budget is 60% less than our last LA budget. We did this largely to reduce our living expenses so we could spend more time with our son.
PERSONAL BUDGET OUTLINES FREE
It basically looks like what you will find in that Budget Template Google Sheet included in my free budgeting course.įYI…A year ago, my family and I moved across the country from Los Angeles, CA to Dunedin, FL. Well here ya go! Below is my current budget and budget categories. OK, So What Does Your Itemized Budget Look Like, Joe? I'm just glad you're here now, and we can FIX THIS! If you haven't read it already, here's the link to get you “on track” with tracking your finances… You Need to Track Your Finances (Like a Business)…and You Hate It…Now What?!?) Don't worry…I'm not going to make you feel bad anymore. Soooo how do you know if you spent more than you made? (Sorry guys. Wait-what? You haven't tracked all of your spending for the year in some kind of computer software? So you can't actually see how much money you spent and on what? Oh. You can throw estimated numbers into a budget all you want, but if you don't know how much you actually spend on your life, you won’t know if it's a practical estimation…or what would be a practical reduction to save money. The problem is that people often truly don't know where to start with a budget, because they really don't know how much they spend. “The Envelope Budget” (click on the picture to link to an article).ĭon't get me wrong, I get that for the people that hate counting things and don't like spreadsheets, gimmicks can make it seem more “fun” and “interesting”…and I really do support anything that helps you start a budget. There are as many cute names for budgets as there are for diet trends. The “50/30/20 Budget,” the “Envelope Budget,” the “Pay Yourself First Budget,” blah blah blah. There are a lot of gimmicks out there when it comes to budgets. (Nice work on that scam.) What Kind of Budget Should I Use? Shouldn't I Be Stuffing Cash Into Envelopes Every Month (or Something to That Effect)? Some people will need to track their student loan costs, while other lucky bastards will have already paid off their student loans-or better yet, had their parents pay for their 4 year party adventure. Like if you don't have kids, not only will you save a lot of money (ha!), but you won't need that category. Now, not all categories apply to everyone, but the vast majority do. And while income is technically a category, expenses make up 98% of categories. You personal budget is made up of income and expenses. What Are Personal Itemized Budget Categories?
PERSONAL BUDGET OUTLINES HOW TO
The truth is that you don't have to have a master’s degree in Excel finance to make a more than adequate budget!Īctually, you don't even need to know how to make a budget in Excel (or Sheets), because I'm going to give you this Budget Template Google Sheets Masterpiece to use and work off of. I also wrote this other article about tracking your spending, fyi… You Need to Track Your Finances (Like a Business)…and You Hate It…Now What?!?īut for the sake of this post, I'm going to focus on the personal itemized budget categories. The second super critical requirement with budgeting is tracking your spending accurately (aka bookkeeping), and then comparing the results against your budget. But, what I'm attempting to say here is that a budget is only one of the two critical requirements to financial success. If this analogy has confused you, it's because it's a crappy analogy. So That's ALL I Have to Do…and Eventually I'll Be RICH!?!Ī personal budget is like a road map to your financial future.īut what good is a road map (or GPS on your phone, for those of you who’ve never seen a map) if you don't follow it or listen to the directions it's chirping at you?!! To create a budget, you need to break down all of your spending into categories, so you can clearly see your spending habits and where you might be overspending. It shows you what you will have left after you take your income and subtract all your expenses each month. That's why the above link takes you there.) What Is a Budget?Ī personal budget is a spending plan. (The worksheet is downloadable within my free budgeting basics course.
My Budget Template Google Sheet is all you need to get started. Do you want to maximize your income and invest your savings in order to increase your net worth and maybe even retire early? Well then, it all starts with a budget.Īn itemized budget which covers all the basic budget categories, is one of the most important tools you can use to help take control of your finances.
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