New Year – Start A Budget

Starting The Year Off Right – With A Budget

• List Your Expenses - Create a list of your recurring expenses. Examples of some of these are utilities, gym, tuition and loans. Once you have all these listed it gives you a good starting point.

• Visual Document – Place all your incoming and outgoing totals on one document. Having one visual document that represents all funds coming in and going out on a monthly basis gives you a quick reference. When you are debating on taking on another recurring expense or making a large purchase you can review your document prior to understand the financial impact that will make.

• Food/Activities Budget – Set a budget when it comes to your monthly food as well as activities. When making decisions on what activities to do if you have a budget set you are able to quickly decide. When it comes to a food budget this will include grocery shopping as well as restaurant outings. Again with a budget established you can make an educated decision on going out to dinner or making a more affable choice.

• Check In – It is a good idea to set a date/time on your calendar to do a budget check. You can do this as minimal as 1 time per month. This check in will allow you to review if you have stayed on track and if you need to make any adjustments. You can even build a check in with someone who can hold you accountable to your budget if this would help during the initial few months.

Best Part
The best part about a budget is it can come in all different shapes and sizes. Once you find a budget that works for you it allows you to stick with it! Once you stick with a budget you be more financially responsible and who doesn’t want that!