Budgeting -- ooh, what a scary word! If you want to frighten someone whose finances are out of control, suggest that they tally up their expenses on a piece of paper. We all understand the value of such an exercise, but when it comes to the practicality of putting a budget together, we get cold feet. Budgeting doesn't have to be so painful, when you have a systematic series of steps to follow.
SET YOUR FINANCIAL goalS
As with any other area of your life, it's pointless to start down a financial path if you don't you have some idea of where you want to end up. What is your REASON for creating a budget? Do you want to pay off your debts? Save for your kids' college education? Put money away for retirement? Make a list of your financial goals for the next 6 months, year, 5 years, 10, 25 -- all the way through to old age. And don't spend a lot of time worrying about feasibility -- if your goal is to be debt free in a year, don't think about all of the reasons why you won't be able to make it by that deadline. Just remember, where there's a will, there's a way!
CREATE THE SHEET
Start with either a sheet of legal paper -- or a spreadsheet program -- and create 12 columns. Label the top of each column with a month of the year, from January to December (duh!) Each row on your sheet will represent a different living expense -- groceries, gasoline, Starbucks Coffee in the morning on the way to work. You'll have better luck remembering everything that you spend money on if you think according to categories. "Automobile" would include gas, repairs, insurance, and taxes -- while "grooming" might be divided into clothes, makeup, haircuts, and facials.
TRACK YOUR EXPENSES
How can you know what steps you need to take to reach your goal until you know exactly where you are right now? Most of us don't have a clue where our money goes -- credit cards and ATM's make it easy for money to just slip through our fingers. The first step is to create a list of STATIC EXPENSES -- things that cost the same amount every month, like rent and your car lease and student loan payments. Now these expenses are not completely "static" in the strictest sense of the word. You can reduce your rent or mortgage payment by finding a less expensive house -- and you could increase your loan payments to get rid of the debt faster. But for now, just itemize your regular monthly costs.
Next, you want to evaluate your VARIABLE EXPENSES -- those costs that fluctuate from month to month. Groceries, entertainment, utilities, and clothing all fall into this category. The great thing about variable expenses is that you control (at least to a certain extent) how much of your budget these items eat up. But some of these costs come in large and unexpected chunks -- like car repairs and medical bills. So you might need to go through your last 12 months' credit card and bank statements to get a clear idea of how much daily life costs you. And don't forget about those expenses that are paid only intermittently -- like insurance. Tally each expense and divide the total by 12, to give you a clearer idea of how your costs spread out over a year's time.
ROOT OUT MONEY LEAKS
Now I guarantee that you will not remember every expense, no matter how hard you strain your brain! Think about all of the things that you buy throughout your week without really paying attention -- snacks at work, a magazine when you stop for gas, that cup of Coffee on your way in every morning. And don't forget about the expenses you are racking up because of financial disorganization -- interest charges on your credit card debt, late fees because you forgot to return that movie on time, overdraft charges because you didn't balance your checkbook. All of these fall into the category of unconscious spending. You just do it because it's a habit. And although you think that a dollar here or fifty cents there is insignificant, it can really a
收藏至：
