Budgeting Part 2

Mo' Money Mo' Problems! I wish I could find that one out the hard way. It sounds great to be rich someday...but that day is not today so onward to budgeting. I think the easiest/crucial part of making a budget is to just analyse what you spend in a month. The formula for my budget is this:

Income-Needs*=Savings

*Needs includes car payments, food, rent, utilities, and wants. I think that is so important that you budget for your wants too (i.e. clothes, going out to eat, candy runs at work, etc). It is very important to know where every dollar is going for two reasons:

1. Fraud! There are so many scammers out there and if you carefully keep track of every penny you will know which charges are yours and which ones aren't.
2. Saving money! If you give yourself a limit you will spend less than if you  just shop without a dollar amount in mind. It will also keep you from overdrawn charges on your checking and building interest on your credit cards or overdraft accounts.

I keep a very tight budget and look at it every Friday to make sure my bills are paid and my money is where it's supposed to be. There's a great template for budgeting here. Also, America First has nice budgeting calculators to see how you can save by changing your budget. Have fun with your money!