How to Start a Budget

When you start a budget, concepts like “base budgetary needs” and “existing income” comes up! Who gets this stuff?

Sure, you could wing it, but this is the place to start if you want to understand a personal finance budget. A budget provides a path to pursue short and long-term financial goals and, along the way, explore financial concepts you may want to understand. If you’re curious, you’ll discover a world of budgeting prospects here! Read on!

Start a Budget: The First Day

From the first day, a personal budget sheet shows you income and expense details, progress toward financial goals, and an overall finance snapshot of a life. In truth, you can’t find it anywhere else. Who else spent the money on your car last month like you did, or discovered a gig-economy job that increased your existing income?

In fact, starting a budget puts you in lockstep with other financial planning devices, allowing you to forecast expenditures months and years ahead. For instance, you can plan on month-to-month retirement savings, calculate how much you can blow on a weekend party, and even determine what size an apartment or home you can finance. In the end, it shows you how to grow wealth. That spells financial independence. 

It also provides you with the numbers you need to check your own Debt-To-Income ration number, which can help you when thinking about borrowing.

Income

At length, starting a personal finance budget begins with income. Consider using a budget template if you don’t want to open a blank spreadsheet and start from scratch. Income includes active and passive Income. Write your sources of income on a line in your budget spreadsheet.

Active Income

Firstly, active income can be defined as money you get in exchange for showing up at a job. Even if you sleepwalk to work in the morning and can’t remember punching a clock, you earn an active income.

1. Pay the bills.
2. Plan extra expenditures 
3. Set aside savings, like a passbook savings account or a money market account. 
4. Fund some fun, like a snowboarding vacation in Cervinia or a new apartment in Milwaukee. With a personal budget, you may start imagining real fun.

To start a budget means you’re committed to managing money, which creates all the opportunities with good credit. 

What to Do with Passive Income?

Passive income results from investments, not hands-on work or sweat. Specifically, you find a source of passive income, a way to make money while you put your feet on the desk and study a spreadsheet. You add it to your active income on a line by itself.

You can roll it over in investments, use it for new assets, or put it into savings and build wealth. In theory, passive income always works for you, but you may not pay everyday expenses with it. It’s tied up in growing your wealth.

Details, Details

Whatever your income source, itemize it, and list your monthly income totals in your newly started budget or scratch spreadsheet. Collect pay stubs from work, printouts of electronic transactions, and any other income records and watch it all add up.

At this point, total your income and calculate whether it’s an accurate number in the future, month-to-month.

Start a Budget: Expenses

Once you’re satisfied that you’ve covered the income section of your budget, turn to the expenses. Discover the receipts from rent, insurance, utilities, stores, service stations, malls, and restaurants. Call this stuff expenses in your budget worksheet. 

Next, categorize your spending according to the type. List your payments by date or take them from a register, as a check register, or a checkbook app:

•  rent or mortgage payment
•  Utilities
• Car payments
• Credit card payments 
• Personal debt. 

Under expenses, enter the payments onto a budget spreadsheet expense. If you’re inventing a spreadsheet from scratch, create an “Expense” section.

Total up your expenses.

Subtract that total from your income total and discover the picture you’ve created of your finances. You are now beyond starting a budget and are beginning to see your financial picture take shape.

With a newly minted budget, you can start growing your budget sensibility and seeing the possibilities. 

Epiphany Time!

The receipts of your monthly spending are essential when you start to budget, so take care not to lose any. The primary categories and particulars you’ve developed reflect what you value, which differs from person to person. It’s helpful to categorize your spending to educate your feelings about it. You may clump categories together to simplify the record-keeping task as your budget progresses.

What’s a Category of Spending?

For example, consider housing. If you should spend 25 to 35 percent of your income on housing, knowing your monthly payment will provide an amount you can afford to pay. How does it compare to the recommended 25-30 percent most people spend on housing? Budgets help you define what you can afford and perhaps what to juggle around so you can afford that lovely place.

Perform Budget Magic!

People learn stuff about themselves from budgeting. Consider all the grocery store and restaurant receipts you collect over a month. Spend $200 a month on groceries and about $300 eating out. That will give you two items in different expense categories. You might increase spending on groceries, decrease eating at restaurants or reduce spending to save money. As long as you eat well enough, you’ve met the daily allowance. If you juggle stuff around in a budget, you can see how manipulating a budget helps meet your financial goals.

Take the clothing allowance. Each article of clothing costs money and can be worked into a budget, considering the wear and tear of work clothes. Thus, there’s often a clothing allowance in budgets.

Work in Percentages

It’s good to work in percentages when figuring out your budget. Why do percentage rates work so well? Mathematicians say it’s because parts of 100 are easy to calculate.

 Somethings you buy from month to month are necessary for life: 

• Shelter
• Food
• Transportation
• Insurance
• Clothing

Other costs are part of your budget as well. These include: 

1. Entertainment
2. Dining out
3. Savings

Financial experts advise that after you’ve met your monthly obligations and put away a percentage in savings, whatever you have left, you can spend on fun. You can take such advice anyway you like. You rule your budget!

The savings commitment may illuminate how much you have to paint the town red if you commit to saving money. 

The Typical Budget

Here’s a breakdown of a typical budget by percentages:

Housing………………………25-35 percent

Transportation ………………15 percent

Food …………………………….10 percent

Discretionary spending ……..24 percent

Savings…………………………..26 percent

All these categories get complicated. For example, you break the transportation number into costs depending on your transportation choice. You may opt to use public transit. You can considerably reduce your transportation cost with a monthly city bus pass.

Transportation Example

With the cost of a vehicle, your expenses are purchasing the car, maintenance, and gas. Add the insurance expense, and your transportation category is coasting down the road. With a developed budget, you’re ready to make decisions.

The personal finance budget can be a vital tool in getting ahead in life, so let funding enable you.

Debt to Income Ratio

When you apply for a loan, your banker will look at your debt-to-income ratio number to see if you’re financially healthy. Add up your expenses, which amounts to your monthly debt, then divide by your income, and you have a debt-to-income ratio. So, if you make $8500 a month, and your expenses are $3000, divide 3000 by 8500. The result is like .3529; drop the last two digits and the decimal point, and you have to 35. Now add a percentage sign, and you have 35%. That’s the debt-to-income ratio. It’s not great, but you may be able to borrow money from it.

So, your budget can also keep you informed about your credit shape!

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This blog was originally published in 2021 and has been slightly edited.

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