Money Saving Monday - Realistic Budget

How did you do working getting all your money divided out into buckets? Were you able to capture every dollar you spend? Probably not, but you should be able to see where the majority of your money is going. I not a financial expert, but I would like to share some ways I have found to save money and still be able to get have a great lifestyle. Now let’s take a look at some areas where you can shave some money off your budget.

1. Impulse buying

One important thing is to stop spending money on the little impulse buys you make, such as a drink at the convenience store or fast food restaurant for a soda. How about that extra coffee you get on your way to work? If you can cut $10 out of your budget on these items a week, you will save $40 a month or $520 a year. If you really enjoy a good cup of hot coffee from that great coffee chain based in Seattle, ask for gift cards for items like this. This makes your coffee FREE and you still get to enjoy a great cup of coffee.

2.  Entertainment Expenses

This depends on your family size and how often you go to some type of entertainment. Look to see if there is an alternative that is less expensive. Like going to the movies, see if there is a $1 movie or matinee in your area. You can still enjoy a movie for a much reduced cost. Evaluate all your options to see if there are also some FREE things you can do as a family. Parks are great and very inexpensive.

3. Going Out to Eat

This one is one that many people don’t realize how much they spend on eating out. This should be considered a treat. Spend your money on something worth eating, not always fast food. One way to stop getting fast food all the time is to have ready made food in your freezer or use a slow cooker. Try to make and have a few freezer meals cooked and ready in your freezer one weekend. These are great for when you are sick or just don’t feel like cooking that night, you will have something ready to go and not stop by to get some fast food before you get home. Also start something in the morning before you leave for work and let it cook all day in the slow cooker, you will have a nice warm meal when you get home. These are usually healthier options as well. You may just find being frugal will help you lose weight too!

Review

Now start trying to implement a few of these changes this week. See if you can start cutting back on a few areas. Examine your priorities and find out where you really want your money to go. If you are in a place where a flat tire would put you into debt, stop by next week where I will discuss how to start savings and what is a good amount to have in your savings account next week. You may be surprised.

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Money Saving Monday - Realistic Budget

I took a little time off for the holidays to spend some time with my family. I am glad I got to spend some time with them, since my brother is in the hospital having gall bladder surgery. I just heard from my mom he is out and doing well.

I also got a wonderful gift from little face this Christmas. He is now potty trained. Right before Christmas he was dry for two days, so after that I said no more diapers and put him in underwear. He now only wears diapers for sleeping, but most of the time he wakes up dry. Since this has occurred, I will be reducing my budget down to $50 a week for the new year. New year = New challenges.

 

Since it is a new year I want to talk about budgeting and how this can help your marriage or any relationship you are in.  This will help everyone keep realistic expectations when it comes to money. I am not an expert in this field, but this is what works for me. I think it is better if you can see your actual budget on paper and see the picture of how this works. I will also be happy to help answer any questions about your budget to see where you may be able to cut some expenses. I love helping people.

How do you create a realistic budget?

One of the first things you need to do is see where is your money is going right now. Do you purchase most of your items with your debit or credit card or do you use cash? If using debit or credit pull out one or two of your statements. If you use cash this is a little more difficult, since you will need to collect all of your receipts and add them up at the end of the month. Go into excel and create a spreadsheet with row for each category. I will explain this in greater detail below. This way you can see all the buckets your money falls into.

Next look at your house or rent payment. This should not be more than 30% of your take home income. If it is more, you should consider moving or refinancing your home. This is the standard housing allowance for budgets. I worked in the mortgage industry for five years and when analyzing budgets this was our cutoff. If your interest rate is 6% or higher, you should consider refinancing now. Mortgage rates are very low right now. If you don't own, you may consider purchasing a home. By refinancing when the market is low, you may be able to save quite a bit on your mortgage payment. We have refinanced twice and saved $500 off our current payment.

Now take a look at your bills such as electric, water, gas, car payment, insurance and any other bills you may have to pay on a regular basis. Make sure you do an average for things like electric, water and gas, since you are more likely to use more electricity in the summer to cool your home than you use in the winter.

Now review your spreadsheet with all your other statements to see if you have captured every dollar you spend. Do you have any annual expenses you pay? Be sure to include that in your monthly budget and set that money aside every month.

Ok let’s review your spreadsheet. In the first box, put your total household income you actually bring home. Then subtract all of your expenses for the month. How much do you have at the end of the month? If this is nothing or a negative number, you have a problem and need to cut unnecessary items from your budget or reduce one of your boxes. Did you make a payment to your savings account? If you are not saving any money, where are some of the areas you can cut? You should always try to make payment to savings no matter how small. This way if something comes up that you didn't expect, you can pay cash instead of using credit and paying interest which is like throwing your money in the trash.

Next Monday I will talk about areas you can cut or ways you can save. Have you ever actually sat down and created a budget like this before? Now is the best time to start, since it is at the beginning of the year. Wouldn’t be a great habit to save money? Let me know if you have any questions. I would love to help you save some money this year.

Stay connected with Pounds4Pennies on Facebook or join my Pounds4Pennies on BlogFrog community for more savings.