Budgeting

Do the weeks seem to be getting longer between paydays? Do you feel “flush” on payday but can barely get by in the days before the next one? Can you close your eyes right now and tell me within a dollar of how much money you have in your checking account and savings account? Do you have a savings account? If you said “yes“ to questions one and two but “no” to questions three and four, it is time to sit down with pencil and paper to create a budget so you can control your money and not have it control you.

Life today is faster than even twenty years ago. We also seem to NEED more things than ever before, and everything costs more. We tend to pull out our debit cards and then lose the receipts. It seems like there is never enough time to actually sit down and balance our checkbooks. Besides, who writes checks anymore? It takes more conscious thought today to keep track of the money stream than when people had a sack full of silver dollars. When the sack got lighter, you found more work. When the sack was empty, you did without or worked for your supper. Now, it is easy to have emptied the mythical sack in the checking account after one afternoon with your debit card at the mall. You still have the cell phone bill to pay; there are three cans of soup and one can of tuna in the pantry; and payday isn’t for three days. What can you do?

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Don’t panic. Budgeting really means having a plan. It is a little like a diet for your money. When you know exactly how much money is coming in and where it all goes, you can begin to be in control of it -- and the plan can be as strict or as lenient as you need for your circumstances.

The first thing to do is write down all your fixed (regular) expenses, i.e., rent, food, utility bills, insurance bills, regular loan payments. Add these up. This is the amount of money you have to set aside to live out of each paycheck.

Second, subtract this amount from your net (after taxes) pay. The difference is what you have to work with to get on a better track with your finances.

Third, decide what you can save out of this extra amount. The ideal amount to save out of each paycheck is between 10 and 20 percent of your net income, but if you can’t save that amount at first, that is ok. What you need to establish is the habit of saving. If you can put a few dollars in a savings account each time, that amount will grow. Eventually, you can increase the amount you save.

When you have created your budget plan, stick with it. If you need to modify the plan, do so, but continue to have a conscious plan. That way, you will be more in control of your money and can see where the problem areas are before they overwhelm you.

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