Would You Rather Stick a Fork in Your Eye or Talk About Budgets?

For lots of people, just thinking the word “budget” is like nails on a chalkboard. I know the feeling. 

For many years I wouldn’t have anything to do with a budget because I couldn’t stand the idea of anyone — or anything — telling me how to spend my money. And where did that get me? Into one big financial mess. 

Every month, when I ran out of money, I would turn to MasterCard and Visa for a bailout. Really bad idea. 

What I learned from going through that experience and finding my way back to solvency is that, as much as we may loathe it, a budget is the ticket to financial happiness — not the straitjacket I feared it would be. I prefer to call this a “spending plan” rather than a budget, but honestly the terms are interchangeable. 

A good spending plan gives every dollar a specific job to do. Once you have it just the way you want it, the plan becomes a handy road map for keeping your finances on track. 

So take a deep breath and let’s walk through the basic principles of creating a simple budget or spending plan.

Step 1: Write down your total take-home monthly income. This is the easy part. Jot down what you earn. Because many expenses are billed monthly, it makes good sense to use monthly net income to create your budget.  

Step 2: Write down your essential expenses. Start with fixed bills such as rent, mortgage, car payment, credit-card debt and insurance. Then factor in other monthly costs that are always the same. These are your essential fixed expenses. 

Step 3: List your essential variable expenses. You know you’ll have these bills, but the amounts vary. Examples are your phone, utilities, food, household expenses, gasoline, medication, public transportation, shoes and clothing. You can assign an estimated amount to each based on past experience, rounding to the closest $10. 

Step 4: List reasonable amounts for nonessential expenses. This includes entertainment, eating out, hobbies and other ways you spend money on a regular basis. 

Step 5: List irregular expenses. For items that do not recur monthly such as car maintenance, Christmas and vacation, determine the annual cost, and then divide by 12 to see how much you should set aside each month to anticipate that irregular expense. 

Step 6: Figure out your totals. Add up your expenses, and then subtract that amount from your income. With luck, you’ll come out in the black, with at least a little money left over. But if your expenses exceed your income, you’ll see a negative sum. Don’t panic — this is just the start of an ongoing process. 

Step 7: See where you can cut. If you came up short, go back to your projected monthly expenses and see what you can get rid of. Start with nonessentials. Keep going through the list, making adjustments until your total expenses are less than your income. 

Step 8: Follow your spending plan as closely as possible. Track your spending every day. Take notes and research ways you’ll be able to do even better next month. At month’s end, add up your actual spending and compare it with what you planned. Use this information to create the next month’s Spending Plan. 

Congratulations — you’ve just elevated yourself from being clueless to financially savvy. You should feel very good about this! 

As difficult as it might be to see in black and white that your income and expenses are not quite in sync, just knowing where you are is going to make all the difference. 

Even if you find yourself in a particularly tight financial position right now, take heart. As you pay off debts and find more ways to cut expenses, you’ll begin to sense a significant loosening of financial pressure. Soon you’ll be ready to add new categories to your spending plan for things like saving for a new car, home improvements or going back to college. 

The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll be on your way to reaching financial freedom.

Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 24 books, including her 2013 release, “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Planning for Retirement.” You can email her at mary@everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2099, Cypress, CA 90630.