The First Step
The first thing to do is get a piece of paper or program on the computer such as Microsoft Office. Next you will be dividing your money into categories. Your budget should not include any miscellaneous category. A living payment will need to be one of the categories. A utilities category should be made with electricity, water, cable, etc. If you have children you should have a category for them. Food should be split into restaurants and groceries. There should be two categories for you and your spouse. All of your car expenses should be in a category with all the personal items in a separate category. This will show you exactly how much money you are really spending each month in each category.
Second Thing
Make sure you have a set amount set aside for bills that you won’t spend. Here is where you want to list things such as phone bills or rent. Make sure all of these rates are unchangeable. This will show you how much money goes into each category of your budget. You should then put in amount into each category that you spend there on average. You can live a month and carefully record your spending to see what you are spending all of your money on. Once you see how much money you spend on each area, you may be surprised.
And Then
How much you make income wise is important to be sure about so you don’t go over your budget. You might have to subtract from other funds. It is a great thing to have extra money at the end of each month; it can be put in a savings account. You must remember to stick to the budget; it is important. You may be tempted to go to a nice restaurant when you can’t afford to; don’t go to the restaurant. It can be really hard to discipline yourself into not having everything you want but will be worth it in the end.
My Life
Everyone struggles in college and I am no exception. I felt like there was no hope that I could pay for everything. I had to try and work out how to pay for tuition, rent, the electric bill, the phone bill, health insurance, car insurance, and even my books. I thought I might go hungry after having to pay for all that. So that I could pay for everything, I needed to budget as little money as possible to each category. I looked and found a new program to try. The program worked miracles in my lives. The expenses were somehow paid for by my small amount of income. My budget is still being done with this program.
