Money Wise

This is the sample budget for you:

Adjust it accordingly to suit your needs. This is just a sample. You can create better than this. Check it either it balance or not?

Have a look at your budget again, and see how you can balance it. Are you able to increase your income? If not, how can you cut your expenses? Go through all your expenses and decide which ones you can reduce or even do without.

Eating out, for example, is something we all enjoy. But by just cutting down on eating at an expensive restaurant once a week, you can make a difference to your financial situation.

You need to be brutal and keep slashing your expenses until you not only have matched your income, but are actually left with extra for emergencies, plus some to save and invest. Without saving and investing, your money will not multiply the way it could, and should.

But more about this in later chapters.

Tips : Open up Google and search for available sample budgets for free on the net. Those that come on Excel files are practical because they do the maths for you.

Like the good old fashioned accountant, make two colums, one for money coming in and the other for money going out. You will find that the first column is very much shorter than the second.

Don’t worry - it is the same for everyone, even Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. The sample provided above is just a sample. You may need to modify it to better suit your circumstances. For example, if you don’t have children, remove the whole section on kids’ costs.

On the other hand, you may have elderly parents staying with you, you will have related expenses. This is important part in making a budget is to think of all your expenses and list these down.

Tips:

• When starting a new budget, use your last bills for items such as electricity, water and other utilities as a benchmark on how you will spend on these
• For food, if you are the kind who keeps all your shopping blls, this should not be a problem. If not, then you need to estimate roughly how much you think you should be spending. You can modify this figure at the end of the next month, by which time you will have your grocery bills to check against
• Unless your finances are truly in a bad shape, do allow for certain luxuries: life would be a very boring without a few frills! The good thing about having a budget is that you know how much you can afford to pamper yourself and your family, and (hopefully) will not go overboard. The idea, you see, is to be in control. This is the key: without a budget, your money is controlling you and not the other way around.

Once you have filled in all the blanks in your budget chart, add up all your incoming and outgoing money. If your inflow is more than your outflow, congratulations, you are doing well.

You actually have to make your money grow. If on the other hand, you are spending more than you earn, it’s time for a reality check.

You Are The Boss 

Don’t Let Money Control You 

The first and most basic step towards becoming financially savvy is knowing how much money you are earning and whre it is going. Most of us know exactly how much we earn, but are clueless as to how much we’re spending.

While you are relatively young, so long as you are able to pay your bills, and your bank account is in the black, you probably do not have a care in the world. But stop! You cannot go on like this if you are going to make your money work for you, For that to happen, you have to take control. That means budgeting.  

Learning how to budget is important o matter how much or little you earn. For most, the word means cutting down on expenses. But actually to budget is simply to have a very clearly defined chart of inflow and outflow of your money. This is the only way you can keep track of your money and be in a position to decide how you want to spend, save and invest it.

-By the way, thank you Mr xBrain for sponsoring me this blog and hosting!!

What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter.

And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives.

-Oprah Winfrey-