My Budgeting Tips for You 4/1/2009

Here you will find the things I do to keep my budget in line. It doesn't always work the way I want it to, but here are the tips I have for you today! I am going to try and give five tips a week. Try is the best word for it! Look for a guide to what everything means coming soon!

Here you go:

1. When starting your budget make sure you and your spouse/significant other is involved. If they aren't your budget is going to only half work. So, get them on board and then continue with the tips! Go.

2. Now that you have everyone on board the next thing you need to do is either open an Excel spreadsheet or get a notepad. The tip right now is to put in one column your income and in another column your outgo. Put amounts and not just "Cable bill" or "Cell Phone". Example: "Cell Phone: $60.00"

3. Now that you have 1 and 2 complete. What you should do is budget high. You'll want to do this for two reasons: A.) So that you can have extra money at the end of the month. B.) You can pay that amount each month and eventually you will have a credit on your account.

4. Now that you have all your outgoing amounts listed, find a bank statement for last month to see where your money went. If this is your first budget you may be surprised where it actually went! Your tip is to cut out the unnecessary costs.

5. This last one might be hard, but you'll hear it on any blog or in any budgeting article. Follow the budget. If you don't you'll soon find yourself back at number one. So, the goal here is to move forward, not backward.

Here are your first five tips. Look for detailed posts regarding each one to come soon. Happy Budgeting!