This week's challenge is to create and maintain a financial budget so you can start saving more and spending less.
I am really the wrong person to be blogging about this. I HATE dealing with money. It's tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating. But I'm going to give it a go. Here's how the book suggests to do it:
Your budget should be kept on a monthly basis. You can use personal finance software, such as Quicken or Quick Books, but you can also use something as simple as Excel. If you're using Excel, create a tab for each month, carrying over the balance from the previous month to the current month. Take inventory of your current bank accounts, loans, and debts. Record your income after taxes. List your monthly expenses (i.e. the bills you pay every month). Deduct these expenses from your monthly income. The remaining balance can be put towards purchases, savings, or any additional debt you need to pay off.
You can definitely get more in-depth with your budget than this, but I think this is a good basic plan for those just starting out. If you're interested in doing so, the book does an excellent job of breaking it down, including putting your expenses into categories. As for me, I'm starting slow. :)
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