A family budget is a monthly plan that is drawn up in relation to the level of income and expenditure in order to reduce unnecessary expenses and increase free funds.
Why plan your family budget
Having repeatedly faced the situation of insufficient money in the family, at a time when there is still a lot of time before receiving wages, the question begins to arise: where was the money spent?
Therefore, it makes sense to plan your budget and keep a table of income and expenses, since this activity is very interesting and necessary.
For example, you can easily find out how much money is spent on eating out, how much money is spent on a car, how much is spent on food and other items of expenditure.
Seed budget planning can be approached for a variety of purposes. It can be a desire to control finances or optimize your costs. Also, goals can be more global, buying real estate, a car or vacation abroad.
How to properly manage your family budget
To begin with, you should decide in what way it is more convenient for you to manage your family budget. This could be:
- Notepad and pen;
- Tabular version in Excel on a personal PC;
- Online programs on Internet resources;
The entire family budget can be divided into two parts - income and expenses. In order for there to be a balance between these items, income must be equal to expenses, but if there is a desire to accumulate some of the money, then income must exceed expenses.
Calculating family income does not take much time and effort, for this you need to add up all the money that comes in every month: salary, benefits, etc.
But it will take more time to calculate costs. To do this, you should collect all receipts, from any purchases, and even the smallest ones. Then, every day, write down how much money and what was spent by all family members.
Data should be entered into a table, which should be categorized in advance, or added as needed. These can be categories such as: groceries, utility bills, car maintenance, dining out, entertainment, etc.
At the end of the reporting month, the total amount for each category should be calculated. After that, you can see what the main amount of money is spent on, and only then it is worth analyzing which expenses cannot be abandoned, and which can be avoided without prejudice to yourself and your family.
Once family budget planning becomes a habit, then you will have an idea of where and how much money is spent on a monthly basis.
This data will help you in drawing up a plan for the next month, at the end of which you can draw up a report to make sure how the plan coincides with the fact.
