Search Results for: blog list of budget categories

Budgeting For Those With Irregular Incomes

Everybody knows the importance of creating a budget to keep your finances on track. There are some situations that make creating and sticking to a budget difficult. Irregular income is certainly one of these. If one or both wage-earners in a family are self-employed or work at jobs that do not pay on a traditional regularly-timed, predictable earning schedule it is hard to know how much money is going to come through the door each month. Unfortunately, the world does not provide exceptions for those of us with irregular incomes. Your bills are due on the same day every month … Continue reading →

Back-to-School Budget Busters

What is the single most expensive back-to-school item on your child’s list? It likely varies depending on the age of your child, but according to a new report, backpacks are high on the list of back-to-school budget busters. Most kids insist that a new backpack is required back-to-school material despite what their frugal parents might think. However, if you want a backpack to last a couple of years it pays to invest in a good one. No offense to major discount retailers, but $3 clearance packs don’t often fare well against pricey, high quality bags. Prices for a high quality … Continue reading →

Planning a Holiday Budget

Being on track with a budget can really ensure that your spending doesn’t get out of hand. This is true whether you have a food budget or an entire household budget. Having a budget for holiday spending can be very important. We all tend to overspend at this time of year. Let’s get started planning out our budgets. It isn’t very hard to do, but there are certain areas that tend to get overlooked. I’ll help you out on getting everything organized if you would like. Let’s start as always with the list. It isn’t simply a list of people … Continue reading →

Budgeting on a Limited Income

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Whether you are a single parent, a student, retired or have other income situations, learning to live on a limited income can take some serious hard work. We should all have a budget, but if your income is tight… it is even more of an urgent need. When budgeting on a limited income, the key is to prioritize first. You simply might not have enough money to pay for all the standard budgeting categories. The first step will be to make a short list of your top necessities. Good examples are housing, food, utilities and transportation. There may be more, … Continue reading →

Reality Budgets

A common budgeting mistake is not basing your budget on reality. We all want to be able to set aside $200 a month to save for a down payment on a home or our children’s college education. But, if you have to cut your food budget in half to afford to do so… you may find you come up short each month. The key in budgeting is avoiding this common mistake. In order for a budget to actually work, it needs to be first based in reality. During your budget planning, realize that certain things just aren’t in your budget, … Continue reading →

Why Isn’t My Budget Working?

There are so many people that sit down at the beginning of each month and write out a budget. Then they go on about their lives and wonder why they run out of money mid-month. This can be very frustrating for many people. They think that because they have written everything down that it should work. The problem is that they haven’t committed to living the budget. Here are the five things you can do to commit to living the budget. 1) When you finish the budget you should sign it. This may seem silly, but it symbolizes your commit … Continue reading →

List of Budget Categories

Whether you are just getting started on your first budget or taking the time to renew your money management systems, the following list should help you. Often the hardest part of a budget is simply separating your spending into different categories. So grab your checkbook, bank statements and credit card bills, and get started on a budget today. Typical budget categories include: Cash: Have an budget account for miscellaneous cash you take out for little expenditures. This is simpler than trying to keep track of each piece of gum or soda you buy. Childcare or babysitting: If you have kids, … Continue reading →

Budget Categories

What categories are in your budget? One problem that many people have with budgeting is that they tend to leave something out. It can be any number of things often they are little. The little things can quickly add up and you may not realize where your money is going. For example my husband loves to stop for a soda and a candy bar on the way home from work. He does this at least three out of the five days a week. Since he is stopping at a convenience store, it is usually about three dollars each day. That … Continue reading →

New Year’s Resolutions: Evaluating Your New Budget

It is the end of the month, and time to evaluate your budget. Did you manage to stick to your budget? Were there areas that needed some adjusting? Is there a category that you went way over the amount you had planned? If you really want to stick to your New Year’s Resolution of sticking to a budget, sitting down now and tweaking the budget is really the key to be successful. Here are five things to consider as you tweak your budget. 1) Are there specific areas that you underestimated the cost of the category? Many people struggle with … Continue reading →

Is Your Budget Set in Stone?

One mistake that many people make is thinking that their budget is set in stone. This can be an easy mistake to make. The reason it can backfire is that once you have gone over in a category, many people think they have blown the entire month, and then stop worrying about the money they are spending. It is important to realize that you can adjust your budget throughout the month, so that you never spend more than you make. You should have some categories that will cover unexpected expenses. This may be an invitation for your child to attend … Continue reading →