Marraige & Money - Making a Budget

Developing a Budget that is Successful

March 24th, 2010 | Budget, Personal Finance, money management techniques 

In general there is no way to overcome major financial problems without going to a budget. Even if you do not like the idea of budgeting, a good budget is like a trail boss who knows the entire forest like the back of his hand. Your budget will also prove to be the guide to your future financial success

There are five items I am sure will provide you with a basic skeleton of a working budget for you to flesh out and call your own.

1 - Teamwork - The relationship that you have with your spouse is one of the most important of all human relationships in your life. If you are married, then you need to treat your situation as if you and your spouse are one entity, which means that all of the most important decisions in your life need to be made together. Teamwork, then, is a vitally important part of developing a successful budget for your relationship or your family.

2 - Truth - It is important that you learn and comprehend what your true income actually is. Most people are not really aware of what their true income is. So what is a true income? Your true income is the actual dollar amount that the entire family is bringing in every month. These are the net dollars that remain after taxes and other withholdings have been paid. This is a reliable amount of money, and it is a for-sure amount of income that is not going to be dependent on things like bonuses, overtime or simple wishful thinking. The only way that you are going to have an accurate working budget is to know what your actual spendable dollars are.

3 - Monthly Budget - You need to make sure that you are doing your budget every single month. Prepare your budget brand new with every new month. You do not have to reinvent the wheel every single month because your budget format will already be in place, but you are going to want to prepare a brand new budget every single month because it will force you to rethink and review your spending habits on a regular basis and it will encourage communication within the family.

4 - Commit to Paper - Get your paper down on paper for the best possible results. Everything you do should be put down on paper because this makes it definitive. If your family budget is going to have any kind of an impact at all, then you are going to need to get it down on paper sooner rather than later.

5 - Prioritize - If you want your budget to have the biggest impact on your family, you need to be willing to prepare your budget based on where dollars need to go first and foremost.

Photo Credits: ThrasherDave

Originally posted 2009-10-26 03:28:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter