Note your net income
The first step in creating a budget is to identify the amount of money you have coming in. Remember to subtract your deductions, such as for Social Security, taxes, 401 and flexible spending account allocations, when creating a budget worksheet. Your final take-home pay is called net income, and that is the number you should use when creating a budget.
Track your spending
It’s helpful to keep track of and categorize your spending so you know where you can make adjustments. Doing so will help you identify what you are spending the most money on and where it might be easiest to cut back. Begin by listing all your fixed expenses. These are regular monthly bills such as rent or mortgage, utilities or car payments.
It’s unlikely you’ll be able to cut back on these, but knowing how much of your monthly income they take up can be helpful.
Set your goals
Long-term goals, such as saving for retirement or your child’s education, may take years to reach. Remember, your goals don’t have to be set in stone, but identifying your priorities before you start planning a budget will help.
Make a plan
With your fixed expenses, you can predict fairly accurately how much you’ll have to budget for. Use your past spending habits as a guide when trying to predict your variable expenses. You might choose to break down your expenses even further, between things you need to have and things you want to have.
Adjust your habits if necessary
Once you’ve done all this, you have what you need to complete your budget. Having documented your income and spending, you can start to see where you have money left over or where you can cut back so that you have money to put toward your goals. Want-to-have expenses are the first area to look for spending cuts. Try adjusting the numbers you’ve tracked to see how much money that frees up.
Lastly, if the numbers still aren’t adding up, you can look at adjusting your fixed expenses. You might be surprised at how much extra money you accumulate by making one minor adjustment at a time.
Keep checking in
Whatever the reason, keep checking in with your budget following the steps above.
