Comments on: Making A Simple Budget – A First Timer’s Guide

By: Steve in W MA

Steve in W MA — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 03:10:29 +0000

how bout these for columns: previous balance (make it zero for the first month, budgeted amount, amount available (add up the first two columns to get this), amount spent, and amount remaining/new balance.

Spend by the figure in the last column. At the end of the month, roll that figure over into the first column of your new month’s budget and proceed.

Basically, when you do it by this, you can spend by your “amount available to spend/new balance” every month and ignore for the most part your bank balances.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:17:33 +0000

Thanks for this, this was a super simple way for me to design a budget. I never totaled up what I had actually spent the previous month. That gave me some categories that I wouldn’t normally have put in a budget, instantly setting myself up for failure. I feel like I will be more successful with this new budget.

By: Sunil

Sunil — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 03:52:42 +0000

I used an Excel spreadsheet for a few months last year, then somehow stopped. After coming across this site Ive decided to start again. Thanks.

By: Fahn

Fahn — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:46:44 +0000

I’m a 24yr old Post-It junkie who gets paid bi-monthly, so I write down my bills for the first half of the month from the 1st-15th and then from the 16th-31st. I stick each post-it note in my planner on the 1st and 16th day. I get a sense of accomplishment when I get to mark off all of my bills that I’ve paid for, including paying myself (the #1 thing on that list). Then I get to toss that sucker! Sounds crazy but it’s fun to me because I’ve boosted my IRA, Savings AND checking accounts by almost 500% in the last few months.

By: moneysmartlife

moneysmartlife — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:27:06 +0000

One of the reasons people don’t build a budget is because they don’t want to take the time to create it. The fact is, you’re building a living budget every day.

Just download your transactions for the last few months from your various financial institutions and use those as the starting point for your budget.

You’ll have the numbers in seconds, then you can start analyzing them and deciding what changes to make in your spending habits.