- The Traditional route, where you basically write down your income, expenses, and find the difference. Then break it down into categories such as groceries, gas, rent, etc. This method is for people who are detail oriented and have the time and patience to figure it all out.
- The 50/30/20 budget, with this way you break your down your expenses into needs/ essential, wants, and savings. 50% of your income goes towards your needs, 30% goes towards your wants and 20% to your savings. Make sure your strict between your needs and wants, example; soap is essential, and snacks is a want so don’t combine them under Walmart/ grocery shopping. It can throw this method off.
- The 80/20 budget, in this method 20% goes to your saving and the rest you spend as you see fit.
- Use Budgeting tools or Apps, like Truebill connect with your bank account and divides the categories based on your transactions, making it easier to see what you are spending on.
Since I am a visual person and need to write everything, I decided to make a Budget Journal. I took a medium size notebook to dedicate to my budget since I wanted everything in one place. It is up to you to use whatever is easier for you a binder, a folder, Microsoft Excel, etc. First step is to go month by month so you don’t overwhelm yourself, which can easily happen if your trying to budget for multiple months at once. Then I like to look at a calendar and write down in the journal week by week what bills are due and if they are automatically taken out from my bank account I put it in the correct week and write the date next to that. It would look something like this:
~May 2020~
Week 1 Week 2
5/4 Bill 1 5/11 Bill 4
5/6 Bill 2 5/12 Bill 5
5/9 Bill 3
After breaking down the weeks, I would add the bills for the week and jot down the totals. Next place your income whether you are getting paid weekly or biweekly, wherever it falls and subtract the bills from the paycheck. Now with whatever is left you decide what to put in savings and what you can spend till the next check.
*** This is not the perfect way to budget, this just how I organize my budget, so I won’t get overwhelmed or stressed***