Few things in life have much more value and are important than others. In these days where money can do almost everything, it’s always a top priority to take care of money, i.e. plan your budget well or else your money will evaporate from your purse without your notice and at the end you will be empty handed, however rich you may be. Be you are a student, a house wife, a company owner and whatever your profession may be, a right budget is a must for everyone. Take care of your money and money will take care of you.
Planning the right budget is different for different professionals. A students budget will differ from a company CEO’s budget. There are few rules for making a right budget that applies to almost everyone regardless the profession. We are going to learn those rules.
The first point to consider is planning your monthly expenditure wisely. We all spent money in various ways. You have to figure out how much you are going to spend each month and on what. This should include your house rent, utility bill, vehicle expenditure, food bill, entertainment, shopping and anything else. Once done, do a revision to see if you can make any change it the plan. Here you have to use your past experience. See where you can make cuts and what need extra money. Say you are a club member, ask yourself if you are active or not, May be not, while you may like add extra points to your food and gas bill cause they are pretty uncertain. You can always cut your entertainment bills to low. Divide the total bill to weekly and in turn to daily expenditure. Once you are done with planning monthly expenditure, check that with your monthly income to make sure the expenditure does not exceed the income otherwise you may found yourself in vicious circle of debt and may you never get out of it.
Always include your debt in your expenditure bill, may it be student loan or home loan or even debit card payment. All must show up in your budget. Try to put as much money as possible to ward debt recovery. Avoiding additional debt is the smartest choice you can make. If you want to get rid of debt, stop acquiring new ones. It is against the purpose of budget. You should figure out the reason for extra debt and check it with your bill to avoid it.
Have a saving goal for unexpected trouble periods. No one knows about tomorrow, it’s wise to prepare for it. If you don’t have saving plan, create one as soon as possible. Put some money to it regularly. You may divide the saving plan to short term like vacation or buying new vehicle and long terms goals like retirements plans. It won’t cost you much; rather you will be immensely benefited from savings.
Never hesitate to discuss your budget with your spouse or friends. They can help you in planning a good budget. Always have your priority in spending and try to reduce any amount anywhere possible. Remember every single penny counts.
Plan a right budget and follow it as closely as possible but never stick it so much that you spend more time in looking at your budget than actually following it.