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Budgeting Basics

© Jennifer Krausz

Most one income families need to budget carefully in order to pay their bills. A budget is a way to keep track of income and expenses. This article will help you decide what kind of budget will work for you and give you tips on making a budget work.

It took me the longest time to start keeping track of my family's income and expenses. When I was working outside the home, I didn't have the time. Besides, my husband paid the bills. I didn't worry about all that. But when I came home, I decided to relieve my husband of the bill-paying burden. That's when I realized how necessary a budget really is.

There are as many different ways to budget as there are families that use them. To see some examples of budgets and different options for budgeting, visit some of these web pages.

A good place to start is the Household Budget Management site, subtitled "Getting Control of your Personal Finances." It's at http://www.dacomp.com/budget1.html. You'll find lots of basic budget information, plus a sample budget and links to other financial sites.

Another site to check out is http://www.budgetmap.com . This is an e-commerce site, selling the Budgetmap system. For about $20, you get a system that fits into your checkbook cover and uses categories to plan and track spending. That's great if you need structure and ease of use, but if you're self-motivated, you can do the same thing yourself and save the 20 bucks.

I also love MSN Money Central. If it has to do with money, you will find it here. They have everything under the sun, including budgeting information. http://moneycentral.msn.com .

The Dollar Stretcher web site contains dozens of articles on budgeting. Find them at http://www.stretcher.com/menu/topic-a.ht... .

For those looking to keep track of various accounts, Bankrate's account manager will consolidate statements for different accounts and let you know when balances change. You can find it at http://www.bankrate.com/brm/ebalance_buf... .

Here's my budget system:

Each month I make a list of all the bills that need to be paid that month. Then I estimate spending for variable expenses like groceries and gas. Then I figure out when paychecks will be coming and which bills will get paid with which check. I list that out as well. Next, I figure out what to do with the money that's left over (if any). Finally, I keep a spending log of everything not included in the monthly bills (like new towels or dinners out). Pretty simple, isn't it?