Starting A Budget
Budgeting is essential part of being a grown-up, there I said it If you want to live a comfortable life and achieve your financial goals, you are going to have to establish and maintain a household budget. Regardless of whether you make six figures or have a one person’s income to manage, a budget is a necessity.
[clickToTweet tweet=”When it comes to creating a budget it can be a bit of a hassle and a little intimidating. No worries, I’ve listed the steps to get you on the track to the financial freedom.” quote=”When it comes to creating a budget it can be a bit of a hassle and a little intimidating. No worries, I’ve listed the steps to get you on the track to the financial freedom.” theme=”style4″]
Always know your credit score.
Get a copy of your Credit Report online to learn your credit score.
The first step in budgeting is to gather all your bills and due dates. Also decide how you want to keep track of your budget. You can go the out fashion route and use paper and pen, tracking everything you pay out each paycheck. Just be consistent and honest with yourself. You can use Microsoft Excel or an accounting program such as Quickens. For me I am an iPhone user and since I’m such a busy mommy, having everything at the touch of a button was the easiest thing for me.
Mint.com has been great for helping me organize and manage our bills all in one place. I downloaded the app on my phone to keep track of all of our due dates and it has helped tremendously in keeping up on how interests we are paying, due dates, etc. It budgets all your bills for you and allows you to pay directly through the app. I have tried other tools in the past, but this is what is working for me right now.
After you have gotten all your bills in order, and due dates in line, the next major factor is to pay them on time! This is crucial to establishing a good credit score.
Since we have the basics in order, let’s begin to take control.
Find areas you can cut back
If you look at what you’re spending in the past 30 days and you find that you are spending money in areas for fast food and lattes and it is on something that you don’t need, please consider cutting these areas first. You can begin by reducing slowing. Take your coffee and lunch to work or school for 2 out of 5 days. Eventually you may get to 5 days, but you will see the savings add up.
Budgeting with Coupons
When I go shopping both online and in-store I always check for coupons. One of my favorite online printable coupon spots is coupons.com. You can find all you need for groceries, different coupon codes, loyalty codes, store reward and so much more. This is where I first got into saving with printable coupons. To learn more about getting back on track with your finances visit my Money Center.
Cut the Cable and other Utilities
Finally. a huge amount of your budget maybe going to pay for a premier cable package that you don’t watch or need. I suggest downsizing or cutting the cord on the cable bill altogether until you get your finances in order. Try subscribe to a service like Hulu or Netflix. We did and saved almost $200 on our bill. I shared a few of my favorite shows to binge watch on Hulu a recently.
With these quick adjustment you could be on your way to financial freedom or at least saving for a new home. As always to stay up with the latest happenings subscribe to our newsletter and join me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! If you decide to give it a try, please let me know I would love to hear your thoughts. Happy viewing.