What is budgeting?
Budgeting is the management and handling of things; such as money, resources, and time. Money management can bring you great opportunities in life, but it can also bring ruin. Some of you may not have had the best examples of budgeting. This might have affected your desire or ability to manage your resources well, and that is ok. It is never too late to begin taking steps in the right direction. There are many practical tools out there to help you budget and manage your money well.
Your ability to make decisions in the day-to-day expenses of life matters. Without a budget, it is much easier to make impulse-based decisions with your money that can quickly lead to financial trouble. Budgeting is realizing that there is only so much to spend. A regularly updated budget can help you ensure that your expenses do not exceed your income—provided that you follow it carefully and update it as needed to reflect your priorities in life.
There are many strategies for budgeting. I have used Excel spreadsheets (image above). In recent years, I have switched to an online, paid service that links to my bank account. This allows expense transactions to populate in the system so that I can track my money on a daily basis. This helps to ensure that on April 20th, I am still on track with what I budgeted for the month on April 1st.
Here are a few websites you can visit to learn about some of these great budgeting tools:
EverydollarIf you would like to know more about budgeting strategies, feel free to reach out! We would love to help connect you with resources and other financial services in the area that can help you wisely budget what you have as you seek to craft financial stability.
