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Thriving during rough economic times by learning to budget well: Feature Article

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One thing that you can do to help thrive during rough economic times is to learn how to budget your money, which actually involves creating a budget that you can and will follow. But the thing is that when it comes to creating a budget most of us find that it is an overwhelming task because of the fact that we are forced to look at our spending habits which none of us actually want to do. But the good news is that creating a budget is actually rather easy to do and the best part is that when you create a budget to help you survive most budgets are actually pretty flexible. What this means is that if you find yourself over spending in one area no matter what you do to help curb that spending then you simply need to adjust your budget to reflect the overspending in one area and cut out something in another area to make up for it. But another reason that budgets are flexible is because of the fact that just because you have set aside a certain amount for each category in your budget that doesn't mean you have to spend that amount, in fact if you spend less than that it is a good thing and it will only help you to thrive even more during tough economic times.

Here are the steps that you are going to need to follow so that you can create a budget that you can use to help you thrive during rough economic times.





Helpful Resources:

1. How do I start a budget?
This article talks about what you need to know if you plan on creating a budget, the article also provides you with a link that you can follow to help create your budget.

2. Learn to budget
This article talks about how you can go about creating a budget, but the article also gives you information on why you need to create a budget and the reasons that once you have created it what you need to do to follow it.

3. How to Budget Your Money
In addition to talking about the various things that you can do to help you create a budget this article provides you with step by step instructions that you can follow to create the actual budget.

4. Money101 Lesson 2: Making a Budget
This article talks about why it is important to create a budget and why it is important to follow the budget once you have created it. But the article also gives you instructions that you can follow to make that budget.

5. Family Budget and Money Management
The main point of this article is to talk about the main reasons that you are going to want to create a budget and how creating a budgeting is going to help you. The article also talks about various budgeting ideas that you can use.

6. How to Budget Your Money
In addition to talking about how you can create a budget this article also provides you with a chart that you can use to help create your budget and it gives you a budget breakdown as well.

7. How to Budget Your Money Without Struggling
This article talks about the various things that you can do to help budget your money without making your life more difficult. The best part about this article is that it also mentions what to do if you get a raise or a better paying job.

8. Some money saving tips
This article talks about some of the better things that you can to do to help budget your money. The article also includes tips that you can follow to ensure that you are doing everything right.

9. How to Budget Your Money
This is a power point presentation that was put together to help teach you about the various things that you can do to save money. But it also includes information on what a budget is and how it can help you.

10. Managing your money-How a budget works
This article talks about the various things that you are going to need to know about when it comes to creating a budget, but the website also provides you with other resources that you can use to help you out.




Step one:
One of the first things that you are going to need to do is to get a pen and paper or some kind of computer software that allows you to create spreadsheets. You can also use money management software or an online budgeting program to help you create your budget.

Step two:
The next thing that you need to do is to figure out why you want to have a budget. Do you want to be able to save money for college, buy a new car, or pay off debt faster? No matter what the reason one of the best ways to stick to a budget that you create is to have a purpose for the budget.

Step three:
The next thing that you are going to need to do is to keep track of all of your money for a couple of months. What this means is keeping track of what you are spending money on, where you are getting money from, etc. When tracking your money for the couple of months you also need to be sure that you include all of those little purchases that not many people think about, such as the bottle of soda before work or after work, etc.

Step four:
The next thing that you need to do is to determine how much money you make each month and when you get paid. You should also include any other money that you get on a monthly basis, such as child support or alimony if you want to create a realistic budget.

Step five:
The next thing that you need to do is to write down a list of all of your monthly expenses. This includes food, rent, insurance, childcare, etc.

Step six:
After writing down each expense that you have for the month you are going to need to figure in how much you spend on that expense each month and then write it down on the paper or input it into the software.

Step seven:
Once you have all of this information entered and the numbers all figured out you have created a flexible budget. But now you must stick to your budget and review it at least once every month so that you can make adjustments as necessary.

Not only is it important to know how to create a budget but you are also going to need to be able to follow the budget that you have created. And if you have ever tried to follow a budget before then you know how hard it can be to follow some of the various budget ideas that people have come up with. The good news is that there are some budgeting ideas that you can follow that have been proven to work no matter who you are.

Number one:
If you are one of those people who stop at the gas station before or after work to buy a soda or even if you stop at Starbucks to buy coffee you are spending a ton of extra money, especially if you are doing this each and every day. So instead what you are going to need to do is to cut back on the number of times that you are stopping at the gas station or at Starbucks each week. This is easier to follow because you are still giving yourself a treat every once in awhile but in the long run you are saving a ton of money. Not to mention that you can also slowly cut back until you no longer need to have that extra reward which will save you even more money.

Number two:
Instead of setting up your budget around your bills that are due each month what you are going to need to do is to set your budget up around the times that you are getting paid. The reason for this is that it has been proven that setting it up around your bills is a guaranteed failure for most people. But keep in mind that if you are creating a budget for a two income household you are going to want to base your budget on your average income for both pay periods, not just one or the other, which this can be harder to do if you both get paid at separate times.

Number three:
One thing that works really well for a lot of people is envelope budgeting. This is where you simply write down the name of the category on the front of each envelope and then place the money inside the envelope. Then once you have spent the money inside the envelope you are done for the month. This is actually one of the best methods for budgeting that actually work because you are dealing in cash rather than just figures written on a piece of paper.

Number four:
Rather than going to the grocery store and just simply shopping your best bet is to write down everything that you need for the week. It has been proven that when we go to the grocery store without a list we tend to make more impulse purchases, which means we spend more money then we were planning on. But in addition to the list you are creating you should also look at the sale items and try to plan your grocery shopping based on what is for sale so that you save the maximum amount of money. But don't forget that when it comes to grocery shopping that you are also going to want to use any coupons that you might have clipped throughout the week. In fact by combining your coupons with the items that are on sale you are going to be getting the most out of your budget and you will end up saving even more money.

Number five:
The best thing that will actually work when it comes to budgeting ideas is tracking your budget. Basically this is going to be the first thing that you need to do in order to create budget. The reason that tracking your expenses actually works is because you have to know what you are spending and where you are spending it in order to be able to start saving money. Basically what this means is that you are going to need some kind of starting point for creating a budget and you can't get that unless you know what you spend your money on and how much you are spending on each expense, this also includes the little things.

But the one thing that you need to keep in mind when it comes to learning to budget your money is that you cannot give up trying to make your budget work. If you do create a budget and it fails or you fail to follow it the first time around what you are going to need to do is to try again. In most cases if the budget fails you are going to need to take a closer look at your budget to figure out what went wrong, most often it is the simple matter of not setting enough money aside to pay the utilities or overspending in another area. Just make sure that you keep trying because with enough practice you will be able to thrive even after the rough economic times are over.

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