Effective budgeting is a much easier task when you are only doing it for yourself. However, once the whole family enters the picture, there are lots of little things that you have to think about if you want to cover all the expenses and manage to save some money to ensure a good future for your children. If you are constantly having problems with your household budget, it is time to take it under control by relying on several of the following tips.
Analyze your income
The first and most important step is to take out a sheet of paper and look at all of the income sources that you have. This should not only include your 9 to 5 job, but all other sources of income, such as running a blog or website, renting a property or any other income from a specific type of hobby.
Calculate all the after tax money that you are left with and deduct the monthly installments for your home and your car, as those expenses cannot be easily modified. This will give you a clear idea of the amount of money you have under your control.
Monitor all of your expenses
Once you are familiar with the income figures, it is time to start monitoring your expenses over a certain period of time. In order to understand where your money is currently going, it is best to monitor your expenses for a period of 1 to 3 months. During this period, it is very important to take notes about every single expense that you make.
It might seem silly to do this, but there are many small expenses that we do not pay attention to which can actually add up to a hefty amount of money. Monitoring all of your expenses was much harder in the past, as you would have to carry a notepad with you, whereas now, you can use smartphone applications to take care of all the note taking, making it much easier to follow where your money is going.
Revisit your budget
The monitoring period of 1 to 3 months is going to give you a perfect picture of where your money is going. Afterwards, you have to pay attention to services and products that you are actually paying without using them. For example, many people continually pay for a gym membership even though they hardly ever go to the gym.
If you see that you are subscribed for a certain product or service that you are not using regularly, simply unsubscribe, because once these costs add up, you end up losing thousands of dollars without a reason.
Additionally, revise how much of your groceries go bad and wasted, and create shopping lists which will allow you to buy smaller amounts of groceries more often. This way, you will avoid throwing away food and wasting money. Simply pay attention to all of the expenses you have and stop throwing your money away on things that are not absolutely necessary.
Stop impulse buying
All of us are constantly bombarded with a variety of advertisements nurturing our impulse buying reflexes. You have to avoid doing this, as many people spend thousands every year without even realizing it. In the majority of cases, impulse buys are made without any real reason.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to follow retailers online and wait for sale periods. On the other hand, you can start using retailers that offer discounts for loyal customers. By paying attention to your purchasing habits, you can save quite a lot of money.
Follow your progress
Set the personal goals that you want to achieve in your budget management and follow your progress. It is necessary to approach your financial management in this way because it very easy to fall back to old habits. Monitoring your financial habits will make it easier for you to form new financial habits to avoid making the same mistakes over and over.
Taking these steps is the best way of successfully managing your family’s budget and its spending habits. If you want to avoid any financial problems in the future, it is necessary to take the right financial decisions in advance.
from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/aleksandarilic/keeping-the-family-budget-in-the-green-practical-tips-to-help-you-out/
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