Welcome back to The Motherhood and Money Show where we are getting back to the basics this week with budgeting. In this episode we cover:
Why do we budget?:
- Permission to spend
- Keeps us in check as a boundary
- Stress relief: know what’s coming in and out
- Track financial goals
- Spending on what’s important to you
- Know where every dollar is going
What is a budget?:
- It’s a plan for your money
- Not restrictive
- Personal to you: based on your lifestyle and choices and not everyone’s is going to look the same
How do you start?:
- Pick a platform: paper, excel, app (Mint, YNAB, Quicken, Every Dollar, etc).
- Zero-based budgeting: every dollar has a plan
- List out income: variable or steady. This is what you have to work with!
- List out expenses: mortgage/rent, utilities, food, etc. You can be as detailed as you want
- Debts (debt snowball or debt avalanche)
- Savings (sinking funds & other savings like emergency fund)
- Other goals
- Tracking expenses through the month vs. cash envelopes
- The total of all expenses, debt and savings should equal income. If it doesn’t equal, go back and cut things or add to other categories.
- If you’ve never budgeted before, take a look at the last couple months of your spending to know how much to budget for.
- It takes a few months to get in the habit!
