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Day 2 – Making a Budget

By JLP | February 2, 2006

Welcome to Day 2 of 24 Days to Better Finances. Yesterday, we talked about Setting Priorities. In order to make your priorities happen you will most likely need a budget.

What is a budget? It is a spending plan that helps you assess where your money is coming from and keep track of where it is going. It doesn’t have to track every single penny. In fact, the simpler, the better. If you make your budget too detailed, it will be too time-consuming and your chances of sticking with it will be very slim. One way to budget is to consider using the 60% Solution, which is fairly simple and effective.

Finally, to track your budget, consider using Microsoft Money, Quicken, or for a really good alternative, Jesse’s YouNeedaBudget Program. I use a simple spreadsheet that my wife and I put together. However, if you don’t want to go to all the trouble, the software listed above will help.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started now! I PROMISE that if you put together a realistic budget and stick to it, you will be in a lot better financial shape one year from now.

For more on budgeting, check out these posts from other bloggers:

It’s Your Money:

Destination: Money Balance

The Spending Plan

FreeMoneyFinance:

Pretend It’s Not a Budget: How to Create a ‘Spending Plan’ You Can Stick To

Three Ways to Track Your Spending

Have a Budget

4 Ways to Get Spending under Control

YouNeedaBudget:

How a Simple Budgeting Process Changed My Life

MaggieWang:

Savings Comparisons: $40,000 vs. $20,000 Income

BLOGGERS: If you have any posts related to budgeting that you would like me to link to, send me an email and I’ll be sure and include them. This is a “community series.”

Topics: Budgeting | 2 Comments »


2 Responses to “Day 2 – Making a Budget”

  1. fivecentnickel.com Says:
    February 3rd, 2006 at 4:17 pm

    Weekly Roundup – 02/03/06

    Here are some of the most interesting personal finance articles that I ran across over the past week or so…

  2. Lee Says:
    May 12th, 2006 at 6:45 pm

    Microsoft Money? Quicken? Only if you have a spare 3 or 4 hours a week. Why do you tink most people don’t budget? This is exactly why. There is another way.

    When you don’t want to have to count how much you spent on peanut butter last week to determine if you can buy that cheeseburger this week…go to http://www.thebword.com and read the testimonials on the support page…please!! There are other, smarter solutions :)

    Thanks, Lee

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