Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Budget Management

Hey y'all! I've been promising to post about how I have started keeping my budget in line, and it has really worked for me.
I am terrible with money. I swear every single month I say the same thing "Where did all my money go??" After a few really scary credit card bills, my mom says to me: "Just make a budget and stick to it."
So I did. I went to www.abowlfulloflemons.net and read what Toni had to say about budgeting. She is the organizing, budgeting, cleaning, and blogging queen, so I trust her advice implicitly. Follow her blog, follow her pinterest, like her on facebook, I promise you won't regret it.
I had an extra binder laying around the house because I found one at Big Lots for $3 with the zipper pouch already included!

Then I bought $.97 dividers from Walmart and labeled each section. The first is Monthly Budget, then Monthly Expenses, then Weekly Expenses. This way I am not only adding up how much I spend per month, but also per week easily.


So I planned out a budget. This is my FIRST one, so there's a lot of notes on it of what did work and didn't.



 Next I record every expense onto the Monthly Expenses sheet
And then Weekly Expenses. A $0 day is a GOOD day.


And last but not least, SAVE ALL RECEIPTS. Gas receipts for commuter students are tax write-offs, so are school supplies. Clothing receipts are always good to have in case something gets messed up or needs to be returned.

This whole binder cost about $5 to make and has been a lifesaver in organizing my life. Once I see all my silly expenses on paper, I realize how much I would have if I didn't buy stupid things. My Target trips are usually my weakness.
Next month I may take another tip from ABFOL (A bowl full of lemons) and color code with highlights or colored pens so it will be less writing. All green is gas, all blue is food, all pink is spending money, and all orange is bills or something like that.
How do you keep your budget?
*figures based off of an income of approximately $250 per week with the hopes of having savings*


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