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How to properly plan a family budget? How to budget for a month.

14 276 0 Hello dear readers of our site. Today we will tell you about the family budget, or rather about how to manage it, how to calculate the family budget for a month, and much more. The family budget is the family's income and expenses for a certain period of time, for example, for one month. There are several family budget management methods that will ensure a reasonable distribution of finances and allow you not only not to get into debt, but also save up to 20% of wages.

Family Budget Types - Planning

When planning a budget, you need to take into account its type, which is inherent in your family. Decide which one you will have: separate, common or mixed . Discuss the priorities of each of the spouses (education, investments, loans, starting your own business) and only after that start planning the family budget.

Separated

A separate family budget has gained particular popularity abroad, but in our country, many families practice a similar method of distributing financial resources. A separate budget is usually preferred by wealthy and successful people, when a certain amount is allocated for housekeeping, each of the spouses spends the remaining money on personal needs.

Advantages:

you can save a significant amount on your personal account;
fewer reasons for quarrels in the family;
no family litigation in case of divorce.

Flaws:

if there are children, then a separate family budget will not work: it’s strange for a son to chip in for sneakers or a typewriter;
for people who represent life in the family as a joint activity, such relationships will also not work - it will be difficult for them to understand how it is possible to have something apart from the common interests of the family;
It is impossible to turn family relations into exclusively business ones.

Mixed

A mixed type of family budget implies the allocation, for example, of 80% of the salary of a wife and husband for housekeeping, and each spends the rest on himself. If the spouses managed to save up for an expensive thing or unforeseen circumstances arose, then the rules change. You can take money from the general cash desk when you need it.

Advantages:

an honest approach to those who have lower incomes;
each of the spouses has personal funds, and there is no need to ask for money;
a similar approach to money says that the relationship of the spouses is well-established and mature.

Flaws:

maintaining a mixed family budget is not suitable if only one of the spouses works;
neither the husband nor the wife has a desire to take responsibility for the common money;
one of the spouses is silent about part of the income.

General

The most widespread is the general type, in which both spouses bring all the money received to the family, and then decide where to spend it.

Advantages:

speaks of a trusting relationship between husband and wife;
a spouse who does not work or receives a lower salary does not feel inferior;
you can make large acquisitions, since two salaries are usually a significant amount.

Flaws:

not suitable for families where one of the spouses can deny himself everything in order to buy a TV, and the other can buy something for himself without hesitation;
a husband or wife does not tolerate the lack of personal money;
This type of budget is not recommended for families where one of the spouses is pathologically greedy or leads an ascetic lifestyle and is little interested in the needs and desires of the other spouse.

What to consider when planning a family budget

Starting to draw up a family budget for a month, analyze income and expenses for previous months. To do this, you need to start keeping a record of funds in advance. With such data in hand, spending planning will not cause difficulties.

Main components of the family budget:

income of husband and wife (salary, social benefits, pension, part-time jobs);
expenses (mandatory, for children, family, personal);
reserve fund (“financial safety cushion”);
investments.

Income

The income of the general family budget includes the wages of the wife and husband. If earnings are unstable, then it is reasonable to save some money, forming a "safety cushion" in case of a small income. In the month where a large amount enters the family budget, set aside 20% or more, if possible.

Expenses

When calculating expenses, take into account income, they must necessarily correspond to each other. If you break this rule, then debts will inevitably appear.

Tips for reducing costs:

Buy less. This will save not only money, but also time. If you buy less food, then the amount of expired food thrown away will decrease, and sometimes there will be nothing to throw away. A pre-compiled shopping list will help protect yourself from spontaneous purchases.

Ignore the advice of psychologists to go shopping to cheer up, as well as advertising. The mood will always be good if there is money in the wallet, unplanned shopping will only contribute to a momentary and short-term mood boost. At first it will be difficult to change habits, but over time everything will return to normal.

Buy cheaper. Usually things and food bought under the influence of advertising are expensive. For example, buying an expensive mobile phone, just because it is well advertised and considered a prestigious item. Sometimes the own products produced by large supermarkets are in no way inferior to other more advertised brands. Control your desires, look for more financially profitable options, learn to bargain.
Analyze. By carefully recording your expenses and analyzing them, you can find out where most of the money goes. When making purchases, you will not notice many nuances, they will emerge only when analyzing the purchases made. This approach will allow you to control costs.
Avoid unnecessary expenses. For example, while cooking, take care of your clothes, you can change everyday outfits to home or put on an apron. Prolonging the life of shoes will allow caring for them: use creams, sprays, varnishes, clean them in a timely manner.
Use cash. It is psychologically easier to part with non-cash money than to count cash.

Own housing

If you don’t have your own house or apartment, then it’s worth including the column “accumulation of money for your own housing” in the family budget. Living with parents creates conditions for additional conflicts and does not allow you to build a family life on your own, therefore it is not very convenient.

Reserve part or "financial safety cushion"

This part of the family budget includes finances that may come in handy in case of unforeseen circumstances. There must be a reserve of funds that will allow the family to live for several months if one of the spouses loses his job. A reserve fund is also used to buy or repair broken household appliances (for example, a washing machine).

Investments

This is part of the family budget that will generate passive income. This is a bank deposit, real estate, shares.

The wisest thing is to get rid of debts and loans as quickly as possible, as they negatively affect the psychological state. Try to accumulate investments in order to receive passive income in the future, the family budget will greatly benefit from this.

Family budgeting methods

One of the simple but very effective methods of keeping a family budget is to divide it into three main parts:

50% of income is spent on paying for utilities, housing, food;
30% is spent on entertainment and other optional expenses;
20% go to pay off loans and debts or set aside as savings.

One version of this methodology provides for 20% of income to be spent on the formation of a financial "airbag" and debt repayment, and 80% - for other needs. There are other methods of maintaining a family budget, the most popular are “Accurate Cost Management” and “Four Envelopes”.

Accurate cost management

Maintaining a family budget using this technique involves carefully recording every penny spent. It will require time and effort, which will more than pay off with significant financial savings (up to 20% of income). Few are able to write down every purchase, including food, but you will have to do this daily, for which it is better to use an Excel spreadsheet.

Create a spreadsheet in Excel where you divide your expenses into 5 columns. First, write down utility bills (electricity, internet, rental housing). The second - the purchase of food, the third - the payment of personal needs, the fourth - spending on entertainment, the fifth - unforeseen expenses. In the evening, enter the amount spent in each of the columns (if there were any expenses) and at the end of the month you will see the real expenses. This will allow you to approach the distribution of money more thoughtfully.

You can add other columns by adapting the table for yourself, for example, household chemicals, pet care, child care, parents. The main thing is not to forget to record every little thing and you will understand how to distribute the family budget more reasonably.

The most popular family budgeting table.

The technique is suitable for those who are not able to write down every penny spent. As soon as the salary is received, immediately set aside 20% - this will be savings. Pay utility bills, and divide the remaining money into 4 equal parts and put in envelopes. Each of these will make up your weekly budget. If the week is over, and there is money left in the envelope, you can spend it on yourself or save it.

This technique is good because it does not require painstaking accounting of costs. As soon as you start spending money wisely, the desire for spontaneous acquisitions will disappear.

A table of family budget expenditures cannot be compiled at once. It will be necessary to thoroughly find out what the money is spent on. This will take 1-2 months. The best option is to make a table in MSExcel, this will allow you to make detailed explanations for each document, since the program includes several interconnected plates.

How to make a family budget in Excel

With a general family budget, the income and expenses of the family budget are meticulously entered into the table every day, and first you need to fill in the “income” columns. Then the obligatory expenses are planned:

return of debts;
creation of reserves (savings);
the formation of family capital.

The next step is planning for current expenses:

general (for children, variables, permanent);
personal expenses of husband and wife.

Here you can also add the column "unforeseen expenses", which can be no more than 10% of the amount of income.

Expenses in the family budget are very diverse, and for the sake of completeness, it is desirable to describe them in as much detail as possible. First, write down the expenses, and then divide them into subtypes. Usually they are repeated monthly, so you will only need to change the numbers, you will not have to re-enter the “header” of the table. Set in the column "Total" and "Deviations" automatic calculation of the amount.

Separate budget

In this case, divide the family budget table into two tables: the personal budget of each spouse, where you indicate the income of each spouse separately. The general part should include expenses for the needs of the family, the maintenance of children and personal expenses.

Mixed type of family budget

First, form the personal expenses separately for each of the spouses. It can be a percentage of the family income or the husband and wife's own income. Distribute the rest for the needs of the family.

Services and programs for convenient planning and management of the family budget

There are programs for home accounting, for example, AlzexPersonalFinance, which is based on the division into categories of income and expenses. This makes it possible to see where the money was spent without studying and analyzing reports. The program can be downloaded to a USB flash drive, installed on any external drive and always have a version for a tablet or mobile phone with you.

There are two versions of AlzexPersonalFinance:

Personal- designed for a single user, additional options may not be available.
a commercial- designed for one user, while there is access to all program options (restriction of access rights, user accounts, events, contractors, tasks).

AlzexPersonalFinance has a wide range of possibilities and an unlimited nesting of a tree-like system of categories, there are a large number of labels for each transaction. Loans and debts are recorded, financial goals are tracked and expenses are controlled. Reports can be presented in graphical form and printed. It is possible to organize a transaction by days in a calendar.

AlzexPersonalFinance program

Using this program, you will not only understand how to keep a family budget, but you will do it as reasonably as possible.

Another program for managing the family budget is called Housekeeper, the developer is AmoSoft. The program will allow you to make your financial situation stable and control spending. Distinctive features - a simple, intuitive interface, "Housekeeper" can be used even by people who are far from accounting and computers.

Spend a few minutes daily entering data and at the end of the month you will see the most complete picture of the state of finances in the family. Reports are provided in graphical form, which allows you to visually see the strengths and weaknesses of the family budget.

The program will tell you how to save the family budget by preventing rash spending.

"Home Finance"- the program combines flexibility and reliability in organizing the movement of family money.

The interface is thoughtful and simple, intuitive even for not very experienced users. The program will allow you to detect weaknesses in the family or personal budget, as well as organize the optimal flow of funds.

"Home Bookkeeping"

The program is easy to use, while in it you will find all the necessary functions:

profit and loss accounting;
payment planning;
debt accounting;
account control;
exchange rates.

The only disadvantage of "Home Bookkeeping" is that you will have to pay 500 rubles for using it.

MoneyTracker

MoneyTracker is designed for accounting, it is convenient to use it, but you will need to tinker and figure out what's what, since the program has a lot of functions. A distinctive feature of the program is the ability to control price changes in stores, which allows you to make a budget forecast for months or a year. There is a utility that shows how much you spend (green indicator - everything is fine, red indicates that the family budget is in danger).

DomFin

The DomFin program can be used for free, the interface is primitive: the functions for accounting are clearly and specifically set. It is intuitively clear where to record expenses and where income should be recorded.

AceMoney

You will have to pay 500 rubles for using the program. In the free version, you can use only one account, which is inconvenient. The negative point is that there is only one operation in AceMoney: a transaction, you will not find “income” and “expenses” departments.

Advantages of AceMoney:

you can keep records of securities and shares;
there are templates according to which you can distribute expenses (utility payments, food), you don’t have to do them yourself;
you can monitor the status of your bank accounts (for example, at what percentage the money lies).

To choose the best program for your own needs, you need to clearly understand the goal you want to achieve. Also, the program should be selected taking into account the characteristics of a particular family budget. For some, certain functions are completely useless and will never be needed.

Don't forget the reason why you decided to start family budget planning. This is not because it is necessary or someone said, but in order, for example, to reduce spending.
Clearly define for yourself the ultimate goal of your actions. For example, by the end of the year, save up for a car.
Accounting for income and expenses must be very accurate and thorough.
Consider ways to form a "financial safety cushion" for the family.
Set aside money on deposit accounts in a bank without the possibility of withdrawing them until the end of the period. There are deposits that can be replenished, but cannot be withdrawn before a certain date.
Look at your own actions realistically: you cannot become an ace in the family budget in one month, start small.
Do not be afraid to radically change something in the family budget. In life, something is constantly changing, including wages and expenses.
Divide one big dream into several small steps, this will make it easier for you to achieve your goal.

Useful articles:

Every person who cares about the financial well-being of his family is engaged in the analysis of income and expenses. If you don't know how much money you have, then you don't have any. Keeping a budget allows you to always stay in the black, prevent unnecessary spending, realize goals and dreams.

There are many ready-made programs for accounting for income and expenses. But finding the best program that would fulfill all the needs of a particular family is difficult. Because the requests are different. We offer you to create a family budget in Excel and adapt it to your needs.

Personal income and expense budget in Excel

Several templates are built into the Microsoft Office software package to solve certain tasks. Open Excel - click the button "File" - "Create" - "Sample Templates" - "Personal Monthly Budget" - OK.

If for some reason you do not have this template or you could not find it, you can download a personal budget for a month in Excel.

A simple template will open where you can enter planned, actual indicators. Distribute income and expenses by items, calculate amounts automatically.

We can adapt a ready-made family budget template to our needs:

add/remove articles;
change conditional formatting options;
line names;
fill colors, etc.

Before us is a summary statement of income and expenses. It may be useful for some families. But we propose to detail the tables.

Family budget table in Excel

Suppose a family maintains a separate budget. It is important who brings how much to the house. It is necessary to take into account the monthly earnings of the husband and wife. And the money is coming in unevenly. One day - a salary, a week later - an advance payment. A couple of days later - interest on the deposit. Plus occasional work.

To detail receipts, on a separate sheet we create an Excel table of family income and expenses. We give her a name.

We denote the columns: “Date”, “Article”, “Amount”. Below - "Total". In this cell, we drive in the formula for calculating the amount.

We return to the summary sheet. Select the cell above which we want to insert a row. Right mouse button - "Insert" - "Line" - OK. We sign:

Now we need to make sure that the total amount from the detailed report is automatically transferred to the summary. Select an empty cell where the numbers should be displayed. Enter "equal".

Go to the sheet with a detailed report. And press the total amount of receipts for the month. "Input":

We have attached the detailed report to the master summary sheet. Now you can make changes to the detail sheet as many times as you need within a month. The sums in the summary will be recalculated automatically.

Detailing of budget expenditures

Money is spent almost every day: food, fuel, travel tickets are bought. To optimize the management of the family budget, it is recommended to pay expenses immediately. Spent - recorded.

For convenience, we will create detail sheets for all items of expenditure. Each one has an Excel spreadsheet of family budget expenses in detail. "Date" - "Expense item" - "Amount". It is enough to do it once. And then copy and paste.

To name a detail sheet, right-click on its designation. "Rename".

Do not forget to write down the sum formula in the "Total" line.

Now we will link the expense reports to the summary sheet. The connection principle is the same.

Try to select exactly the cell with the total amount!

Protecting data in a cell from changes

Often expenses and incomes are entered in a hurry. Because of this, you can make an error, enter an invalid value. This will result in incorrect summary data. And sometimes it is impossible to remember at the end of the month exactly where the inaccuracy was.

How to protect a cell from changes in Excel:

To protect the entire book, on the Review tab, click the corresponding button.

Working with Formulas in the Personal Finance Spreadsheet

When you extend a formula in a table with income and expenses (“multiply” over the entire column), there is a danger of shifting the link. You should fix the reference to the cell in the formula.

Press F4. A $ sign appears before the column name and the row name:

Pressing the F4 key again will result in this kind of link: C$17 (mixed absolute link). Only the line is fixed. The column can move. Press again - $C17 (the column is fixed). Entering $C$17 (absolute reference) will fix the values relative to row and column.

To remember the range, we perform the same actions: select - F4.

The family budget disciplines. Helps to develop financial behavior, avoid unnecessary cash spending. And Excel allows you to take into account the characteristics of a particular family.

Surely every family in our country dreams of making an idea come true.

However, few people know that for this you need to control your costs so that if necessary, try to reduce them. Moreover, there are even programs for this.

For this reason, let's talk about the distribution of the family budget in more detail.

How to make a spreadsheet and allocate a budget in it

For control income and expenses family uses the option with a table in Excel. This is very convenient, because by downloading this document you can easily see:

monthly income families;
expected(which will be spent, for example, on utilities) expenses and actual(these may be those types of expenses that are not planned: for any event, urgent repairs, and so on);
difference in income and expenses for the past month.

In simple words, using this table, you can adjust the difference and thus not go “in the red”.

In order not to create confusion with the calculation formulas, it is recommended to download a ready-made table (links below) and adjust it to fit your family budget.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that Excel provides the ability to create a table for family cash control, so it is enough to download a ready-made template.

To create a table, you need:

Download excel.
In the upper left corner, select "Create" from the menu.
After that, you should go to the “Budgets” subsection.
In this subcategory, the “Family Budget” tab is selected.

After selecting the last tab, a wide selection of ready-made templates appears on the screen. It is enough to choose the one suitable for your family and download it.

After all the operations have been done, as well as the possible filling in with your data, you should get something like this table (again, it all depends on which one the family chooses):

You can also choose this one:

By and large, all such tables for controlling the family budget work according to the same algorithm.

At the beginning of each month, planned costs are recorded, and at the end of the current month, actual costs are entered.

As can be seen from the tables, there must be a column with a difference. It indicates the family in the “plus” or in the “minus”. By and large, the structure as in the pictures is present in all ready-made templates, so there are no problems with this.

Programs

To date, there are many paid and free programs that allow you to control the income and expenses of the family.

Paid

Today there are several paid programs, which allow you to control the family budget, namely:

AceMoney;
Family

AceMoney

First of all, you need to pay attention to the fact that The cost of this program is about 500 rubles(the free version is allowed, but the free version has only 1 account, which is very inconvenient).

If we talk about the minuses in this program, then it is one, but at the same time significant - there is no way to separate expenses and the profit itself, and only one function is available - financial transactions.

If we talk about the benefits of this utility, they are as follows:

it is possible to account for various shares or other securities;
there are separate columns for such expenses as payment for: television, food, utilities (for each service separately), etc.;
it is possible to enter information about what deposits are available and at what interest rates. At the same time, the program calculates monthly interest on these deposits.

With this program, you can easily understand how to properly manage your budget.

Family 10

This utility from the first minutes of its use will make it clear that it is configured for a mutually beneficial relationship. In simple terms, it includes a convenient and intuitive interface that any member of the family can easily understand.

The functionality of the program allows you to accounting for almost everything that can be found in the house of a particular family.

It must be taken into account that there is no fee for the first month of use, but already from the second month it will be necessary to pay about 20 dollars.

Free

Free programs include:

DomFin;
money tracker.

DomFin

This utility includes a rather primitive interface that has specific functionality for excellent control over your family budget. Thanks to this interface, you can easily indicate current income and expenses, calculate the difference.

In "DomFin" there are only those terms that will be clear to every member of the family, who even does not understand anything at all in accounting. From the first days of use, the program is completely free.

Money Tracker

By and large, the program is fully thought out for the successful implementation of their funds. However, it's still worth getting used to.

Many of our fellow citizens who use this program at home note that it contains many features that can affect the efficient and fast accounting of their income and expenses.

Moreover, if you do not study the program in its entirety, you might even think that many of the functions are useless.

However, it is necessary to note a small positive nuance in this program. This applies to the ability to indicate the modification of prices in supermarkets, as well as to predict your budget for several months in advance, or even if you wish, you can predict for the whole year.

The program provides several options for color notifications. If the green color lights up, the difference between expenses and income is acceptable, if it is yellow, it is worth thinking about reducing costs, if it is red, it is urgent to reduce financial costs.

An example of a finished table in excel

In order to better understand which table a particular family needs, it is recommended to look at samples of ready-made tables:

If desired, any of these tables can be used to control your family budget.

After analyzing the many reviews of our citizens on the Internet, we can highlight the main tips provided by these users for those who are just starting to control their family budget.

So, tips for managing a family budget are as follows:

First of all, you should learn to understand the meaning of how to plan a budget, Why do you need to control your funds?. An example of this may be the desire to reduce the amount of monthly expenses by 10-15% in order to save up for repairs in an apartment or to achieve another goal. When approaching this case because “everyone does it this way”, nothing will work out.
When creating a table with your personal budget do not overload it with small details. In this table, only the main points need to be indicated. In particular, you can indicate the cost of: food, utilities, clothing, entertainment, and so on. You should not write that “I bought only sausage today - 400 rubles”. It is always worth paying attention to time to enter data into the table- with prolonged attention, she will quickly get bored and then any desire to control expenses will disappear. You need to work with the table according to the principle - “Brevity is the sister of talent”.
Savings can be only with any large acquisitions. On the little things, as a rule, you should not try to save money - it's useless. There is no suitable folk wisdom for this advice, which says - “Drunk on vodka, you can’t save on buying matches” . This rule must always be remembered and then you can achieve certain success. What is meant by this? It's simple - you need to analyze those columns where the most is the percentage of waste, and try to lower this percentage a bit. We can say that saving 10%, there is a probability of making a profit of 40%.
If there is a possibility, then it would be best to open a bank account, which should carry the function of a savings account.. All funds that have been saved after the current month will need to be transferred to this account.
It must always be remembered that all the goals set, because of which, in fact, the family budget is controlled, must be feasible. At the first stages, you should pay attention to the fact that it will be very difficult, but only after the family can cope with this, it will be possible to see firsthand the results of controlling the family budget.
If a situation arises when it becomes clear that it is impossible to do without a revision of the family budget, or rather spending it, everything must be done to reduce your financial costs. Many families are afraid of change in this and prefer to stay on this control. Rather, quit controlling your finances and live as before. However, to achieve your goals, you cannot do without revising your budget.

Many people say that money is like water - it quickly flows away to nowhere. If you can’t remember what you spent an impressive amount on, it’s not clear where your salary goes and why it ends in just two weeks, you can’t save up for the desired thing or vacation, it’s time to carefully calculate your income and expenses. Planning a family budget is the first step towards fulfilling your material desires.

Household bookkeeping: the first stage - income

Each family builds its material well-being according to its own scenario: someone seeks to earn more, someone insists that all family members follow the principles of reasonable spending. The main thing is not to go to extremes, but to find your right path. This issue becomes especially relevant in the family with the advent of children, when family expenses increase significantly. There are several methods on how to plan a family budget, what principles to follow.

The first step in any of these methods is to determine the items of income and expenses of the family. Income should include:

wages;
social payments;
income from bank deposits, from renting an apartment;
part-time job;
cash gifts.

It is clear that the first 3 positions are constant, the amounts of these incomes are known, and it is from them that the basis of the income part of the family budget will be formed. Part-time work and cash gifts may or may not be, so you should not rely on them, but use them as bonuses for pleasant spending.

The second stage - expenses

The second stage is the calculation of expenses in various areas. Few will be able to immediately say how much and what they are, so it is important to keep track of your expenses for at least a month or two, even in small things. Then it will become clear how much the family spends and on what. How to keep an account? Personal finance experts recommend writing down all daily expenses: food, travel, entertainment.

Costs, like income, can be divided into several broad categories:

obligatory payments;
food and travel expenses;
spending on updating the wardrobe;
spending on entertainment, recreation;
unforeseen expenses for treatment, repairs, etc.

Mandatory payments include:

utilities;
payment for mobile communications, the Internet;
insurance;
payment for circles, sections, additional classes for children.

Food expenses should also be divided into categories:

dairy;
cereals;
meat, fish, poultry;
vegetables;
fruit;
sweets, juices, pastries, etc.

In the first months of maintaining a family budget, experts recommend making a table and advise you to write down all the costs of food, down to the smallest detail. Sometimes, from such trifles as buying 200 grams of sweets, cookies, a cup of coffee, significant amounts are accumulated in a week and a month. All family members need to learn how to remember and write down their expenses, so that later they can correctly plan the family budget.

Stage three: comparison of income and expenses

The budget of any family depends on proper planning. Today there are many temptations that beckon us to spend a certain amount. If you succumbed to a moment of weakness, then there is a possibility that you will have to borrow somewhere or take out a loan before the salary.

Most often, the problems of lack of funds are faced by young families who have little experience in housekeeping and solving everyday problems. Therefore, you have to learn by your own trial and error. As a rule, everything ends in quarrels. How to avoid debt and be able to save money? In this article, we will tell you all about the family budget.

The family budget is a set of funds of both spouses, which are combined into one. It is the joint type of budget that is the most common all over the world.

Components of the family budget

The family budget consists of income. They may be the following:

wage;
social benefit;
dividends;
pension;
help from relatives, etc.

The main items of expenditure are:

food;
Payment of utility services;
taxes;
payment for kindergarten;
transport costs;
loan payments;
payment for communications and the Internet;
relaxation;
buying clothes and shoes.

Here is a rough list of monthly expenses that almost every family incurs.

Benefits of family budget planning:

increases the financial discipline of each family member;
leads to more efficient use of funds;
prevents disagreements in the family due to lack of finances;
helps to quickly cope with the obligations assumed (loans, debts, payments, etc.);
contributes to the achievement of goals and desires.

Family budget planning is the process of optimizing the redistribution of income into expenses, with the help of which the budget (liability) of money and other family assets is accumulated.

Mistakes in the distribution of family finances

If you don’t have enough money all the time, it means that the wrong method of distributing funds was initially chosen, or this concept was simply ignored. The most important thing in planning is to take into account the balance of expenditure and income. Try not to spend most of your paycheck on the first day. For some reason, many of us perceive payday as a small holiday on which you can afford to buy many different delicious products. Having done so, you should immediately understand that at the end of the month you will have a shortage of funds.

Mistake No. 1. Never spend most of your salary in the first days after receiving it;
mistake number 2. Late repayment of loans, utility bills and other obligations. If you spent most of your salary on the first day, then, of course, you will not have enough funds to fulfill your obligations;
Mistake #3: Lack of reserves. Most often, the lack of savings leads to the formation of debts, because when the money runs out, we borrow it;
mistake number 4. Irresponsible distribution of funds. Always plan everything, no need to waste money and spend it "left and right":
mistake number 5. Overestimation of their financial capabilities. Always correctly calculate your "financial strength", this will allow you to avoid unpleasant situations in the future;
Mistake #6: Lack of Accountability for Spending. Since the budget must be accepted by the whole family, respectively, and the expenses must correspond to it, and if during the month one of the members had unforeseen expenses, then you need to be responsible for this;
mistake number 7. "Hard frames." Do not limit yourself, planning does not mean denying yourself everything. If you want to go to a cafe with your loved one - go. Better often and little by little than once and break loose. Permanent restrictions will lead to a breakdown, and you yourself will not notice how you will instantly part with all the money;
mistake number 8. Lack of agreement between the spouses. Do not hide from each other your made or future purchases, expenses, otherwise this may lead to the "stash" of one of the spouses.

By avoiding such mistakes in your family, you will definitely only increase financial capital.

Get your cash flow in order

If you do not make the above mistakes, you can avoid debt and financial ruin. We will analyze in detail how to distribute and streamline the estimate.

We make a list of priority expenses. In this paragraph, we include only the most important (food, medicine, clothes, shoes, etc.).

We pay off our obligations. If you have debts, loans, other obligations, we advise you to close this issue first.

We create a reserve capital for the family. This is an important part of any budget. Allocate no more than 10-15% of the total funds monthly. You yourself will not have time to notice how quickly the amount will increase, and most importantly, you will feel comfortable and confident!

Don't ignore recurring payments. Make timely payments for utility bills, communications, the Internet, etc.

We leave a small part of the funds for personal expenses. Each family member should have their own pocket money. It may be a small amount, but it is necessary, so you will feel confident in any unforeseen situation.

What you need for good financial planning

In order to always know how much money was spent and on what, we advise the following: try using a regular notebook, let's simply call it “Home Accounting”. An accountant friend of mine has been using this book for many years, writing down all expenses in it. For example, she clearly displays her every trip to the market or to the supermarket in this notebook. Surprisingly, with her help, she really saves a lot. She spends all the saved funds exclusively on vacations with her family.

Planning for future expenses. To date, there are many programs that will help manage money. In this list, enter all your future expenses, vacations, trips to friends, relatives, various holidays, paying taxes, etc. That is, given these data, you can easily calculate your finances.

Force Majeure. This should be understood as "holiday time and seasonality." As usual, before the holidays, groceries in supermarkets get a little more expensive. In the summer, for example, the price of gasoline rises, and closer to the fall it is necessary to collect children for school, so when planning during such periods, try to lay a little more money for expenses.

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in mastering this "science". The main thing is desire, time and self-discipline. Remember: without planning, all the money earned will go away very quickly, all problems will manifest themselves, and you will only get negative from this.

Believe me, the sooner you accustom yourself to managing the overall budget, the sooner you will become financially disciplined. Every day you will follow clear rules, items of expenditure, so you simply won’t be able to buy something extra. Your capital will grow, and over time you will have the opportunity to fulfill your dream!

We wish you good planning and big savings!

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