Surviving your Bills with a Budget

 I have spent a lot of time creating and revamping a monthly budget that works for my family and is easily adaptable as bills and income change.  We all know a living budget tends to be fluid and can change yearly or much more often.  I love excel due to the ability to embed formulas, so that when one line item needs to be adjusted, the rest of the sheet is automatically updated.  For those that don't have excel, you can still keep a basic budget in a word or google document and adjust it manually as amounts change.  

The important thing when planning out your budget is to leave enough after each pay period to make it to the next pay period while accounting for all bills, but also for additions like gas money for vehicles and grocery money.  Don't just account for bills.  Be realistic about the money you actually spend.  If you eat out a lot, make a line item for it.  If you pay for daycare or give your teenagers money for sports or fun with their friends, make a line item for it.  If you travel or give money to charity, make a line item.  You may need to adjust your due dates on certain bills to balance out what you spend each pay period or set money aside to have enough for the next pay period.  Most utilities and credit cards will allow you to adjust your due date.  If your budget allows, you can make an additional payment to get ahead and then you can pay on a date that works for you each month following.

Below is an example of a basic budget that can be adapted to your household.  This is a great first step in organizing your finances and discovering where you spend your money each month.  

Once you have your bills and regular payments figured out, you can see what's left and then start tracking where the rest of your income is being spent.