Do You Have A Family Budget? - Free Ebook To Help You
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
April 23, 2007 5:55pm CST
Money is the single most common reason for divorce among Americans. That is a scary fact. Why do so many couples fight about money?
Have you ever noticed that when you walk into a store that you spend more money than you intended to. How often have you made a quick run to the market for milk, only to arrive back home with a bag of groceries that you remembered after you got to the store that you needed? Why do we spend more money than we intend to? A lot of our spending is impulsive spending. We don’t plan on spending that much money, it just happens. I have heard people say that they hate not having any money, it seems to depress them. So when they get a little money, they go spend it to take away that feeling of depression. Have you ever balanced your checkbook before you went shopping to see how much money you could spend?
If we keep a budget, we will be able to save money. Deciding to make and keep a budget is the first step. It must be done by the entire family to make it work. Everyone must have a say in were the money is spent and how much is saved to make the budget effective. The purpose of having all the family members help to make the budget is so nobody will overspend. Everyone knows what they are allowed to spend. So they don’t ask for more than they are allotted. On the other hand, many times one or both adult head of household will make a budget not informing others in the family what they have to spend. Thus the asking for more money comes into play.
There are many places online that will help you make a budget. You can print off the forms and fill them I as a family. You will need copies of your monthly and weekly bills including vehicle insurance and homeowner insurance, property taxes and other bills that you pay annually or semi annually or you will not have an accurate budget.
Womens - Finance has some wonderful printed worksheets that will help guide you through the budgeting process. Just find the link you want on the left side of the main page.
http://www.womens-finance.com/index.shtml
The provident living site has some wonderful info on budgeting do’s and don’t. Click here to read it. It has some wonderful financial calculators for download and advice on managing your money.
http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,6657-1-3438-1,00.html
In order to control your money, you must track it. You must know where every penny has gone. You cant just spend until it is all gone. Moneymastery.com had a wonderful 365 page ebook that is FREE to download for a limited time. Click here to download your copy now and save it to your computer for future use. It has everything from spending, saving, organization of your money to how to invest your money to why you should start a home based business and how to start one. It even has information on your home office. It is a wonderful book.
http://www.moneymastery.com/book/MoneyMasteryBook.pdf
Do you and your family have a budget?
Do you follow it always?
Have you thought about starting a budget but did not know how?
How has having a budget helped your family to become more financially secure?
Is there a site that you have used that will help others start and keep a budget?
9 people like this
19 responses
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
24 Apr 07
We do make a budget out every month and we are pretty good about sticking to it. Our problem right now is we have too much debt. We went from 2 incomes to one when we moved. I was supposed to find a job and then we ended up with emefergency and no full custody of my step-daughter. I have two part-time child-sitting jobs that pay for our groceries and paper products. We are trying to juggle all the bills we had acquired one the one income. We have started a plan of paying the lowest bill off first then moving on to the next one. It is helping we have the second one almost paid off. It is going to be a long process,but we are determined to make it. I am going to show my husband these sights and see if he thinks we should use their budget system. Thank-you so much for posting this. We are always looking for help.
3 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Wow, I am glad that you can use the information. I love to help people. Make sure you download the Ebook now as it is free but only for a limited time. I hope they help you to get back on track. I know how hard it can be. We have medical bills that are killing us.
2 people like this
@trinidadvelasco (11401)
• Philippines
24 Apr 07
I agree with you, lightningmd, that we really need sound advises when it comes to managing a good budget for the family.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Shaun72,
I am so glad that you can use it. I love to help people. I hope you downloaded the free Ebook before they start charging for it
1 person likes this
@wmg2006 (5381)
• United States
24 Apr 07
I have always had a budget. I was taught the importance of saving and spending at a very early age. At the age of 8 I had a paper route and made a lot money per month for an 8 year old. My Mother always made me tithe 10% to our church first, put 25% in savings and the rest was for me to spend as I saw fit. I had to budget the money for a whole month because I only received my money each month. It was one of the best lessons ever taught to me as a young child. I tend to be better at budgeting other people's money than my own though.
Now what I do is only take the small dollars and cents from my check each week. This is my play money and it is it always less than $20.00. $20.00 per week goes into a 401K, $100.00 a week goes into an emergency savings fund, and $25.00 a week goes into a regualr savings. The remainder goes into the checking account to pay bills only. If you discpline yourself and only pay your bills from a checking account and only spend your cash when absolutely needed you will be amazed at how easy it it is to have everything you want and need plus have something for a rainy day.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 Apr 07
You have a very impressive system. We always pay our thithing first and that is 10%. We had to borrow from our 401K recently to pay hospital bills. The hospital made us an offer that if we would pay half of the bill they would consider it paid in full. We could not pass up that deal. We owed thousands of dollars.
@princeworthy (1909)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Thank you so much for this post villageanne! It could not have come at a better time! My husband missed a whole week of work last week and we don't have any savings. We are going to have to tighten up and budget to get our bills paid this next month. After we get them paid I want to start a savings account so that the next time this happens we will not have to worry so much.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Bless your heart. I am so sorry that you are having a hard time right now. Download the free EBook now as it is only free for a limited time. It is a wonderful book. I hope things get better for you soon.
1 person likes this
@kaperkitty (1097)
• Canada
24 Apr 07
wow this is awesome information yet again and perfect timing for me. One of the things that really bothers me about our spending habits in our home is where the money goes. You know you go out with 20.00 dollars and come home with 1.23 where did it all go? So I know John and I have set out to kept all the receipts for the renovations to see the final costs but I would like to see where we spend our monthly money too.Hoe much gets spent on groceries, clothing, not essentials ,etc. This looks like a great place to start you have no idea how much you help sending in discussions like this, I'm actually excited about saving money
Cheryl
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
24 Apr 07
I know how hard it is when you live from paycheck to paycheck. We have been there before with medical bills. They can kill your budget quickly. I hope you will download the Free Ebook. It is a wonderfu source of information. And it is totally FREE for a limited time. So you need to hurry
@keepermykitty (2573)
• Canada
25 Apr 07
I live on a budget and have for years now , so as you probably know I do a budget every time I get money , and I pay what I need to and thats how I live month to month , I only have so much for food , lights , rent etc..
It gets hard at times but thats why I I budget my self ...
@lovespecialangel (3632)
• United States
26 Apr 07
A lot of people do fight over money. The main reason for this is because money is what pays the bills and keeps us from losing things we have. Having a budget is a great thing. But having a budget is just the start. You have to follow through with it. We really don't have a budget, but I have a little book that I write our monthly bills in. When we get paid, I sit down with my book and pay the bills that we can pay at the time. But even doing this, I find it hard to save money. Having kids, saving money is not something that comes easy. There is always something that comes up that they need.
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Thank you for the link. I will definately have to check it out. We do have a budget and are pretty go at sticking at it. Sometimes it seems like we have problems but we always get through it. Thank you again for posting this to help out others.
1 person likes this
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Yes, we budget. I don't see how one could make it if they did not budget. We are forever having to jockey our budget amounts though, depending upon gas prices and those types of things. Seems just when you think you have 'saved' a little nest egg, some type of medical expense or something comes along to take it!
1 person likes this
@trinidadvelasco (11401)
• Philippines
24 Apr 07
I have a family budget and I stick to it. I have a targeted amount of savings which until now, I have not achieved. This is what bothers me most because, prices have already gone up and despite my efforts to cut on some things, we still spend more than what we used to for our monthly expenses.
I thank you villageanne for these inputs you have come up with to help ones in budget distress like me.
1 person likes this
@alindahaw (1219)
• Philippines
26 Apr 07
I keep different envelopes for bills and stuff them every month. That way I get to keep track of all my expenses. I also take a certain portion of my earnings for savings every month.
@axelady (145)
• Portugal
24 Apr 07
I follow some simple rulles. When i receive my wages, first i pay all the bills and other permanent duties. Well ...what remains...remains. This is not so complicated. The issue became difficult when the remained part is almost ... none. ... loool.
I think i managed by now to get over it.
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
24 Apr 07
Hey thanks these will come in handy alot. I am also going to make my mother do this because her and my dad fights about who spent what all the time I tell them to write it all down they jsut never had but with this they can learn how to finally buget the money and maybe stop the fighting so much about who spent what...relief..lol Thanks
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
24 Apr 07
I have always been pretty good at budgeting but couldn't share the task, because my ex would never agree on priorities. The way I would budget the money would always turn out better in the end though and he would always be amazed at how I would be able to stretch the money as far as I did. The links you have included here are great though. I will be checking them out, and definitely plan to download the ebook.
@mari123 (1861)
• China
24 Apr 07
thank you to tell me how to give a family budget.money is the most common reason for divorce,if no money ,we cann't do anything,so in order to get more money ,wo must work hard,and save our money in bank,but we must use money to buy ,so the budget must be get.
@patricia24 (568)
• Philippines
24 Apr 07
I have a family budget but sometimes, it not followed because of the earnings we get is too low this year, so it really not followed our budget, we have to go borrow money for our baby's milk. Its so embarassed me, i hope i could stick to my budget, if i really have an extra earning maybe i can do that.
