How to conduct a family budget: draw up a spending plan

Everyone understands how important it is to conduct the family budget. But for whom it has become a habit? For me - not. And I'm not the only one. According to the survey site nacfin.ruIn Russia only every fifth family leads a written accounting of income and expenses. Of these, 13% did not take into account all income and expenditure. We will introduce you to the idea of ​​spending plan - an effective way to control finances.

We must be guided by our needs rather than our desires.

George Washington

Plus spending plan that you do not need every day to record their spending. It will need to make only the first 2-3 months to decide what your main expenses and how much money they spend about. If you already represent these costs, the preliminary stage can be ruled out.

And then you need to do is this:

1. Determine your monthly take-home pay (salary minus taxes).
2. Determine the fixed monthly expenses. They may vary slightly, but in general they are always roughly the same from month to month. Here are examples of what can be included in the list of fixed expenses:
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   • mortgage payment;
   • payments on loans;
   • Payment of utility services;
   • payment of a rented apartment;
   • food;
   • household chemicals;
   • the cost of cars: petrol, cleaning, seasonal change tires, insurance;
   • payment of public transport (if you're driving on it);
   • Internet payment;
   • payment of mobile communication;
   • the cost of school / kindergarten (if you have children);
   • buy seasonal clothing.

Once you subtract the monthly income of the fixed costs, you will have the amount that you will be able to freely dispose of: delay or spend as they wish.

Obvious advantages of spending plan

1. It helps to separate the necessary from the desired. You begin to understand what expenses can not be avoided, and what can be put off for a month or eliminated altogether.

2. Every time at the beginning of the month, you can slightly change the spending plan, including in it a major purchase, such as home appliances. And then he cut back on some budget items, so as not to fall into a financial hole.

3. Having made such a plan, you realize clearly how much you actually spend each month. The first time through this exercise, you may be very surprised to its results. For example, it turns out that the amount required for fixed spending more of your paycheck. Then it is no wonder that you can not get out of credit.

Thanks to a spending plan you will be able to understand how you increase the amount of free money. There are two main options:

• start making more;
• cut spending, if possible.

You can use them separately or both at once, so more efficient.

4. Spending plan will not require you to close monitoring. Fixed expenses are rarely vary from month to month. You do not need every day to monitor the expenditure, you only need to remember how much free money you should stay.

Drawing up the plan of expenses - a good first step on the way to to start to manage money wisely. Try at least to start, and I assure you that after a while you begin to enjoy that keep finances under control.