A family monthly budget is not hard to do and it is not an exciting thing to do but it should be done monthly. This way you will see where you money is every month and how much you can spend or save. If the monthly budget is done correctly, it can help you set up a savings for the future and help your children learn about budgets and saving money for their future later in life.
Gather all Financial Statements
Financial statements include bank statements, investments, paychecks, or any source of income. This will help start the process of a monthly budget.
Record all Information Regarding Income
Right down all the monthly income and record the total as a monthly amount.
List Monthly Expenses
Itemize all you monthly expenses such as mortgage payment or rent, car payment and insurance, telephone, cable, gas, utilities, credit card payments, groceries, entertainment, clothes, pet expenses, children’s expenses, and essentially anything you spend money on. These expenses will be included every month and totaled.
Break Down the Monthly Expenses
Expenses basically can be broken down into two categories, fixed and variable. Fixed expenses are those that are regular and will not change on a monthly budget, such as mortgage payment or rent, car payments, credit card payments utilities, and so forth. Variable expenses are those that will change monetarily such as groceries, presents, gas, entertainment, eating out, and so on. This category will be important in making changes in a family monthly budget.
Unexpected Expenses
Unexpected expenses are those that are not included in a regular monthly budget. These expenses are those that you will need as a family to included in the family monthly budget. Some of these expenses might include car repairs, which will vary depending upon the type of car and how old the car is and how often you drive it, medical expenses, such as healthcare, dental, and vision expenses, deductibles and co-payments should also be included, holidays and birthdays, weddings and baby showers, emergency travel expenses, office parties, broken appliances such as a hair dryer, dishwasher, or stove, and the last unexpected expense is a change in life expenses such as marriage, children, education and clothing are all unexpected expenses that should be included in the family monthly budget.
Total all Expenses
After everything is written down for each column, total each section. If the end result shows more income than expenses you are fine and therefore have money left over to spend or save. If you are showing a higher income than some changes will have to be made and that requires planning. If all the income and expense totals are the same, that means everything is accounted for and budgeted for a specific expense. Review and change if necessary at regular times to make sure that the budget stays on tract.