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The Basics of Budgeting
A Family Budget Doesn't Have to Hurt
By Debora Geary
Once you have a sense of where you spend your money and have taken some basic steps to spend it more wisely, the experts encourage a more long-term view of budgeting. This allows your budget to evolve as your family changes and to use budgeting to help you achieve more of your long-term goals. Restall and Jones offer these tips:
Review your budget: "It's important to re-evaluate your budget on a regular basis," Jones says. "We do ours quarterly, as our income and expenses are always changing." Your family needs may be changing too, and taking a look at your budget every so often will prevent it from becoming obsolete.
- Review your goals: Restall recommends periodically reviewing your goals as well as your budget. This lets you keep your budget in line with your life goals, and it also gives you a reminder about why you are budgeting in the first place.
- Plan monthly for bigger expenses: "It's also critical to plan for the unexpected expenses (i.e. car repairs, medical bills, etc.) and annual expenses like taxes and insurance," Jones says. "When you have a good budget in place, you can set aside a little money each month for these extra expenses and not be blown away when they happen."
In case you need just a little more incentive, think about all the benefits you can reap. Mauel spends money on fun stuff instead of groceries she didn't really need. Jones spends more time enjoying the precious moments watching her children grow. Restall gets to see clients make progress toward achieving major life goals, and Kight is able to stay at home with her kids. Pretty good results for trying a simple family budget.