Money Management

A Really Simple Budget

simple budget If you are looking for a very simple budget, below you will find a few examples of some.

Whether you prefer old school, paper and pencil, or would like to work within a spreadsheet program like Excel, here are some simple budgets to work with.

Each of these budgets will keep it REALLY simple. Make sure you choose a way that you know will work for you and that you will follow.

If you pick a way that you know that you won’t follow, or have tried before and lost interest, then you will most likely loose interest. Try something new!

The thing to remember about budgets is that they are only as good as the humans managing the accuracy of the information going into the budget, and the humans that are responsible for following the budgets.

Not interested in a Paper Budget? - Go directly to Spreadsheet Budgets. (coming soon)

Paper, Pencil and Calculator - A Real Simple Budget

Paper, pencil and calculator. You can’t get any simpler than that. You can keep the pages in a three ring binder and keep track of your expenses on each page. Like below:

Monthly Budget Summary

Category	% of Monthly Budget	Monthly Amount Budgeted	Monthly Amount Spent	Difference	Why a difference?
Income
Taxes etc.
Net Income (Income - Taxes etc.)		$ -	$ -	$ -

Rent/Mortgage
Food
Automobile
Utilities
Insurance
Debt Repayment
Entertainment and Recreation
Clothing
Medical/Dental
Miscellaneous
School/child care
Investments
Total Expenses		$ -	$ -	$ -
Amount Saved this month (Net Income - Expenses)		$ -	$ -	$ -

Instructions for filling out the Simple Budget Summary

Enter in the amount of income your household will bring in during the month
Enter in the Taxes and other "at source" deductions. >
Calculate your net income (Income less Taxes etc.) >
Enter in your Rent/Mortgage amount.
Enter in your Food Budget - How much money you think you will spend on food.
Continue with each category in your budget - include Debt Repayment.
Total your Expenses at the bottom of the column
Determine the amount you plan to save this month (Net Income - Expenses)
Determine what percentage of your income that you are spending each month in each category (For example If your income is $4000 and your Rent is $1200 then $1200/$4000 = 30%) - This step is important so you can see where you may want to cut some things out.
As you go through the month, make sure you get and keep receipts for everything you spend money on. Including coffee, and gum.
Use the receipts to calculate how much you spend on each category.>
At the end of the month, calculate the difference between the Amount you budgeted and the amount that you spent. Take some time and determine if and why there are differences. Did you mis-budget what you thought you would need for Utilities? Did you overspend in entertainment? Did an expense come up that you hadn't thought of or didn't expect?
Make sure that you write down in the "Why the difference" column why there was a difference. The first step in gaining power of your money is being aware of where it is spent!
At the end of the month, take what you learned about your budget and apply it to the next month's budget. Did you save enough? Did you have enough to repay debt at a reasonable rate?

Pros and Cons of the Type of Simple Budget:

Pros:	Cons:
Great if you are old school and are not a fan of the computer.	Have to calculate everything yourself
Can keep in small booklet form and take it with you (portable)	If you make a change and you have to recalculate every item by hand
Easy to do – no new process to learn	Possibility of human error and it can be tedious Paper can get lost

Not sure if a simple budget (paper, a pencil and a calculator) is for you? Try some budget software. YNAB is downloadable and really easy and simple to use.

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