Why you need to plan a family budget and how to do it correctly. Planning and maintaining a family budget - how to save your family budget How to plan your expenses

Instructions

Make it a habit to record all your expenses. At this stage, you analyze your expenses, compare them with income and draw conclusions.

Find a savings reserve. Any family budget is spent in three areas:
- Mandatory payments (taxes, utility bills, education)
- Current expenses (food, transport, clothing, mobile communications)
- Free money (entertainment, recreation, gifts, )
You can reduce costs on any of these points. For example, by insulating your apartment you can save on mandatory expenses. You can spend less on food if you don’t go to the supermarket on an empty stomach and have the groceries you need to buy with you.

Don't carry a lot of money in your wallet, otherwise you will be tempted to buy everything. On the day of receiving a salary, it is especially common for a person to spend a lot. Try to determine for yourself the amount that should be spent monthly on everyday needs: lunch, travel, various little things. Divide it by the number of days. It turns out that you must meet it in a day. And if one day you overspent it, then the next day you will have to give up something.

Make two lists: in the first, add things that you are not going to give up (a balanced diet, gifts for family), and in the second, things that you can save on (use taxis less often, spend less on cosmetics).

Have a separate wallet for change. Pour small coins in there without counting. Someday this “bank” will help you out a lot.

Analyze expenses. Calculate which expense item consumes a lot of money; perhaps it is going to a restaurant, and not children’s clothing at all.

Place unexpectedly generated “extra” money in a bank or mutual fund. Let them work for you, after a while you will feel the effect of such an investment. It is not without reason that they say: it is not the one who has a lot of money who is rich, but the one who has enough of it. Treat your money with care, and you will have enough.

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A freelancer is a freedom-loving person, does not tolerate instructions and is left to his own devices most of the time. The ability to independently decide where, when and how much to work is an undoubted advantage of freelancing, but, on the other hand, such freedom often becomes the cause of unstable income. Planning a budget in such conditions is difficult, but there are ways to competently solve this issue.

Instructions

Considering that a freelancer’s income in the current month almost always differs from the income received in the previous month, the first thing to do is to equalize these amounts. To do this, you need to take earnings statistics for the year broken down by month and select the month with minimum income. Now this amount will serve as the basis of the budget.

You need to study bank offers and choose the most profitable deposit program. Many banks offer so-called mobile deposits, from which you can withdraw funds and replenish them at any time. They offer a slightly lower percentage, but no penalties at all.

It is advisable to immediately put all the income received into a deposit account, and only then pay yourself a salary equal to the amount of the minimum monthly income taken as the basis for the budget. The rest of the money, naturally, will remain on deposit and continue to generate a small but stable income.

To ensure that the budget does not have a deficit, it is necessary not only to streamline income, but also to carefully monitor expense items. To do this, you need to think through and make a list of all expenses and needs for the month. After this, you should set priorities by putting numbers from 1 to 10 next to each expense item, depending on the importance of certain expenses. For example, when making money on the Internet, you simply need to have access to the network, so, of course, paying for the services of a provider is one of the most important expenses. However, in this case, everything is individual and depends solely on personal needs and lifestyle.

The next thing to do is to rewrite the list of expenses, but in descending order of importance, starting with the most necessary. Along the way, you can enter the estimated amount required to cover each expense item. Then, knowing the amount of monthly income, calculate from it in order the amount of expenses, moving from top to bottom of the list. At a certain stage, the money from the budget will run out. This is where you will need to stop and draw the line. Expenses that will be located below the line will not be included in the budget. Undoubtedly, this is a somewhat tough option that requires patience and willpower. After all, it does not imply a very frequent increase in salary, but it makes it possible to create a “financial cushion” that is simply necessary for a freelancer - reserve savings.

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note

Of course, from time to time various force majeure situations or extreme needs may arise that go beyond the strict budget. In such cases, you can afford a small bonus from the deposit. Over time, by organizing and increasing your budget, you can increase your salary and bonuses.

Many young families face problems of insufficient financial resources. Typically, such situations arise due to inconsistency in the family budget, which should be planned every year. This can help avoid many misunderstandings and disagreements in the family.

It is most convenient to calculate the family budget in the form of a table. Initially, you need to record standard expenses for each month. Such expenses may include loan payments, payments for utilities, telephone and cable television services, car maintenance, various courses and sections for children, and others. Then you need to add to the table those payments that are single and occur once or twice a year. Such costs must be taken into account so that they do not become an unpleasant surprise in the future. Such expenses most often include real estate taxes, insurance payments, preventive treatment, or visits to a sanatorium.

A special part of the family budget should be a column for unexpected income. In order not to spend extra money on restaurants and various types of entertainment, you need to make a list of financial goals. If you have a list like this, you won’t have to regret it in the future.

After calculating the total family income, you need to subtract the expenses of each month from it, and then write this difference opposite the name of the month. There should be an amount that can be spent on life. Then the family budget should be divided into various categories - food, entertainment, car, household expenses and others. For each family, these categories are individual. It is necessary to jointly decide on which category what amount can be spent. At the same time, do not forget about funds for the personal use of each family member. At this stage, the family budget is almost completely drawn up. The last item should be reserve funds. They must be present in the family budget. Sudden illness, lack of bonus - some unforeseen event can always occur that requires additional funds. It is for such cases that reserve funds should be available.

There are other options for drawing up a family budget. For example, some spouses prefer not to put all funds into a common cash register, but to count income and expenses separately. But in this case, it is likely that many quarrels and reproaches will arise. Therefore, the best option would be to jointly manage the budget, divided equally among family members in such a way that everyone is satisfied with the drawn up scheme.

Why do you need to plan your family budget? How to do this correctly? What benefits will planning bring?

My short answer would be: it helps you achieve your goal within a predetermined time frame.

In other words, if you want it like me, then planning a family budget will be your best friend and assistant in this matter.

In my life, I pay a lot of attention and time to planning. "For what?" – you may ask. Look back and you will see many examples of people achieving their goals by carefully planning their steps.

• Take the army for example. Before embarking on maneuvers or a large-scale offensive, military generals carefully study the terrain and battle conditions. Choose the right time of year. They study the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, and only then plan where and with what front they will strike the enemy.
• Let's consider a large commercial enterprise. Any company that has achieved success in the market also carefully plans its activities.
• Any trip around the world on a cruise ship or yacht follows a strictly set course, otherwise the lives of passengers and crew can be endangered. A given course is nothing more than planning of actions.

• First, data from past months. To get them, you need.
• Secondly, you need to know about the “money” events that are coming up for you in the near future, such as birthdays of loved ones, vacations, various holidays, tax payments, loans, etc. To do this, I recommend that you get a to-do planner, or one that has a calendar function.
• Thirdly, seasonality must be taken into account. For example, before various holidays, such as New Year, Easter, May 9, etc., shops and supermarkets raise prices. As summer approaches, gasoline prices usually rise due to the fact that many motorists go on vacation on their iron horses. In the fall, expenses for schoolchildren and students increase.

Be sure to have your home finance plan in place. You can plan both in and in special ones.

I analyzed the best programs for maintaining and recording home accounting. After studying this review, you will be able to choose the optimal program for accounting and maintaining a family budget. This is what our family budget plan looks like for one month:

* – Planning and calculation of the family budget

As you can see from this table, our family’s family budget will go into the minus. But, if you read my previous one for June, you should have seen that at the end of the month I had about 25,000 rubles left, which would insure me.

The sooner you start planning your family budget, the sooner you get used to it. When I first started planning personal finances, there was no question of meeting targets.

But a month passed, then a second, and my own pride began to gnaw at me. How is it that I can’t control myself, my finances, my wants and desires?

And in the third month, I set myself the goal, at all costs, to draw up a real financial plan and implement it. Tell me what came of it? I think you guessed it!

I was able to implement this plan and my future financial life became much easier. The same will happen to you. You will no longer need to resort to loans or payday loans. You will start to have extra money, with which you can start investing and thus significantly increase your income.

If you don't budget, you're essentially inviting unnecessary debt and ruining your ability to save. These steps will help you learn how to create a budget and control your spending.

✔ Track your income and expenses

1. Determine your total income. Do you have a fixed salary and know how much you bring home each month? Are you a freelancer and your salary varies from month to month? Having a clear idea of ​​how much you'll earn is the most important thing to creating a successful budget.

2. Determine how you spend your money. What bills do you need to pay each month? Do you go out for dinner with friends every Friday or go to the cinema once a week? Knowing where your money is going will help you keep track of it better.

3. Add up your regular expenses and subtract them from your salary. Is it a negative number? If so, you are clearly living beyond your means. If there is money left over, divide it into several groups:

"Flexible" money. About 10-20% of the difference between salary and regular expenses should be prepared if you suddenly have to pay more for something than expected. This can happen to your utility bills if gas prices suddenly rise, if you get a flat tire, or something else.

Saving. Ideally, you should save 30% of your salary, although even 10% (if you do this all the time) is not bad. Set aside money for an emergency fund (4-6 times your monthly expenses), then start saving for investing.

Spending money is what remains after subtracting savings and flexible money. This is the money you spend on clothes, eating out and other entertainment.

✔ Budget creation

1. Set budget and financial goals. They should be both short- and long-term. The first include: not spending more than a certain amount each month, or saving a certain amount each month. The second includes: the ability to make a down payment on a car or house. You need some kind of goal, this will help you stick to your budget. It is convenient to set financial goals using the service. You can specify the desired date of saving for travel or creating a financial safety net (in the amount of 6-12 monthly salaries), and the server will automatically calculate the amount that needs to be saved each month.

2. Make a list of everything you need to pay for. This includes the most important things - rent, electricity, heating. Let these expenses be the most important in the budget.

3. Use software. Android app
“Personal finance. Family budget « from
has built-in tools for working with the budget.

✔ Maintaining a budget

1. Stay within your budget. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to go over budget even when you have one. Spend your money wisely...

2. Make daily payments and income to the site. Watch for recurring expenses that can be easily avoided. For example, a daily trip to a cafe to drink coffee.

3. Don't expect to receive unexpected money. Don't take into account potential sources of income like a New Year's bonus or tax refund. You should only include in your budget money that you are absolutely sure you will receive.

4. Leave your debit/credit card at home. Once you're out and about, it's easy (and tempting) to overspend. Do not do that!

5. Save money for the whole week at once. If you want to spend 8000 and no more each week, go to the ATM on Monday and withdraw all the money at once. Running out of money? All.

✔ More ways to stick to your budget

1. Consider the difference between luxury and necessity. Determine what is “needed” and “want” in your budget. Let necessities be at the forefront of your budget, and if there is money left over, allow yourself to get out somewhere or go shopping.

2. Cut big expenses. This is the most effective way to stay on budget. If you go somewhere on vacation every year, consider staying home this year. If you smoke, think about how you can quit.

3. Pay less taxes. If you file your taxes once a year, consider using itemized deductions instead.

4. Stay ahead of inflation. Over time, inflation increases the cost of living. 3% annual growth will double the value of everything in 24 years. If your income is rising, don't spend on luxury items until you're sure you can stay ahead of inflation at all times.

Sample budget

Salary: 60,000 rub.

Regular expenses:
Rent 18,000 rub.
Mobile 1000 rub.
Food 8000 rub.
Utility bills 5000 rub.
Machine 5000
Gasoline 3000

Total – 60000
60,000 – 40,000 (regular expenses) = 20,000
20,000 – 6,000 (“flexible” money, 10% of salary – regular expenses) = 14,000
14000 – 3000 (savings, 5% salary) = 11000
11,000 is the money with which you can do whatever you want until your next salary.

Do you want to learn how to plan a family budget, but don't know where to start? Create a notebook, an Excel file, an account in an online service, or download a special program? What will be easier and more convenient for you, how to find out?

In order not to get lost in the variety of tools and ways to manage a family budget, let’s try to sort them “on the shelves”, from simple to more advanced. In this article, we'll look at general budgeting techniques (no tedious calculations!) and templates for budgeting in Excel (or other spreadsheets).

To begin with, let's look at three extremely simple schemes that allow you to plan your family budget very quickly and without a lot of time. Most likely, later you will need more details and opportunities to analyze your budget, then you can move on to more developed tools (such as a family budget program) or develop, based on these simple schemes, a more complex one that suits your financial situation.

By the way, the authors of these schemes unanimously suggest saving 20% ​​of every income received, so the sooner this turns into a financial habit, the better. Another point on which they all agree: the goal is to reduce the share of mandatory (necessary, essential) expenses in the total amount of family expenses, which will improve the standard of living.

1.1. Andrew Tobias, author of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, offers the following simple and effective solution to the budgeting problem:

Simple, isn't it? Just remember, first we save 20%, and only then spend it, otherwise at the end of the month it may turn out that there is nothing to save at all. By the way, if 20% seems overwhelming, try starting with 10% or even 5% to develop a habit and create an initial savings fund (family emergency fund). To enhance this technique, you can also add what remains after spending at the end of the month to the reserve fund.

1.2. In the book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, the authors argue that in order to achieve financial success, you must keep three areas of your finances in balance. Therefore, they propose dividing the total income into three parts:

Thus, you simultaneously save a fairly large amount (at the same time get rid of debts, if any), and live for your own pleasure (30% of income for entertainment and amenities). It is not a fact that, given the current level of income and expenses, your family can easily “fit” into this scheme, but you can consider it as a kind of ideal.

1.3. The 60% rule, proposed by MSN Money contributor Richard Jenkins. We have already talked about this scheme in the article about the envelope method for drawing up a family budget. In short, Jenkins suggests dividing total income into 5 parts, of which about 60% goes to operating expenses.

You can read more about the 60% method and other methods of budgeting in envelopes in the article Making a family budget: the envelope method and its variations.

The second way, more advanced, is to start maintaining a family budget in a spreadsheet (Excel, Google Docs, etc.), where the basic formulas for budget analysis have already been entered.

2.1. PearBudget template. This is a free, beautiful and thoughtful template (Excel) for maintaining a family budget, designed for one year. It has a couple of disadvantages: firstly, you cannot use more than 30 categories of expenses/income and it is entirely in English, including instructions and an example.
Download budget file (179 Kb)
The latest version is available at www.pearbudget.com.

2.2. A simple budget for a family for a year, in Russian. Several categories of expenses and a pie chart for expenses. The author explains how to fill out the file and analyze expenses on his website.
Download budget file (19 Kb)

2.3. In the MoneyTracker community article Family Budget in Excel I gave a couple more links to template collections:
office.microsoft.com- a collection of templates (12 pieces) from the official Microsoft website (to download, you need confirmation of the authenticity of the installed MS Office)
docs.google.com- 30 different templates, ranging from calculating interest on a deposit to calculating the family budget. They look modest, but they are a good place to start.
After downloading, you will have to think over your system of categories in the budget or at least translate what is in these Excel templates (most of them are in English).

2.4. Personal budgeting template for Google Docs from Gumoza: Gbudget. A fairly simple and convenient tool, always at hand if you have access to the Internet, in Russian, customizable. Author's description here: gumoza.ru

Have you decided to start planning your family budget? A few useful tips won't hurt :-).

Based on the article

Have you ever wondered why, with the same income, some families have enough for everything, while others are constantly in debt and never stop complaining about lack of money? There is no secret. You need to be able not only to earn money, but also to properly plan your family budget.

You can do this together, or you can assign responsibility to one of the spouses. We will talk about how to properly manage a family budget and control family income and expenses using a spreadsheet in Excel. We will also share some more simple ways.

Family life means not only new responsibilities, raising children together, but also managing the family budget. This moment cannot be left to chance. Psychologists believe that the financial part of family life often leads to serious disagreements and even divorce.

And it’s not about the amount of money, but about the ability to discuss financial issues, decide what and where to spend and what to save for.

Maintaining a family budget will help you identify the most expensive expense items and teach you how to save.

If you dream of a family business that will be passed on to your children and then grandchildren, the family budget in the table will help you accumulate initial capital.

With the help of simple and proven methods, you can save money for vacation, allocate funds for repairs and never suffer from a lack of finances.

Planning a family budget will eliminate the need to take out a loan or borrow money before payday. After all, the point is not how much you earn, but how correctly you spend your money.

Why does a man ignore the woman he likes? We'll tell you about the psychology of a man's behavior in relationships.

First, you need to make a list of sources of income. Most often there are two of them. This is the salary of a husband and wife.

But those who do not have enough money from paycheck to paycheck are now looking for additional sources of income. This is relevant not only among men.

Women who are housewives or on maternity leave often find an additional activity that brings in money. Some sew to order, some knit, and some provide tutoring services.

Men use their skills in repair work. Car enthusiasts work part-time at service stations or drive taxis. Recently, part-time work on the Internet has become popular.

Many people rent out an apartment or room, receiving another additional income. A list of sources of income has been compiled. Let's move on to expenses. Their list will be much longer. But don't rush to despair.

The main thing is not to miss anything. This will help you see the real picture and understand where most of the money you earn goes, and how you can fix it.

The list of family budget expenses will look like this:

• mandatory expenses;
• nutrition;
• self-care;
• automobile;
• self-development;
• rest;
• entertainment;
• household products;
• Unexpected expenses;
• savings for business, retirement, making dreams come true.

Let's look at each of these points. Mandatory expenses include payment of utilities. This is rent, internet. If you took out a loan for an apartment or car, monthly payments are also included in the mandatory expenses. If you have children, then the list will be supplemented by expenses for kindergarten or school.

Food is another cost item that you cannot do without. You can allocate a certain amount of money for groceries and make purchases 1-2 times a week. It is convenient when a menu is drawn up for the month.

This will take a lot of time, but you will immediately see how much money you need for groceries for the coming weeks. When planning this expense item, do not forget to take into account possible holidays or receptions.

A car is not only convenient, but also expensive. If mom is the chief food economist, then automobile affairs are dad's element. Men know that refueling the car is not enough. It still needs to be washed, repaired from time to time, tires changed at the end of the season, insurance and taxes to pay.

If refueling your car is required constantly, then the remaining expense items can be distributed over the year. For example, take out insurance in January, undergo a technical inspection in February, pay taxes in August, and so on.

Clothes, going to the gym, or going to a beauty salon can be considered items dedicated to self-care. There will also be medical expenses for regular medical examinations and visits to the dentist.

If illness can strike unexpectedly, then it is realistic to plan the purchase of clothes. We advise you to buy high-quality items that combine well with each other. The rule that works here is less is more.

You can save on a gym if there is a stadium near your home. Buying a fitness machine is a good investment in your health. But practice shows that most people are more active in the company of like-minded people than at home in splendid isolation.

You shouldn’t exclude a visit to a beauty salon from your list. And we are not necessarily talking about expensive procedures. And about a basic haircut, manicure, pedicure.

Household goods are another category in which we record expenses for household chemicals, repairs, furniture, and textiles. Powders, shampoos, shower gels can be purchased several months in advance. Taking into account previous purchases, you can afford to update furniture or change wallpaper.

Self-development - this point is important not only for schoolchildren and students. We are young while we have the desire to learn new things.

In order to achieve the desired heights at work and simply be an interesting conversationalist, an authority for your children, it is important to develop, attend courses and trainings. This also includes the purchase of new books and interesting magazines.

Surely children attend clubs or sections, for which you also need to pay monthly, study with a tutor or participate in competitions.

Recreation and entertainment are the most enjoyable part of spending. Relying on the experience of past seasons and thanks to the work of travel agencies, you can know in advance how much money you need for your vacation. Entertainment helps you relax, have a good time, get inspired, and have fun. This includes visiting a restaurant, cinema, theater, concerts and even a coffee shop.

In order not to be caught off guard by unexpected expenses, we add the “Miscellaneous” category to the list. Here we include expenses for gifts. No one is immune from unexpected incidents.

If you are planning to save money for your business or collect retirement savings, add a separate item to the list of family budget expenses. You can save a certain amount here every month.

You can write down all your income and expenses in a notepad, or you can use an Excel spreadsheet. It is very comfortable. On the screen you will see all the components of the family budget and mandatory expenses for the year, and you will be able to control the funds spent.

In order not to deal with formulas, the easiest way is to download a ready-made table and add your own expense items, deepen and detail it if necessary.

Excel already has ready-made templates for keeping records of the family budget. To choose the right one:

• Open the Excel table.
• In the upper left corner, select the “Create” command.
• Go to the “Budgets” category.
• Select “Family Budgets”.

Several templates will appear in front of us, among which we find the suitable one.

Here's how to correctly create a table of family expenses and income in Excel for a month to maintain a family budget:

Essentially, all templates work on the same principle, but differ in design. Planned costs are set at the beginning of the month, actual costs are set at the end. You will see the difference in a separate column. In addition to the amount, there is also an icon that will show whether you met the planned budget or not.

It is better to fill out the table regularly, for example, at the end of each day. Cells with large amounts can be painted in a bright color so that at the end of the month you can see what the largest expenses are associated with.

A few more tips on how to properly plan a family budget, calculate income and expenses and distribute them over the month using a table, as well as a detailed diagram for calculating it, can be found in this video lesson:

By controlling your finances, you will not have the need to borrow, you will always find funds for a vacation with your family, and unforeseen situations will not take you by surprise. Keeping a budget is not only convenient, but also beneficial for the whole family.