Financial Budget Worksheet

This brings us to the family budget process. We ask questions like:
•   How to set up a family budget?
•   How should a family budget be used?

SAVE in TAXES by Running a Part-Time Home-Based Business

Insights around the tools and techniques of family budgeting could also be useful:
•   Practical suggestions for setting up a budget?
•   A step-by-step summary of a family budget process.
•   Hints, tips, tricks and tools for setting up a family budget.

Stay tuned for more...
To get us started and in order to set up a monthly budget, follow these 5 easy steps:

Step 1:  Find out your monthly take-home pay.
Step 2:  Find out what your expenses are.
Step 3:  Find out how much you spend on each expense.
Step 4:  See if your monthly expenses match monthly take-home pay.
Step 5:  Balance your budget. This means in your family budget you need to ensure that you are spending matches take-home pay. It might indicate that you have to cut back on spending to balance.

It sounds too good to be true and too simplistic. However, in the end, that is all there is to this family budgeting process!

Initially at least. Let us look at these steps one at a time.


1. Finding out your monthly take-home pay.
Your income is your pay, after some money is deducted. Think taxes, insurance and Social Security.

Answer the following questions:
What is your monthly take-home pay?
Do other people share expenses in your home?

As mentioned before, total all of the households’ monthly take-home pay. This will include all sources of income for all contributing members of the household.

Finding out what your expenses are.

This brings up other pressing questions:
•   What are your monthly expenses?
•   Where does the money in fact go every month?

Most people are surprised to learn that it may go for things that we do not need at all.

Writing your expenditures down provides us with the unique opportunity to visualize and find out if any money goes for things that we do not need or want.

Here is a short list of expenses that many people have. Put a check mark next to ones you have, then write down any expenses you have, that are not on the list.

•   Necessities like food.
•   Clothes laundry dry-cleaning.
•   Car and transportation expenses: gas, oil, parking, license, plates, car repair, train fares or bus fares.
•   Rent, mortgage payments, heat, electricity, phone, water, property taxes, house repair, appliance and repair, furniture, small items for home, cleaning supplies on the yard care.
•   Medical and dental expenses: doctor, dentist, drugs, hospital or clinic.
•   Savings: short to medium term for something soon, a future purchase, emergencies, investments.
•   Installment payments: car, furniture, appliances, charge accounts, credit card accounts, loans.
•   Pocket money, personal allowances, tobacco, beer, wine and hair care.
•   Entertainment, movies and eating out Recreation, sports and equipment, club membership, newspaper, magazines, cable TV, records and tapes, DVDs videos and other multimedia, vacation, letters and postage.
•   School bills, books, room and board at school, workshops, special training courses, lessons, music and more.
•   Donations: church or synagogue or mosque, charitable giving, charities, other and gifts.
•   Insurance: (if not deducted from your pay check): life, health, house, car and property.
•   Taxes: (if not deducted from your pay check): Federal, state and local income, social security.
•   Which other ones could you list?

Now go to the next page of your free Family Budget Tips Guide : Family Budget Worksheet