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[H878]How To Budget And Save

by Tim Shank, Tim

The first thing that you need to do is to figure out how much money you need for what you want to buy. Then you need to figure out a time frame for when you want to make the purchase. For lesser expensive, you will probably be able to have a shorter time frame whereas a car or vacation might fit more on a one or two year plan depending on how much they cost.

Let's start on a smaller scale like a new pair of shoes. Say you went to the mall and found an awesome new pair of designer sandals that cost about $100. You know that they won't be around for a long time, so you need to come up with that money in about one month. If you would normally pay an average of $35 for a pair of shoes you can subtract that amount from the $100 because that is already in your budget. This means you have to come up with just $65 in four weeks. This is about $16 each week. That is a manageable amount of money when you break it down like that.

It is time to start saving. What can you cut out of your life for a short period of time in order to save money? Do you go out to lunch every day for work? If so, you probably spend about $5-$10 per day for lunch. If you would buy bread, chips and fruit at the grocery store, you could pack your lunch for the week which would actually save you about $25-$30 in just one week. Take a cup of coffee from home and avoid the lattes for a week and you will save about $20 per week. Pretty easy?! And, once you make your purchase you can either go back to your old ways. Or, you might decide that cutting back on some things to buy something that you want was really worth it.

Larger priced items can be saved for in a similar manner. For instance, if you want to take a cruise and you know that it costs about $2400 for everything. That is $200 per month for one year or $50 per week. What can you cut out of your weekly schedule to come up with $50?

There are other ways that you can save money without having to take an extra job. Buy a large piggy bank or jar and put all your change in it at the end of everyday. Sell items on an online auction. Have a yard sale. Eat at home on the weekends instead of going to a restaurant. Buy store brand products and use coupons. Have $5 or $10 per pay period taken out of your check and put in a special savings account. If you can have the patience and will power to do these and other money saving things then you will be wearing those new shoes, driving a car or going on vacation in no time.

A budget is a simple summary of how much money you estimate you are going to spend during a given time, a budget is usually accompanied by a proposal for how you are going to keep your expenditures under the amount specified. Budgets can be used for a variety of things. The most common is to help people keep track of their personal or work funds so that they will only spend as much as they allow themselves to. People use budgets for many other things too like making a grocery shopping list, so that they only purchase things that they really need. Or you could even use a budget to help decorate your home so you don't spend money on items that are outside their price range.

One question that is very common among people who are trying to live on a budget is how do they trim money off their budget without making huge sacrifices. The biggest way to trim money off your budget without making huge sacrifices is by taking a good look at your budget right now, and seeing what you are allowing money for, that you are willing to eliminate. In order to find out what you can eliminate you need to find out what your priorities are when it comes to spending money, if you absolutely have to make a car or a house payment every month you can't cut that out of your budget. If you are not willing to eliminate anything from your budget you may just have to buy a store brand name product instead of the brand name products. Many store brand products are the same, or very similar quality to brand name products. You are also more likely to find coupons in magazines or newspapers for store brand products so they will give you even more of incentive to save money.

Budgets also can help people when they are trying to put money aside for specific causes such as a home or a child's college fund. When you cut back on a budget the extra money that you may have spent on a brand name product can go to something that is more beneficial. If you budget your money properly you will be able to make great strides as far as saving money for special causes. Anyone who has ever dealt with a budget knows that there are circumstances that arise where you have to spend money that you didn't expect to spend. This is why for every budget you make whether it is yearly, monthly, or weekly; you have to have a small allowance of money for unintended spending. If you don't spend the allowance, then that is great, there is just more money for you to put into something that is important to you. If you do spend it, then that's what it is there for, although it is very important to try not to spend the allotted amount every month.

Article Source : Pg. 19

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Both Tim Shank & Jeff Nelson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Tim Shank has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dogs, Terrier Dogs and Dogs. I enjoy writing for my websites please visit my , ,. Tim Shank's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

Jeff Nelson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Finances and Home. . Jeff Nelson's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.