Using my personal budgeting template :p
Achieving financial security requires twofold: One way is by securing a stable source of income and the other is properly managing your assets.
People are fixated on achieving the first step that the second step is often overlooked or neglected. I mean, we go to school for 13 years to receive enough education to earn this income. Some of us will even go to school for 4,6, or even 8+ years in order to chase this (hard-earned and well-deserved financial security). Yet, this entire time spent on education, how much is focused on proper management of that income after it hits your bank account?
It’s no wonder people who experience a financial windfall from the lottery or other sudden influx of monies tend to lose them within only a handful of years. And it’s easy to scoff or chastise these folks and talk about how “I would’ve put it all in the stock market and lived off those dividends forever.” But would you really?
Have you ever made impulsive purchases because it was something that you just HAD to buy. Or have you made purchases once payday hits and are eating ramen the days leading up to the following payday. Do you contribute to a savings account, retirement fund, or have an emergency rainy day fund? Because if you have made such purchases and don’t save, what’s stopping you from splurging on that same windfall if it were to ever happen?
“dOnT buY tHAt 5 dOLLaR cOfFeE” – some rich, out-of-touch media personality
I’m not implying that drinking $5 starbucks coffees will make you poor; in fact, I think that someone who believes that is extremely out of touch and that you should treat yourself rather than count your pennies like Mr. Scrooge McDuck over there.
However, what I am saying is that we are most likely bad with money and holding on to it. Myself included: I don’t have a savings account or an emergency fund. BUT what I espouse isn’t MY advice, but rather the advice of those who have earned financial security through both hard work and diligent saving. I hope you’re motivated to start saving now, so let’s begin 🙂
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Baby Steps
If you’ve never tracked your expenses before, my recommendation is that you actually don’t use this budget template. At least not immediately. It can be hard to jump directly to creating budgets and abiding by them religiously.
My suggestion is this: you create a basic Excel spreadsheet on your phone. Crate 3 columns at the bare minimum: one for date, one for description, and one for amount. Format it so that at the very bottom of the amounts column, it calculates the grand total expenditure. (Hopefully you have Microsoft OneDrive because it’ll also sync to your other devices; otherwise, your phone is something you have on you all the time so it’s a great place for your expense tracker to be stored locally).
After each purchase, you immediately put it into your phone. The date, what the purchase was for, and for how much.
When it has become habitual for you to keep track of those expenses after each purchase, you’re ready for the Budget Template.
Budget Realistically
I attended a Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference hosted at WCU (admittedly for extra credit from one of my classes). There was a speaker there who was helping motivate the audience about being financial savvy and how to be smart with money and investing.
After her presentation, she opened the floor to asking her questions. I spoke up about how it was difficult for me to budget and I found myself constantly going over budget. It was challenging to try to come under budget.
Her advice was simple but effective: Budget realistically
It’s very easy to try and be ambitious with your budgeting and set a lower limit for expenditure – but if you’re constantly trying to squeeze yourself too tightly and going over that limit it’s a sign that the budget itself isn’t effective. You may try to set a budget that you WANT, but if it’s not doable then you may be extending yourself too hard.
It’s important to be gracious to yourself, but it’s equally important that you are able to be consistent in achieving your goals. So, make sure that it’s something that you can manage that also helps keep you accountable.
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My Template
Modify ONLY the cells that are yellow. DON’T TOUCH the cells that are green or blue
On the ‘Personal Monthly Budget’ sheet, you can modify each section as well as each category – the default ones are only placeholders. Set your projected costs as your budget and your best estimates for your incomes. Make sure to put your starting balance in the top left.
Then input your expenses (and income) in the ‘Expenses Table’ sheet. The second sheet will constantly update and tabulate the categories for you. In the Expenses Table will update you with how much income you’ve made or how much remaining in each category.
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