Why does the word budget create fear in so many people. It is just your finances on paper which many people have never done before but knowing it will help you should make it more welcoming. Maybe you don’t know where to start or you have this idea that it will take a lot of work, and we are generally lazy when it comes to work.
All a budget does basically is it show you how much money you have coming in and where it is all going. You can being by collecting your paycheck stubs, dividend receipts and so on and this will show you your income. The previous three months will give you a good idea of your regular income. Then, add up a few months of expenses and you can either do this by looking at past receipts or in your checkbook.
You then need to decide if you budget will be weekly, monthly or quarterly and this will depend on when you get paid. Many people budget by the month and this is good except they must allow for those quarterly or yearly expenses. If you want to try software budget programs there is one offered by Quicken, MS Money and one by Simple Joe.
