Foxway Free Budget Plan pg2

Foxway free budget plan with complete detailed instructions, budget worksheets, money saving tips,
budget spreadsheet, coupons, surveys, budget calculators & free email course. Track spending
& saving. Plan & set goals. Organize & maintain your personal and household budget.

Foxway Free Budget Plan (page 2)

I have created Foxway especially for people just like you and I want everyone to get the most they can out of it. Whether you make $200,000 a year or $10,000 a year, this site has information and instructions that you will be able to use. By the way, in addition to all the informantion in this free budget plan, you can receive my FREE budgeting email course and subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Sign up for the free email course AND the free monthly newsletter and you become eligible for a monthly drawing where we give away a gift certificate, no strings attached. Now on to some serious budgeting discussion.

Let’s begin with some basics. We work, (for someone else or self employed) and make money. We then spend that money on our expenses and hope we have a little leftover by the time we get paid again. This does not build financial freedom. All it does is make you live from paycheck to paycheck. Our goal in designing any personal or home budget is to start building “leftover” money each month which we can save and invest.

Leftover money is that money which you did not spend on bills and payments through the month. It is your income less all those bills and payments and necessary expenses like food, clothing, repairs etc. So in order to save, you must have leftover money. Think about this: Do you have as much leftover money now as you would like to have? Most people don't. The key to budgeting is to "build-in" leftover money and alter your spending habits to meet these "built-in" savings.

You say you spend all the money you are making right now, and there is no room for savings? Well, you are not alone. Nearly everyone is in this boat. But it can change very quickly. You just have to cut back on some things. Take a quick look at my money saving tips to get you started thinking about planning a budget and determining where you are going to start your money saving efforts.

So our goal is to maximize our leftover money each month. To do this, we must spend less than we make. (A pretty simple idea, but sometimes hard to do in real life.) A personal budget or household budget is designed to do just that, create leftover money. But you can’t do this until you keep track of what you make and spend. This is the basis of every family budget. (Note: I use the terms household budget and home budget and family budget to mean all of the spending in one house. Each family member must have a personal budget which combined with everyone creates the household budget.)

Step 1

Begin by getting your information together. You are going to create a household budget but you have to know what you make and what you spend. Gather your last three months of pay slips and bank statements. Print out the blank monthly personal budget worksheet page. You might want to print at least two or three of them for each family member. Then start filling in your monthly home budget worksheet using the average of what you spent over the last three months for each of the categories listed and for each family member. Then insert the lowest amount you were paid for each of those months. For example, if your pay was $2,000, $2,200 and $2,400 for the last three months, then you would use $2,000 as your pay figure. Use a little common sense in this. Usually people are paid the same amount each month, so just use what your normal monthly pay is. Another example, if your electric bill for the last three months was $50, $60 and $70, it would be okay to use the average of $60 as the monthly expense.

Remember, you are just checking what you have been spending, not what you intend to do. This first worksheet is just to determine where you are now in your spending patterns. Add more categories if you have other expenses that are not listed. Just be sure to list everything.

Monthly Personal Budget Worksheet

Worksheet Tips:

Don’t forget things like daily newspaper subscriptions, lunches, morning coffee at the convenience store, snacks at work and school, and impulse buys. These things add up very quickly and you should try to estimate them and enter them in some expense category. They usually are items that can be considered personal expense.

You can call your local utility companies and they can tell you what your average monthly bill has been for the past year. Sometimes they print it on the bill itself each month. And don't forget to add in your internet service provider expense.

Use your net pay when computing income. This is your pay after all taxes have been deducted. This is the actual amount of your check or the amount that goes into your checking account at the bank or credit union if you have automatic deposit (recommended for everyone).

Combine expenses for everyone in your home. For example, maybe you are spending an average of $200 per person per month for personal expenses. In a four person family this would mean $800 of personal expense.

Finding out what you are spending now is critical. If you know in your heart that you spend all that you make each month, then adjust your family budget expenses until the total expenses equal your total income. Be fair to yourself and don’t fudge.

(Note: This step in the budgeting process is the most important one you will make. Sometimes it is a real eye-opener to find out what you have been spending your money on. The more time you spend on getting your past spending patterns fully documented, the easier it is going to be to adjust them to start saving more.)

Now take a hard look at what you make and what you spend. Discuss everything fully with your spouse and kids (if the children are old enough to understand). you must get agreement from everyone that they understand the purpose of the budget and that they will stick with it. (Click Next Page here or below.)