Starting a budget doesn’t have to be complicated. With just a bit of time and a few essentials, you can get a clear picture of your money:

• On a piece of paper, you need to record your household income for the month. This should include all disposable income from employments, interests and any forms of government benefits
• For your expenses, first list your day to day recurring expenses e.g. groceries, travel, other shopping etc.
• Secondly you will need to go through your bank accounts and start listing your direct debits. Make sure you do not leave any bills and subscriptions, even the smallest amounts

List Savings

• This is your most important part of the budgeting process. We will write more about savings in our next blog posts.
• Have a quick discussion of your family plans in the next few months. If you have other bigger plans in the distant future, you also need to discuss those.
• To best list future plans, you need to know how much is required in the future, then decide how much to save monthly. For example, if you want £500 for your child’s birthday party in 5 months time, then you can decide to save £100 per month towards that expense.
• Savings should be listed together as part of your expenses

Balance the books

• Calculate the difference between your income and the expenses that you have listed.
• In most cases, expenses will be way more that income; especially when you are still getting started with budgeting. This is okay.
• Go over your expenses again and start trimming on your expenditure for you to stay within your income. This is called living within your means. This is the most crucial part of your budget. When you have done this, you will definitely crave to do it more again next month.

Remember, budgeting isn’t about perfection — it’s about being informed, taking control, and making better decisions with your money, one step at a time.