Jul 29 2008
Frugal Budget
The first thing you should do when starting to become frugal is make a budget. Now in order for a budget to work, you have to have the willpower to actually stick to it. Oh stop moaning, Its not pretty.Grab a note book and start writing down all your expenses. This means bills, grocery’s, gas for your gas guzzler and anything else that you know you will use each month. Next you want to write down how much money comes into the house. Make sure you count everything that gets brought in the house. If you don’t put it in your budget, chances are you are not going to spend it the frugal way. Now subtract your expenses from your total income. Whats left? Hopefully something. If not, go back through your budget until you have something left.
Now look through your budget and think “What can I get rid off, or what can I substitute, so I can make my left over cash more? ” I’m sure you don’t need all them subscriptions to magazines. Find things like that, so you can make your cash pile bigger. That’s the key here. Don’t forget though, you have to have some fun. I mean, what’s the point if you have no fun at all. But having fun, doesn’t always need to cost a ton of money. Change things up a bit. Make that budget work for you.
All your left over money should be put into a savings account. You can look into different options, but with today’s market, you know its going to be safe in a savings account at the bank. I wouldn’t buy any stock or anything of that nature, not just yet anyway.
Every other month, go through your budget. Make adjustments if you need to. Compromise some things, so you can do other things. You like going out to eat with your friends at work during lunch time. Okay, but instead of doing that five days, try is as a reward. If you follow your budget all week long, then Friday’s you can go out with the girls for lunch. Don’t forget to add them Friday Lunches into your budget as well.
6 Responses to “Frugal Budget”
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thats a good idea. i didnt think of writing everything down and writing my expenses down. then maybe i can see where all of the money goes and that may help me save some. thanks!
There are some really great websites that show all your accounts, both bank and credit cards, and actually include budgeting tools. I know they are both perfectly save too because I’ve used them both. They are www.mint.com and www.yodlee.com. I prefer Yodlee more than mint because yodlee is actually the programs banks use with their online banking.
www.mint.com and www.yodlee.com are 2 great free websites that can actually track your purchases on your bank accounts and credit cards automatically and see how its affecting your budget.
I find that I have to adjust my budget more than usual to get by. I have found the online tools very useful. I have read your blogs here thouroughly, and they are so helpful. We are in the home stretch for school to start here- so every penny counts now. I have done the dredded budget cut several times this year already. no cable or satelite, we have cheap dial up, a huge veggy garden, and i used th monies in my paypal from the pts and ptc sites i do, to order school supplies from office max- they accept paypal so that was cool. so basically ive PTC and PTS for 6 months and put all that to the supplies. what a savings for me. i just love the site, its great.
Yes, I know that feeling. I adjust ours a lot as well. Yes we are also. I have three children. Two of them are school aged, so I know all about that. I didnt kow office max accepts paypal, Ill be looking into that one now. lol. Thanks!