Money Management: Tips for Creating a Budget
How many times have you sat down to pay your bills when the paycheck comes in and can’t figure out which ones to pay? When that happens you have to look at everything you have so far and decide which ones are due first and which ones you have enough money to pay. What happens if you get a bill a day or two later and that one needs to be paid right then? You don’t have the money to do that so it will be late.
To prevent this situation from happening the best solution is to take the time to look at all of your bills for the month and decide where you can pay them so it works in your budget and you get them paid on time. Here’s what I do each month.
I gathered all of my bills and on an Excel spreadsheet I documented the monthly payment and the due date. When I was all down I sorted the spreadsheet by due date so it was easier to tell when they were due. Next I looked at the calendar and I made note on the sheet when my paydays were for that month. Then I started moving bills around to each payday, so the bills were paid on time. Next I started calculating how much the total amount was for each payday and then started moving things around again if I was over or under on each payday. The final product allowed me to see what bills were going to be paid with each payday.
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