I am a long time fan of budgets. We have shared several tips over the years. With everything that is going on now, I thought this would be a good time to share some of the most effective budgeting tools so you can hopefully be able to keep your finances under control. Reviewing and revising your budget should be done at least every 6 months!
With everything going on right now, I wanted to share some budgeting tools and tips to help you with your finances. Many people are out of work, and many are getting their tax returns and stimulus checks. While it’s tempting to spend extra money, it is smart to tuck it away for emergencies or even use it to get your debt paid off.
REVIEWING AND REVISING YOUR BUDGET
The first thing I am going to challenge you to do is to sit down and go over your budget. If you don’t have one – gasp – you can print off a free printable BUDGET HERE! Do it now – and start itemizing where all of your money is going every month. All your income – and ALL your spending.
Find out how much you are paying for things like cable, phones, internet, entertainment, food (including eating out), trips to the gas station, beauty, clothes, cars, gas, charity and the list goes on and on. Once you know where your money is going, then you can start to control it better.
Now you know where your money is going, you will want to see if you can save anywhere. If it has been more than 6-12 months since you talked to the cable/satellite, phone, internet, etc companies, you need to call them up and ask for the latest deals and discounts. 99% of the time I am able to get a lower promotional rate that saves us anywhere from $10 to $50 a month!
Once you have gone through and updated and revised all of the bills that you can, next go through your credit cards. Ask for lower interest rates, and take that extra money that you are saving from your other bills (hopefully) and pay off your debts faster.
To get out of debt the fastest, take your highest interest rate bill and pay it off. Then take that money and put it on your next highest interest rate bill and so on until everything is paid off. Then start putting that money into savings.
We share a big list of MONEY SAVING HABITS that you can work on that will ultimately save you a lot of money each month.
Overall, just stay on top of your “checkbook register”. You don’t have to use the ones you get at the bank, but you can find free ones online or even in Excel that work great! The important thing is to keep track of and document all your spending so you don’t go over budget each month.
PIN FOR LATER – Reviewing and Revising Your Budget
Let me know if you have any questions or anything to add in the comments below! Be sure to pin the image above to remind yourself to do a review and revising your budget every 6 months!
