Topic: The steps to follow in creating a budget (Read 608 times)

To take steps related to money, you have to really consider it, like I once wanted to buy the latest watch, but because I have limited income, I still have a watch that still has the same function to see the time, so I considered it first, because I felt that even the watch I owned could still be used and still function normally, therefore I didn't buy the newest watch, because there are people who when they see the newest product they will immediately buy it without considering it. all is well, taoi yes maybe that's true because they have more income therefore they buy things they shouldn't buy (not that important).

In my opinion, there are many people who have little or limited income but their expenses are large so they have problems with their finances, well, as I said before, however, I think if they record their finances, maybe it can help them with their financial problems, and also they must be able to reduce unnecessary or unimportant expenses to reduce their own financial problems.

It's true that many people can't do this, because I myself couldn't do it at first, but when I realized I had a problem with my finances which always ran out somewhere, in the end I decided to record my expenses and the good thing is that this had a good impact on me, where My finances are also monitored with my expenses becoming regular. That's true, even though this is said to be small, in my opinion it is quite important, because this small thing can help us become better individuals in managing finances, especially if we have limited income then I think we should do this small thing.
That makes sense, maybe it's true that this is the first step, and also with this we can be aware of other things that must also be paid attention to in managing our finances. because as far as I know there are many people who have limited income but they are still wasteful with managing their money but they don't care about that, maybe they feel that youth is a suitable time to spend having fun by spending all the money they earn, even though they also have a future to look at, if they continue to be wasteful then they will have no preparation for the future.

I think the most ideal points on the list is the first and last.

Having to determine your income and
Reviewing your budget after it’s all outlined.

The first could as well accommodate every other point on the list as, in determining your income, in amount, in the time of arrival, you could as well appropriate uses and what you could archive with it using a scale of preference and urgency.

While, reviewing ensures your not making any mistakes and that you’ve set out achievable goals and not goals that would need you up, trashing the budget. If you can archive this two, you could be as well, good to go on a budget.
Also, you might make room for budget surplus due to inflation. It’s more real now than ever!

It can't be done but it must be done.
However, someone who does have good financial management will not forget this trivial thing because this is something important as a first step for us to see the level of economy we have.
Recording expenses is sometimes not paid much attention to by some people because they think that things like this will be troublesome but instead things like this can be an evaluation for ourselves if we expect a stable economy because after all this becomes very important for us to know the level of whether we are wasteful or not and to rethink that what we do in spending money is correct or not.
Indirectly, this is the first step for us to know what steps we should take in the future as a form of evaluation today.

Dont buy on something which isnt a priority or something not that relevant on day to day living but since we are just human beings and have their own interest and likings or desires then sometimes it cant really be just avoided for you on not to have those kind of wishes and sentiments on where you would really be that definitely be forgetting into sticking into your budget. Its not bad on doing it for sometimes but it would be better that you should be avoid it if you are really that on strict budget. There's nothing wrong to buy or do such things if you could really be able to afford on doing so, but if you are really just that earning sufficient for your day to day living then it wont really be that ideal on taking up such step. So it would be always best that you should really be that mindful about on the steps that you are making.

Budgeting might sounds easy but doing the actual thing would really be hard specially if you are the main provider and does have that less income source but your expense is way too much
then you would really be needing to be wise on your spending or else you would really be ending up on having those huge problems because of having that overdropped condition.
This is why it would be always recommended that you should really be that strict into that sense.

  Of course, it's just common sense that if we don't have a source of income, how can we budget money? So in today's time, our only source of income is not really enough. That's why others, even if it's a small business, will do as long as they know within themselves that they can grow it eventually.

  and this bitcoin trading or crypto trading is also one of the additional sources of income we can use, as long as we know how to use it correctly in our lives and even in the future.

It's true that we have to be able to avoid excessive spending, such as buying things we shouldn't buy, because in my opinion, many people have the habit of buying things they shouldn't buy. This is because they prioritize desires that must be achieved, and don't think too much about basic needs that they should have fulfilled, in this way they tend to experience expenses that shouldn't occur because they follow the feeling of what they want.

Apart from that, in my opinion, recording expenses can be done so that we can see where the money we spend is going, because there are people who have large incomes but within a short period of time their income has decreased a lot and as a result it makes them confused because they don't record expenses. This needs to be paid attention to because in my opinion this one thing can also have a big impact if it is done well, I myself have felt it where I have experienced the thing I am telling you about and it turns out that not only I, including many people in my environment, and in Finally, I decided to record my expenses so that I could monitor them well. As a result, with this action, my finances were well controlled.

I agree with your opinion it is very important I think in determining income and making a realistic budget, separating and recording expenses that are prioritized is very important and even helps in controlling finances better, I admit that if there are mistakes in the budget can cause problems for finances even to serious, I think this needs to be followed up and find solutions to overcome unwanted economic difficulties

Having a budget and sticking to it, helps you to plan, prioritize, avoid overspending and to achieve your financial goal. Number two on the list is very important. When running a budget you should be able to tell where most of your expenses are heading to. For instance, If you discover that the operational cost of running a business is more than what you're getting out of it, then you've to decide whether you've to pull the plug and try something else.

This is the first step towards success because if we spend whole income without realising that in which activities it has been used then we will not be able to save any amount even it will become difficult for us to fulfil our expenses in an accurate way.

Analysing your salary budget and then divide it according to your expenses in different percentage will help you to not spent your money in unnecessary things. One should not think that hard situation will tell him before arising therefore try to be ready for all the situations and save some amount in advance as you can feel need for it anytime.

Even if you are a freelancer and your monthly income is not stable, it is better that you have your own way of saving your money. In fact, freelancers earn even more, especially now that VA's work types are in demand. Just continue the method that you're doing so that you can get used to and practice well saving your income from freelancing.

You prioritize matching spending and income in your budgeting, which is detailed and practical. It's important to thoroughly evaluate your income, not simply its amount but also its consistency and dependability. A more flexible budget is needed for side gig income. Tracking spending requires classification and noting changing costs like seasonal utility bills and irregular expenses. Finding a balance between fixed requirements and variable pleasures keeps your budget sensible but flexible.

Setting feasible goals requires distinguishing wants from needs. This distinction helps prioritize expenditure and make better financial decisions. Emergency reserves are a good idea; they're a requirement in today's volatile market. As you said, evaluating your budget regularly is like a financial health checkup; it helps uncover overspending and allows timely modifications, keeping your goals on track and feasible.

The first point is only applied for people who has fixed salary/income, As a freelancer that doesn't have fixed income or salary for each month, what I do is fixing my spending. I dedicated certain amount of money for entertainment, lifestyle and anything that is not my basic needs, if not most of the time, this spending will be come uncontrollable.

Denying is what you mean delayed gratification. All of those you've mentioned that someone wants to have at the same time as an achievement for his/herself is what we're all aiming for. IMHO, if you're able to do all of these things and you don't to sacrifice and your financial status is well and stable, you can enjoy it all the way. But if you have budget constraints, definitely that you should apply delayed gratification. It helped me a lot and I am still doing it until now, even if I want something and I can avail it rightaway, I am still thinking many times if I need it or not.

Yes, it is not easy but your experience and life struggles will teach you all the way naturally with all of these. You are working to live not living to work. And by that means, you save, invest and enjoy as long it's in line with your budget and lifestyle.

Having good plans and budgets is good, they are such ways that keep a person in check but the person must be ready to take responsibility and deny himself for this to be possible. This is of course for certain reasons which are mostly beneficial in the end. It may be for retirement savings, project execution, better living, vacation, property acquisition and many more. That is why the end must justify the reason that one is doing it, and this alone is a good reason for the person to make sure that it is done as planned. However, the major issue with budgeting is the availability of resources, if the resources are flowing very well, actualizing a budget is not an issue, but if the resources are scarce, it might be a tougher task than expected.

Regardless, if you plan it well, you achieve it well, and you must know that it is not going to be easy. You have to stop some frivolities and I do not believe in compulsive buying except if necessary. This doesn't still mean that the person must be strigent with it to the extent that it will be so negtive to the standard of living. But to a somewhat level that will make the person responsible, committed and accountable for the proposed goal to be possible painstakingly or not.

Apps? I personally use Excel, as I think most people do. The budget is best done sitting on your computer but if you are looking for apps to do it with your mobile, there are plenty. There are also some that track expenses if you pay with debit or credit cards but I use cash as much as I can, so I don't use them.

Very good post and it can surely be useful for those who are finding it difficult to manage their money and honestly, it's a very common issue these days. A salaried person will always face issues managing their finances because they wait a whole month for the money and in that time, they are planning and delaying all the things that they need or want to do because they don't have money for it and when the money comes, they just start doing all the things that they have planned without creating a proper budget for the expenses.

The steps you've described should be used by such individuals so that they can plan and track their expenses in a good way and don't spend all their money in the initial days of the month and then become compelled to borrow money from others because they can't spend so many days without any money at all.

It's true, because your calculations will only have a real effect for longer when prices are more stable. On the other hand, when we live in countries doomed by uncontrolled inflation, prices of goods and services skyrocket in a daily basis, so we can't calculate efficiently our budgets. In situations like that, the last of the worries is to make a financial plan, especially a long term plan, because all the concerns are focused on the present moment, so people just take all the money they earn and immediately spend it on basic products, such as food, before the prices increase once again.

Unfortunatelly, this chaotic scenario limits very much the potential an individual has to thrive financially, as he is just unable to trace long term goals. He can't even concentrate himself on what the horizons may bring, because he is constantly putting out the fire to not die burned...

I have built budget trackers for years, and one thing I love doing is overestimating how much my expenses will be so that I will be holding on to it religiously and not dare overspend. Whatever's left by the end of the month gets carried over to the next month or straight down to my savings. If my budget for the month is $3000, I make sure that I put in $2800 in there and just leave $200 'extra' that goes directly into savings. I try to envision the 'worst-case scenario' for my utilities and bills, and honestly that saves me a lot of money as it prevents me from spending extra money and thinking that I still have a lot to work with.


I agree with this. I used online trackers and created notion templates or used mobile apps but it didn't do well for me. Spreadsheets, however, made me have a huge control over tracking and made me really dig deeper into how much I'm saving, and over time I added some more cool features to it like getting the percentage of how I spent month-on-month and see whether I'm saving more or saving less as the year progresses. It helps you get extra aware of how your money is flowing and where is it heading compared to apps that gives you pre-defined templates and cannot edit it based on what features you are thinking to add.

most apps are set to certain limiting format, which dont work for everyone. your best bet is to make your own spreadsheet in your own design you are happy with. because most smartphones/devices can display spreadsheets. that way its fully custom to the way you prefer

like having separate spreadsheet tabs for food budget
budget [    ]    spent so far [    ]    left to spend [    ]
where the 'spent so far' is a total of another list on same tab you add/update during the month and then the spreadsheet deducts total spent against the budget to tell you whats left

then you can just copy and paste your template as 12 separate spreadsheets to edit per month

the good thing about spreadsheets is that you can set alot of custom formatting. EG if weekly budget is > 25% of month. make background red

I would like to see some apps can help with this. I am of the opinion that if you write down your budget on a piece of paper, you take it more seriously than when it is on an app. With a paper budget or in a spreadsheet, you can easily see it without distraction but on a app, the ads and in-app purchases that comes with it will be too distracting. Also, it is easier to write a budget when you live in a country without a high inflation rate or one facing recession.